Stefan Dohr & Friends by Beethoven, Ligeti, Brahms, De la (2024/2024), The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Stefan Dohr is one of the foremost horn players of the modern-day ­­­— an internationally acclaimed soloist, inspiring chamber musician and principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1993. The intimate acoustic of The Queen’s Hall provides an ideal setting to hear his evocative playing in dialogue with violinist Carolin Widmann and pianist Dénes Várjon, encompassing iconic works of the repertoire. Johannes Brahms’s Horn Trio is a deeply personal piece composed in memory of his mother. Originally written for the darker timbres of the natural horn in 1845, despite the then increasing prevalence of the modern valve horn, the work is highly virtuosic and moving. György Ligeti’s dazzlingly imaginative Horn Trio, marked ‘Hommage à Brahms’, was written as a companion piece to the Brahms Trio in 1982. Full of diverse influences from West African drumming to Hungarian folk rhythms, it is a masterpiece of the 20th century chamber repertoire and the work that heralded Ligeti’s brilliant late style.