COMPOSERS: Beethoven,Damase,Franz Strauss,Hindemith & Abbott,Koechlin,Schumann
LABELS: Erato
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: David Pyatt
WORKS: Works by Beethoven, Schumann, Franz Strauss, Koechlin, Damase, Hindemith & Abbott
PERFORMER: David Pyatt (horn) Martin Jones (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 3984-21632-2
The musical world could accommodate a new horn star. The next Brain or Tuckwell is yet to reveal him- or herself and have the same impact on the concert platform as trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger, or trombonist Christian Lindberg. Whether this will be David Pyatt is still not obvious, even after several recent discs from Erato.
At 14, when he was BBC Young Musician, it was obvious that his mastery of the instrument was greater than most could acquire in a lifetime. His tremendous technical security and control is even more apparent on this latest recording: each note is immaculately produced, perfectly tuned and of flawless sonority, with a sumptuous legato and a pianissimo that any brass player would envy. It seems that, having achieved this, he is reluctant to give us any more. I scoured the CD for a moment of audacity, uplift, unexplained magic, sentimentality or even bad taste, but it stayed clinically free from all. This need not be bad news – musical restraint and physical control are essential in the Schumann and the Hindemith which, although poles apart, come off best here. What suffers most is the music of the lesser composers Damase and Abbott, which needs a bolder sales pitch. Christopher Mowat