One of Britain's leading principal horns, Claire Briggs of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, left the orchestra in October 2000. Deciding to do "something a bit more stable", she is to study for a MA in Law at Bristol University. Claire already has a degree in History from the Open University, for which she studied over the previous five years. Making the move was never going to be an easy decision, and Claire said that she spent around six weeks before finally making up her mind. Her final performance with the CBSO was of Strauss's Alpine Symphony with Sakari Oramo at the Birmingham Symphony Hall in September.

We are pleased to report that Britain's First Lady of horn playing will not, however, be totally lost to the horn world, having every intention of freelancing while studying. Claire, who was featured in the July 1998 issue of the Horn Magazine, was principal of the CBSO for 11 years, during which time the orchestra rose from provincial to international status. She was previously first horn of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and before that, the Northern Sinfonia. During her time in Liverpool she recorded the Mozart Horn Concertos with Stephen Kovacevic conducting.

Like Dennis Brain, Richard Watkins has not only been principal horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra, but was also a pupil at the St Paul's School in Barnes, London. It is fitting, therefore, that Richard should be helping to draw attention to the Dennis Brain Memorial Scholarship that was established at the school in late 1957. On Saturday September 16, 2000, Richard was soloist in a concert at the school, performing the Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings (with tenor, Philip Langridge), Sir Malcolm Arnold's Second Horn Concerto and the Poulenc Elegy for horn and piano that was composed in memory of Dennis. The programme also included the Mozart Divertimento K136 and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for strings. The accompanying orchestra was the Guildhall Strings directed by Robert Salter. The event made use of a new 316-seater concert hall that was opened last September.

It is particularly appropriate that the artist was Richard Watkins, for he also holds the Dennis Brain Chair at the Royal Academy of Music, and performed both the Britten and the Poulenc at the Wigmore Hall concert held some years ago to celebrate the memory of Dennis. The concert aimed to revitalise and raise money for the scholarship, which is used to meet the cost of the musical education of one of the school's pupils. It was established by Peter Sharp, a contemporary there of Dennis's. In its early days concerts were given by a variety of artists including Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten and the Amadeus Quartet, while EMI contributed the royalties on a record of the Dennis Brain Ensemble. By 1962 enough money had been raised to enable the scholarship to be set up. Now the school aims to increase the size of the endowment to the level of a full bursary, that can be used to provide a scholarship for a suitably gifted brass player.

The long awaited change in the ownership of British horn manufacturer, Paxman, happened in August 2000. Bob Paxman's 75 per cent share in the eponymous firm was purchased by managing director Chris Huning and London Symphony Orchestra principal horn, Tim Jones. However, in Tim's words, "it's all change, but no change".

Tim and Chris now have equal shares in Paxman, with the remaining 25 per cent retained by Gary Ray, the owner of the US retail operation, Wichita Band. Bob Paxman, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1994, remains a director. The new owners say they will continue to draw heavily on his 55 years experience with the company. His latest input has been the design of the much acclaimed Model 23. The Board of Directors now consists of Tim Jones, Chris Huning, Bob Paxman, and workshop manager, David "Satch" Botwe.

Tim first became involved with Paxmans 21 years ago as a "tea boy". A fine euphonium player at the time, he took to the horn while working in the shop. Guided by Dick Merewether and Willi Watson, who were both then with the company, he progressed rapidly, leaving after 16 months to join the Munich Philharmonic. In recent years, along with Frank Lloyd, Hugh Seenan, Michael Thompson and Richard Watkins, Tim has been heavily involved in the development of Paxman horns. "We want to build on where the company is now" he says. Chris Huning joined Paxman 11 years ago, becoming manging director in 1996.

In normal circumstances, wild horses would not have dragged any member of the Scottish Vienna Horns away from the annual BHS October London bash (writes Dr. Norman Macdougall); but an invitation from Hans Jörg Angerer, the president of the Erster Gesamttiroler Horngesellschaft, to perform on that same weekend at Merano in the southern Tyrol proved irresistible. It was daunting too, for those who had assembled for the Tyrolean Horn Festival weekend in the beautiful Alpine spa resort included not only groups from all over the Tyrol and beyond, folk singers, alphorn players, natural and hunting horn ensembles, but also Hans Pizka (for 33 years principal horn of the Bavarian State Orchestra) and Franz Söllner (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra). It might seem that bringing Vienna Horns from Scotland to the Tyrol is the musical equivalent of carrying coals to Newcastle ..... However, we summoned up our collective courage and went into a period of intensive rehearsal, working on programmes which were a mixture of the deeply serious - Jeurissen's Tristan Fantasy and the Adagio from Bruckner's 7th Symphony - with the light-hearted, including Scott Joplin, our resident arranger Tim Barrett's version of Strauss' Pizzicato Polka, and Tim's own creation of a short suite of Scottish melodies, which ended with Auld Lang Syne. Our hosts in Merano did us proud, providing us with four-star accommodation and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in which to perform. The splendid acoustics of the Kurhaus enhanced our collective sound and the added frisson of playing, on the Sunday night, to an audience of 500 helped us to give of our best. We were cheered to the echo when we finished our second slot in the programme with Auld Lang Syne, and we like to think that the friendly audience were as enthusiastic about the quality of our playing as they were about our kilts! Throughout the weekend we enjoyed the company, amongst many others, of Hans Pizka, whose unofficial rendition of the coda of Strauss 1 on a hunting horn was one of the minor highlights of the festival. We returned home feeling that we had not let the BHS side down, and also with an enhanced respect for the organisation and sheer quality of the Tiroler-Horngesellschaft.

Limelight for former National Youth Orchestra principals. Two former principal horns of the NationalYouth Orchestra have both recently had meteoric professional debuts. Neil Shewan, currently a student at the Guildhall School of Music, played the 2nd solo horn part in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.1, with his teacher, Hugh Seenan playing lst, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. The performances were in St.David's Hall in Cardiff, Symphony Hall in Birmingham and the Musikverein in Vienna. The similarity to Dennis Brain's debut - playing 2nd to Aubrey Brain's lst in the same piece in the Queen's Hall - cannot have gone unnoticed. Mark Almond, currently studying medicine at Cambridge, has been bumping in the London Symphony Orchestra horn section in performances of Mahler's lst Symphony and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. This must surely have been the first time that this section has had a medical student in it.

Bell rings for the Vaughan Williams horn sonata. Nicolas Bell, who began working in January as a curator of manuscripts at the British Library, recently offered to show London freelance horn player, Adam Walters around his new workplace. "After a quick tour of the building," writes Adam, "we went downstairs to his desk in the music department. Knowing that I am a horn player, Nick had selected items that he thought would be of particular interest, and had had them sent up from the basement bookshelves for me to have a look at. To my utter astonishment, he handed me the complete horn part of a sonata for horn and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Written on eight pages of smooth, slightly pallid manuscript paper, the sonata is in four movements: Andante sostenuto - Allegro, Romanza, Scherzo and Trio, and Finale. The whole range of the horn is used, including an arpeggio up to top D towards the end. The piece, which has the name and address of Adolf Borsdorf written on the title page, was donated to the British library in June 1989 by Gordon Carr. Although the occasional piano cue has been written in the solo part, the accompaniment is sadly missing. As Nick says, 'the fact that the horn part seems to be a fully written-out neat copy, not just sketches, suggest that there probably was a completed piano part in existence. Perhaps it will turn up in an attic somewhere in a few decades.' "The only clues available are the brief passages from the Romanza, Scherzo and Finale which appear in a sketch-book used by Vaughan Williams between 1897 and 1902. These sketches are in score form, indicating both the horn and piano music." Since the above episode, Adam has been in touch with John Humphries, who was excited to hear that a complete horn part for the sonata did, in fact, exist. John has promised to follow up a few leads to see if it can be reunited with the missing piano part.

Anthony Randall's setting of the Dylan Thomas poem, Do not go gentle into that good night, for soprano, horn and piano, first performed last November at the Tenby Eisteddfod, has now been published. The work, which was written in memory of Tony's father, was initially played by the composer, the soprano, Miriam Bowen, to whom it is dedicated, and pianist Martin Pollock. Tony began the work two years ago, but abandoned it until he conducted two performances of Strauss's Four Last Songs, and recognised in Miriam Bowen the soprano that he had envisaged for the piece. "I then completed it within a week" he recalls.

Chris Larkin and the London Gabrieli Brass have recently made a remarkable period instrument recording. Of particular interest to horn players are Otto Nicolai's Sonata No.1 for two horns, with Roger Montgomery and Chris on Vienna horns, and the same pair using hand horns for three of Rossini's horn duets, which he wrote to play with his father in about 1806. A four movement quartet for three hand horns and bass trombone composed by Sigismund von Neukomm in 1826, "The Resonant Grotto by the Rock of Virgil in the Bay of Naples", had Andrew Clark, Sue Dent and Chris Larkin on hand horns. The third movement is a delightful echo piece, which had Gavin Edwards, Martin Lawrence and Tony Halstead as the echoing trio. Also of great interest is the first movement of Crusell's horn concerto, which was composed in 1813, but is now lost. This arrangement, for solo horn and early 19th Century brass band of keyed bugles (starring Ralph Dudgeon), hand horns, natural trumpets, trombones and ophicleides - sadly only the first movement survives - was made by Crusell's son-in-law, Franz Preumayr, in 1840. Andrew Clark's playing in this has been described as fantastic. The new CD has been released on the Hyperion label (CDA67119). Andrew was back in the studio a short while later to record the complete works for horn and piano by Carl Czerny.

Mutes to Romania. In May 1999 Conductor, Alan Tongue was invited to Craiovato in Romania to conduct the Filharmonic Oltenia in Elgar's Violin Concerto. He writes: "Imagine my surprise when I noticed the horn section inserting plastic mineral water bottles into their bells for use as mutes. I was told, with a typically Romanian shrug of the shoulders, that their own mutes had worn out long ago and that there was no money to replace them. Inflation is currently at 40 per cent, the average salary is the equivalent of Ł50 a month and the country's leading orchestra is at present on a salary cut of 42 per cent. A flash of inspiration set me on the trail of the British Horn Society, and a letter to Shirley Hopkins brought an immediate response. I was put in touch with Mike Fage of the British Horn Trust and Chris Huning, the managing director of Paxman, who together jointly offered to sponsor a set of mutes. Corks were trimmed accordingly to fit the section's Alexander 103s. During a subsequent rehearsal of The Planets with the orchestra, I handed over the mutes to the quartet: principal horn Vasile Bordenciu, Gheorge Dondoe, Mircea Visan and Ioan Chirca. To say that the players were overwhelmed is an understatement, and the management too were delighted and amazed that anyone from outside Romania would be interested in their predicament."

Horn manufacturer Holton is celebrating the year 2000 with another model named after US player Ethel Merker. The HM2000M Millennium double is part of a five-instrument Millennium series launched in February. Like its "cousin" the H175, the Millennium features a dual bore, and redesigned fourth branch and mouthpipe tapers. Hefty convex valve caps are said to help enable the horn to achieve high volume levels without tonal distortion. The HM2000 will only be offered during this year. Conn manufacturer UMI is now using what it describes as the Aqueous Cleaning System in the manufacture of its horns. The system, which uses no chemicals, just water and heat, removes the chemical and acidic residues that can be formed during manufacture. Following the purchase of the first two Jiracek Naturhorns in the U.K.by the BBCSO's Chris Larkin and Trinity student Richard Wagstaff, period horn virtuoso Andrew Clark has bought a batch of five of the budget price Czech hand horns into the UK. An 87-page book, A Modern Valve-horn Players Guide to the Natural Horn by Paul Austin, has been published by Birdalone Music in the USA

During 2000, the Czech horn community will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Bohemian composer, Antonio Rosetti (1750-1792). The 9th Hornclass, which is to be run, as usual, in Nové Strasecí, and the almost concurrent 3rd Prague Horn Festival will mark the event. The dates are August 5 to 13, 2000 for the Hornclass and August 4 to 15, 2000 for the Festival. The guests include Barry Tuckwell, who will be conducting the Talich Chamber Orchestra, and Munich Philharmonic co-principal, Radek Baborák. The 1999 Hornclass took place in early August, with 50 young horn players participating in eight days of courses using English as the common language. The American Horn Quartet and the Horn Trio Prague were among the soloists, as was Radek Baborák. Prague Horn '99, held at roughly the same time, saw another seven concerts in Prague's famous concert venues.

Keen young horn players from as far afield as Kilwinning in North Ayrshire, Callander, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Borders had their first ever opportunity to attend a day-long horn Jamboree on the 1 September 1999 in Edinburgh. Junior and senior classes competed in a solo competition and horn groups performed to an appreciative crowd. Charles Floyd of the RSNO and Harry Johnstone of the SCO were on hand to offer words of advice and encouragement to those who performed. Later in the day Harry Johnstone gave a short talk and recital on the natural horn and members of the Scottish Vienna Horn Society, directed by Tim Barratt, gave a thrilling display of the traditional Vienna sound. There was quite a crowd of youngsters, mouthpieces in hand, waiting to try their hand on the natural horn after Harry Johnstone's demonstration. Paxman donated two copies of the London horn sound CD, which were presented to Nicholas Bowler (12), for his performance of the Waltz from Ragtime and other dances by Tony Cliff, and Christopher Wandby (17) for his extremely accomplished performance of the Rondo from the Mozart Horn Concerto No.2. The HORN Magazines which were lying around were read with great interest, not only by the players, but by parents and friends who had come to listen, and who had never seen so many horns all in the one place before. The day ended with a large scale rendition of the Chorale from Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, in which players of all ages and abilities took part. All in all the day was a great success and the second Edinburgh Horn Jamboree has been provisionally booked for September 30, 2000.

BHS member, Robin Moffat has recently launched a new web site, created specifically for horn players. He claims that http://www.hornplayer.net is one of the internet's largest horn sites, boasting over 500 pages of content. It is also, he says, one of the internet's most popular horn sites. "Two hundred and fifty visitors a day can't be wrong!" Formerly known as "The Horn Player's Resources Pages", the site comprises six main sections. Included are: