There were two Doctoral graduates from the ASU horn studio this year. The first of the Doctoral projects was described here, and the second one, completed by Isabella Kolasinski, is titled “The Genesis of Horn and Tape: Examining and Recording Hildegard Westerkamp’s Fantasie for Horns II and Janet Beat’s Hunting Horns are Memories.”
It is always a process to find a good topic. As we discussed possible projects it was fascinating to learn that two of the earliest works written for horn and fixed media were by women composers — and one of them had never been recorded! It was a great topic for a research project.
Hildegard Westerkamp – Fantasie for Horns II (1979)
The first of these two works to come to her attention was the Westerkamp. I personally was really taken by the musique concrète fixed media, it is very distinctive and evocative, reminding me of works studied as contemporary works in music history classes when I was in college. Bella describes the work as follows.
Hildegard Westerkamp incorporated sound material from boat horns, foghorns, train horns, and other sources from Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts into the electronic component of “Fantasie for Horns II.” The horn interacts with the electronics in three distinct ways: through musical expression, by imitating fog and boat horns, and by evoking the style of the Swiss alphorn — collectively creating a sonic landscape. Westerkamp’s musical works guide her audience to recognize sound as an important part of the world and how it can focus the listener’s ideas across social, political, artistic and scientific practices of environmental respect and concern.
This has been recorded previously – give her version a listen below.
Janet Beat – Hunting Horns are Memories (1977)
Two years before Westerkamp, Janet Beat composed the very evocatively titled Hunting Horns are Memories. It seems that this work may not have been performed since the premiere, but now it may be heard in full in the first recording ever! It is a substantial work, one that would require real commitment to perform, but certainly a challenge worth taking on. Bella describes it as follows.
Composed in 1977, Hunting Horns are Memories by Janet Beat blends natural and artificial sounds to create a mechanical soundscape rooted in the environment of her home in England. The piece explores the origins, repertoire, and mechanisms of the French horn, with all electronic elements derived from French horn sounds. Beat’s work examines both the technical capabilities of the instrument and the expressive potential of sound manipulation, weaving diverse horn timbres with industrial textures to evoke memory, place, and transformation.
Check out both recordings! I could not be more pleased with her project and the one completed by Bailye Hendley (described further here), and I wish both the very best in their future endeavors.
