Barry Lo and Li Chichi at Christ Church

A French horn rarely finds itself without a full orchestra by its side, but today Mr. Barry Lo gave his horn a lead role, with a little help of the accompaniment of talented Mrs. Chichi Li on the piano. Though they did play a few arrangements, they managed to find several ready-made pieces, like the aptly named «Sonata for horn and piano (op. 17)» which, as related by Mr. Li, was composed by Beethoven for his friend Giovanni Punto– thought after today’s execution, one must question the true nature of their relationship.

«Intrada» by Otto Ketting, played solo, «Romance in F major (Op. 36)» of Camille Saint-Saëns, and Eugène Bozza's «Sûr les cimes» were amongst the others  songs shared today. I was looking forward to French horn classics like the Superman theme by John Williams, or the theme to «Star Trek: Voyager», but it wasn’t meant to be.

I did learn that the horn must be a particularly fiddly instrument, as Mr. Li, with a dramatic flair, dexterously changed or re-arranged components before each song. A conical mute also made its appearance late in the show; I wish I would have seen –or rather, heard (or not-heard?)– more of it a bit earlier.

The piano, on whose versatility Mrs. Li leaned to sometimes mimic entire orchestras must have been the highlight to those who enjoy how arrangists artfully solve the puzzles that these very dissimilar instruments pose; the preferred solution to marrying them appears to be to not mix or combine the two, but to rather have them work in contrapunto: it's more of dialogue than a full chord when it comes to this duo, and not one that is showcased too often, which made today's concert of particularly interesting.

Originally written on the 24 of April, 2024