Graun: Two concertos

Day 230

Johann Gottlieb Graun: Two concertos 

Horn Concerto in D Lund16

Barry Tuckwell

Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Iona Brown

Viola de Gamba  Concerto in A major

Vittorio Ghielmi

Orchestra Wiener Akadamie

Martin Hasellböck

I was vaguely aware of Graun as an opera composer but I didn’t know that he had written concertos. Again I picked two at random. The horn concerto is a very slight work and interesting only to the extent that is shows off what baroque horn players were capable of. The viola de Gamba concerto is a rather more substantial work - not only in length but also in its musical language. Graun does take the music into unexpected areas from time to time and clearly enjoys exploring the sound and texture of the solo instrument. But as I have said with most of the concerti in this series the music doesn’t really create much an impression on me - it is well crafted and pleasant but it really is a case of in one ear and out of the other. Perhaps I ought to give Graun another go - though if I do it would certainly be to try out one of the operas.