Abstract

I am proud to presented my senior recital under the title “Unbounded.” This afternoon, I will per-
form the following pieces: Carnival of Venice (Jean-Baptiste Arban), Romanian Folk Dances (Béla Bartók),
La fille aux cheveux lin (Claude Debussy), Emmanuel (Michel Colombier), Song of a New World (Richard
Bissill). As many of you may have noticed, most of these pieces are not French Horn pieces. I want to push my
limit on horn by playing pieces originally written for other instruments and arranged for french horn by Eric
Ruske, Thanapak Poonpol and myself. In these pieces there are different challenges, sonorities, and also each
has a totally different character. You will hear elements of Eastern-European folk music, classical music, and
Jazz.

Programme note
Jean-Baptiste Arban: Carnival of Venice (1864), arr. by Eric Ruske
“Carnival of Venice” was composed by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Arban. He is a famous composer of
the 19th century and he wrote the Arban Method for Brass Instruments. Carnival of Venice was originally written for solo
cornet as a show-off piece that contain virtuoso displays of double and triple tonguing, flexibility and fast tempo. It’s quite
difficult to play on french horn because horn players do not practice the same techniques as the trumpet players. This piece
challenges me to practice hard and improve my technique. That is why I put this piece on my recital and proudly present
The Carnival of Venice on french horn.

Béla Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances (1915), arr. by Natthapat Kirawiroj

Béla Bartók is one of the most famous composers of the 20th century. He is perhaps most famous for expertly
combining folk material with classical music. Romanian Folk Dances is a suite of six short piano pieces based on Romanian
tunes from Transylvania. Unfortunately, I never saw this piece arranged for horn, flute and piano before. Probably because
it’s hard to orchestrate for this combination. I decided to make an arrangement for this combination to play with my close
friend, Wasin Kosonrat, Flutist. This is our first time playing together and we can’t wait to present these beautiful folk dances
to you.

Claude Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin (1909 - 1910), arr. by Natthapat Kirawiroj
“La fille aux cheveux de lin,” or “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair,”is a piano prelude by the French composer
Claude Debussy. It is one of twelve pieces in first book of Preludes. This piece was inspired by Leconte de Lisle’s poem. The
poem describe a girl who was beautiful and how the poet admires her. On the french horn horn, the original key is quite dif-
ficult and not comfortable in the high register but I still transcribed this piece in the original key because I want to improve
my register range and I think changing the key in this piece is not necessary because each key has different character and I
do not want to change what composer desire because just easy to play.

Michel Colombier: Emmanuel (1970), arr. by Thanapak Poonpol

“Emmanuel” is a beautiful piece by the French composer Michel Colombier. Colombier dedicated this piece to
his son who died at age five and he recorded this piece with his friends in album called “Wings” I heard this piece for the first
time in a live recording of the transcription for Trumpet, violin and orchestra led by Chris Botti and Lucia Micarelli. (https://
youtu.be/m8NN4fpdm40) My senior friend Thanapak Poonpol arranged this piece for two horns and piano based on Botti’s
version. The horn part is pretty difficult because of the problem of the register. The range it’s quite wide and there are many
ornaments. However, I would like to present this beautiful piece, as arranged by Thanapak, in my recital.

Richard Bissill: Song of a New World (2014)

In my program there are many transcriptions because I like to play pieces that have many different challeng-
es. But this one piece on the program was written for horn. Just like musicians in the past who plays transcription in the
concert, I do not just play transcriptions but play music was written for my own instrument as well. The idea is to be open
to all repertoire possibilities. I choose this piece because of its special technical challenges and especially because it has
elements of jazz. This is a challenge to me. I am a classical musician but i like to be able to play in a jazz style. I cannot resists
programming this piece because it has many challenges and it is interesting like other pieces on my program. This piece
was composed by Richard Bissill, principal horn of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, for Sarah Willis, member of
the horn section of the Berlin Philharmonic. It was composed specifically for her recording “Horn Discoveries.” This bluesy
piece is difficult for the horn player. If you are looking to find some good pieces for low horn, this is one of the best. It is able
to help you to improve your skills and you will be impressed by Bissill’s works, like me.