Word of  Barry Tuckwell’s (1931-2020) passing spread quickly throughout the horn playing community, and was met with sadness as well as a number of heartfelt and touching reminiscences. His incredible career as an orchestral musician, soloist, and recording artist has been justifiably lauded by such diverse outlets as The New York Times  and The International Horn Society. Like Philip Farkas, Barry Tuckwell had an immeasurable impact on generations of horn players, and he will be missed greatly. I only heard him perform live once, in the late 90’s during one of his last solo tours. Like many, though, I became familiar with Tuckwell’s artistry through his numerous recordings, which span a huge range of horn literature.

His publications were also widely circulated, though some are now out of print. See the list below, as found on his Honorary Member page on the International Horn Society’s website.

• Horn (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides)
• Fifty First Exercises for Horn
• Playing the Horn; A Practical Guide
• Great Performer’s Editions (Telemann, Beethoven, etc.)
• Mozart Concertos for Horn

Tuckwell was also an avid proponent of new music, with an extensive catalog of works written for and because of him. The following list (with recording links where available) can be found in a chapter of Douglas Hill’s book Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance (Warner Brothers Publications, 2001). The chapter is aptly titled “New Music for and Because of Barry Tuckwell,” and is well worth reading in its entirety. Here is the introduction to the chapter:

In 1996, Johnny Pherigo, editor of The Horn Call: Journal of the International Horn Society, invited me to write an article that would review the compositions written specifically for the soon-to-retire, world famous horn soloist Barry Tuckwell. A number of these wonderful compositions were favorites of mine already, so to learn of the others was a welcome opportunity. What follows is a revised version of the original, which was based upon an extensive interview with Maestro Tuckwell and a visual and, in most cases, aural review of each composition. The body of works discussed stands as representative of the finest solo horn writing of the late-twentieth century. p. 170

List of Works Composed for and Because of Barry Tuckwell ( as found in the chapter “New Music for and Because of Barry Tuckwell,” in Douglas Hill’s Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance (Warner Brothers Publications, 2001)

• Don Banks
  • Horn Trio
  • Horn Concerto (1966)
• Iain Hamilton
  • Sonata Notturna
  • Voyage for Horn and Chamber Orchestra
• Thea Musgrave
  • Music for Horn and Piano (1967)
  • Horn Concerto
• Alun Hoddinott
  • Concerto, Op. 65
  • Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 78, No. 2
• Karl Kohn
  • Variations for Horn and Piano
  • Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano
  • Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
• Gunther Schuller, Concerto No. 2 for Horn
• Richard Rodney Bennett
  • Actaeon for Horn and Orchestra
  • Sonata for Horn and Piano
  • Romances for Horn and Piano
  • “Happy Birthday to Who(m)?”
• Robin Holloway, Horn Concerto, Op. 43
• Jean-Michel Damase, Rhapsodie pour Cor et Orchestre
• David Gow, Janus for Horn and Orchestra
• Paul Pritchard, Dreamtime for Solo Horn, Strings, and Harp
• Oliver Knussen, Concerto for Horn and Orchestra