Every edition of the Conductors' Academy features musicians from the orchestra as soloists. Martin Frutiger, our principal English horn player, talks about his take on Pēteris Vasks' Concerto for cor anglais.
"When the music becomes melancholic or reflective, that's often my melody. I love these entries as a solo cor anglais player, for example in the second movement of Dvořák's symphony 'From the New World'. The cor anglais is the oboe's secondary instrument and as a result there are many oboe concertos, but hardly any solo concertos for cor anglais. I am delighted to be able to give the instrument the platform it deserves as part of the fifth Conductors' Academy with excerpts from Pēteris Vasks' Concerto for cor anglais and orchestra.
Vasks is Latvian, and I spent my holidays in his homeland last summer. I took my cor anglais with me and played the piece in the countryside. Maybe it's my imagination, but I think I can feel something of this landscape in Vasks' music.
Normally you rehearse for a solo performance and then present the work at concerts. In the Conductors' Academy, the first rehearsal is already open to the public and is streamed live. I am very excited to see how the six young conductors will respond to my ideas for interpretation. Will my solo sound different to the audience with different conductors? I'm almost certain that none of the six academy members has ever conducted an English horn concerto before."
Recorded by Katharine Jackson
