Music Reviews : Hornist Todd at County Art Museum

When it comes to recital repertory for solo brass instruments, the pickings are very slim. It’s a shame really, for it leaves talented performers like hornist Richard Todd--principal horn of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, winner of the Gold Medal in the 1980 Concours Internationale Toulon--all dressed up with basically nothing to play.

Certainly there was little of great musical merit or interest on his Pro Musicis Recital at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Tuesday night. A transcription for horn by Todd himself of three of Mahler’s “Ruckert” Lieder turned out to be, by a considerable margin, the highest quality music on the program.

Of the works originally written for horn, Jean Francaix’s bubbly 8-minute Divertimento of 1958, a work probably best described as something Maurice Chevalier might play were he a hornist, emerged the winner. But it’s hardly profound.

So, with Grade B music, Todd could only make Grade B points.

Elsewhere, Todd offered Bernard Heiden’s 1939 Sonata, which churned predictably in a simplified Hindemithian idiom. Erik Szekely’s 1976 “Rhodaraies” resorted to a somber, pseudo-expressionistic lyricism and special effects, including muted glissandi and sympathetic ringing from the piano--mostly annulled in this performance by the electronic hum in Bing Theater. Paul Dukas’s 1906 “Villanelle” purveyed quaint Gallicisms and pastoral horn calls.

Todd and his accompanist pianist James Gemmell--they have recorded both the Francaix and Szekely together--made the most of the meager opportunities. Todd provided elegant and plush readings of the “Ruckert” Lieder and a properly jolly and vigorous run-through of the Francaix.

He surmounted mechanical challenges easily. In fact, his music making remained unselfconscious and unforced throughout, but always nicely rounded. Gemmell supported as an equal partner in the proceedings, consistently expressive and never in that gray distance of accompanimental nowhere land.