Modern Horn Trios Přemysl Vojta, Ye Wu, Florence Millet

• Hans Abrahamsen (b.1952): Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano:
• 1 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 1, Serenade 03:49
• 2 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 2, Blues 02:15
• 3 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 3, Arabesque 01:59
• 4 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 4, Marcia funebre 03:36
• 5 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 5, Scherzo misterioso 02:27
• 6 Abrahamsen: Six Pieces for Horn, Violin and Piano: No. 6, For the children 01:30
• John Cage (1912 - 1992): Music For Three:
• 7 Cage: Music For Three 05:09
• Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950): 4 Petites Pièces, Op. 32a:
• 8 Koechlin: 4 Petites Pièces, Op. 32a: No. 1, Andante 03:02
• 9 Koechlin: 4 Petites Pièces, Op. 32a: No. 2, Très modéré 02:17
• 10 Koechlin: 4 Petites Pièces, Op. 32a: No. 3, Allegretto quasi andantino 02:19
• 11 Koechlin: 4 Petites Pièces, Op. 32a: No. 4, Scherzando 01:05
• Hermann Schroeder (1904 - 1984): Trio No. 2 for Horn, Violin and Piano in F Major, Op. 40:
• 12 Schroeder: Trio No. 2 for Horn, Violin and Piano in F Major, Op. 40: I. Andante sostenuto 04:40
• 13 Schroeder: Trio No. 2 for Horn, Violin and Piano in F Major, Op. 40: II. Adagio 05:25
• 14 Schroeder: Trio No. 2 for Horn, Violin and Piano in F Major, Op. 40: III. Presto scherzando 03:29
• György Ligeti (1923 - 2006): Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano:
• 15 Ligeti: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano: I. Andantino con tenerezza 06:57
• 16 Ligeti: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano: II. Vivacissimo molto ritmico 05:21
• 17 Ligeti: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano: III. Alla marcia 03:13
• 18 Ligeti: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano: IV. Lamento. Adagio 08:35
• Total Runtime 01:07:08

Info for Modern Horn Trios

Die Kombination von Waldhorn, Klavier und Violine wurde von Johannes Brahms mit seinem op. 40 initiiert. Es gibt zurzeit nur sehr wenige Werke für diese Gattung, doch die modernen Komponisten sind fleißig dabei, Ideen hinzuzufügen. Zwei Weltersteinspielungen machen dieses ungewöhnliche Album nicht nur für Freunde des Waldhorns sehr attraktiv; die Klänge und Klangkombinationen sind mitreißend.

Der Däne Hans Abrahamsen schrieb seine Seks Stykker für Horn, Violine und Klavier 1984 für ein Konzert des dänischen Rundfunks mit der dänischen Erstaufführung von György Ligetis Horntrio. Abrahamsen gehört zu den wenigen Komponisten, die Horn studiert haben, entsprechend häufig erscheint das Instrument in seinen Partituren.

Mit John Cage öffnet sich eine weitere Perspektive auf das Thema Horntrio. Cages Music for Three ist eine Realisierungsmöglichkeit seiner »Music for«, einem Konvolut von 17 Stimmen, die in beliebiger Besetzung zusammengestellt werden können, wobei jede mögliche Kombination eine vollgültige Version des Stücks ist.

Bei der Auswahl der Stücke des vorliegenden Album stand für Ye Wu, Přemysl Vojta und Florence Millet die Qualität der musikalischen Substanz als Kriterium im Vordergrund.

Fündig geworden sind sie auch beim Franzosen Charles Koechlin. Koechlin wurde 1867 in Paris als Sohn einer wohlhabenden elsässischen Familie geboren. Nach einem anfänglichen Ingenieursstudium entscheidet er sich in den frühen 1890er Jahren für die Musik und wird am Pariser Conservatoire Schüler von Jules Massenet und später von Gabriel Fauré.

Nach intensiven Recherchen und Vorstudien fiel die Wahl auch auf das Zweite Trio für Horn, Violine und Klavier op. 40 des Kölner Musikhochschulprofessors Hermann Schroeder. 1967 orientiert sich das Stück in retrospektiver Stilistik an Komponisten wie Paul Hindemith oder Richard Strauss.

Premysl Vojta, Horn
Ye Wu, Violine
Florence Millet, Klavier

Přemysl Vojta
winner of the "International ARD Music Competition" 2010, tours worldwide as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Prague Philharmonia and the Kanagawa Symphony Orchestra. After his successful debut at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Přemysl was awarded the prestigious Beethoven Ring, past recipients of which include artists such as Igor Levit, Lisa Batiashvili and Gustavo Dudamel. Přemysl Vojta has received much international acclaim for his exceptional album productions, including one complete recording of the horn concertos by Joseph and Michael Haydn, and his album "Metamorphosis", which was recorded using three different types of horns.

In October 2021, Přemysl Vojta was appointed as a professor of horn at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen to succeed the horn legends Hermann Baumann and Frank Lloyd. In the past, he has also taught at Berlin University of the Arts and the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

At the age of 10, Přemysl Vojta received his first horn education from Olga Voldánová at the Brno Music School. A talented competitive swimmer at the time, Vojta had to choose between sports and music, but soon enough, his heart was set on the instrument. Later, he pursed his studies at the Prague Conservatory under the mentorship of Bedřich Tylšar (1998 -2004) and at Berlin University of the Arts under Christian – Friedrich Dallmann (2004 - 2010). While he was a student, Přemysl Vojta had already started his career as a principal hornist at the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, and continues to hold the same position at the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne since December, 2015.

Vojta is a member of the Carousel Ensemble, PhilHarmonia Octets, Breeze Quintets and Dispar Trios. His chamber music partners include Tobias Koch, Annelien van Wauwe, Fabrice Millischer, Oliver Triendl, the Pražák Quartet and the Armida Quartet.

Přemysl Vojta plays a Mod. 3 double horn from Klaus Fehr Horns, natural horns from Jungwirth and Curtois Paris and the F horn by Daniel Fuchs Vienna.

Ye Wu
Chinese violinist Ye Wu took her first violin lessons in her home town Shanghai before continuing her studies in the USA as well as in Berlin, where she graduated in 2007 as a “Meisterschülerin” (= master pupil) of Guy Braunstein, the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic. A sought-after violinist, she has since been invited to perform with many orchestras, playing under such conductors as Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach, and Valery Gergiev. Ye Wu is the winner of several international violin competitions, and enjoys a global reputation as a soloist. Since 2014, she has been the leader of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.

Florence Millet
of Franco-German descent, performs with orchestra, in recitals and ensembles in venues across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Conductors she worked with include Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Elena Schwarz, David Robertson, Simon Blech, Heinz Holliger, Julia Jones, Jonathan Darlington, David Marlow.

Her recordings for the labels Centaur, Sony, DG, Wergo,Triton, Accord and Erato were praised on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2023 the new releases include trios by Ligeti, Abrahamsen, Koechlin, Schroeder and Cage for Deutsche Grammophon; the rediscovered piano concerto op.31 by Adolph Busch, along with his Solo and Duo piano music for CPO; Morton Feldmann’s « Piano and String Quartet » (with the Jack Quartet) for Bastille, a monographic John Cage CD for Deutsche Grammophon and a thematic solo recording including Bach, Janacek, Kurtag, Aperghis, Kapralova, Rihm, Satie, Ablinger, Maminova, Mompou.

She is a founding member of the Lions Gate Trio since 1988. Residencies were held in Tanglewood Festival, Yale University, U. of N.Carolina-Greensboro, the Fairfield Library and University of W. Hartford, CT, where they created the « Ode to Joy » Festival.

She plays Chamber Music with members of Berlin Philharmonic, Paris or WDR orchestras, and the Sine Nomine, Miami, Tbilissi, Jack and Danel String Quartets.

She has worked closely with main voices in composition: Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, Johannes Schöllhorn, Jörg Widman, Hans Werner Henze, Hans Abrahamsen, Philippe Manoury, Steve Reich, Henri Dutilleux, George Crumb und Tristan Murail. She played with the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1992-2000.

A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, Millet received her Masters and Doctoral Degrees at State University of New York at Stony Brook where she studied under Gilbert Kalish. Her other mentors were Leon Fleisher, Paul Badura Skoda, Peter Serkin and Jean Hubeau. Florence Millet ist artistic adviser for the Lichterfeld Foundation, promoting tolerance, intercultural understanding and creator of the Echospore.de platform which propagates music from persecuted composers. Recordings, videos and concerts are planed internationally with partners Musica non Grata Prag, Deutsche Bank Stiftung and German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She curated « Cité des Dames » and explores multidisciplinary concert formats with actors, choreography and dance (Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal) and Arts at the Tony Cragg Foundation, Van der Heydt Museum, Phillipps Collection or in lecture recitals.

Her voice and playing can be heard in radio presentations on France Musique, WDR , NDR, Deutschlandfunk, RYTBF or in lecture recitals.

A film is currently in the making about the IRCAM commission and recording of a large work for piano and electronic written for her.

Booklet for Modern Horn Trios