After performing the last two movements of this piece over this last year, and now that I'm working on the first movement, I think it's natural I should finally review this great work. Overall this a great piece for a high school upperclassman to start working on if they plan to keep pursuing music in college. Throughout the three movements it shows off just about every technique on the horn from simple mid-range player all the way to three octave arpeggio runs.
The first movement of this starts with a great low horn excerpt, that I personally used in all my auditions. Then it alternates between a couple main themes that are restated in varying, challenging, keys. There is also a break towards the end for an extended cadenza that you can either use the one that Polekh provides, write your own, or try transcribing the one that Hermann Baumann wrote. Most people think that first movement of a piece won't be able to "stack up" to the third movement; I can tell you that I'm spending just as more, or more, time working out this movement as I did the third.
The second movement is probably the most unique Adagio movement I've ever heard in a concerto. Throughout the majority of the piece you'll have an agitated feeling that finally resolves in the last couple phrases. Just like the first, there are a good number of key changes that put the horn in a harder place for intonation and accuracy. Toward the middle there is an "Ad Lib." section that is open to the interpretation of the performer and acts likes the cadenza for this movement. The ending will show off your control of the entire range of the horn by having a wide range that needs to be treated delicately, and in some places with a light stop horn.
The third movement has everything you'd expect from the Finale movement of a concerto of this caliber. This movement has three main themes; the Moderato chord changes that first appear at the beginning of the piece, then the Allegro vivace theme that almost make this piece into a dance, and finally a soaring melody that appears twice throughout the piece in different keys. This movement once again has multiple chord changes that will challenge not only the fingers, but also the ears. This movement never goes too far into the low range, but having solid agility throughout the horn will be vital. The shortest cadenza-like moment of the work appears in the middle of this movement as well, this one is a few bars long but requires the player to know about using the stop horn to create a muted sound.
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