Strauss was only 18 and had yet to develop his own distinctive style when he completed his first horn concerto in 1883. He wrote it for his father, a professional horn player, but the elder Strauss found the work too difficult. Today's soloists, ironically, find it much easier than the horn concerto Strauss wrote at the opposite end of his life. Schumann is the dominant influence here; it's hard not to detect a bit of the earlier composer's Konzertstück for four horns, and other works, in some of Strauss' more declamatory passages, especially the beginning.

After the virile, Schumann-esque opening bars, which provide the soloist a bravura hunting motif, the horn offers a far more lyrical second subject. The soloist takes the lead through the development section, the orchestra merely underlining the solo part and providing a few short bridge passages, including one that gently leads straight into the second movement.

This Andante is a highly lyrical ballad for the horn over a rudimentary orchestral accompaniment built from a simple and extremely repetitive four-note figure. Halfway through, the horn takes up a more extroverted but still long-lined theme over a twittering woodwind figure; the inspiration now seems to be French opera arias.

The finale is a fast rondo featuring a bravura main theme for the horn, which gives way to more expansive but still urgent material. The scherzo-like final bars require fine control and an extremely light touch, as if Strauss were turning to Mendelssohn for a few last words.

© All Music Guide