Laurence, this piece is paticularly interesting simply for the combination of instruments - do you think it works well?
Definitely – I think that everything that Britten wrote was designed specifically - he never seemed to work to a formula but worked for the musicians he had available. I’m sure that the conception started from the people he knew he would be writing for. I don’t doubt he had the idea by himself but he may well have been influenced Peter Pears on deciding how to accompany the tenor voice, and no doubt thought of Dennis Brain, the famous horn player as a perfect combination.

And the tenor voice and horn are well matched in terms of range, but the horn gets asked to do some fairly challenging things in this piece – it’s not an easy play is it?
No, every single movement has different technical demands, and the piece does have a consistently high range, although it also drops down to a pedal F which is very low.

And playing the horn is a bit like walking a tightrope isn’t it – there’s a very thin line between the perfect note and a less than perfect note?
Absolutely – it can be a semitone that divides the harmonic series in these very high notes.

So how do you go about practising for a piece like this – is it more about being in the right frame of mind and being calm, or about lots of practise?
It’s a combination of the two really – there are some technically fiddly bits which you have to practise, starting slowly and building up speed in order to get your fingers around them. Also although the piece isn’t very long, because a couple of the movements are very slow it’s very tiring to play.

So you won’t be playing in the rest of the concert?
No, it’s a night off after the interval. Although actually I quite like playing overtures if I have a difficult concerto to play so I can get warmed up so I’ll be going in a bit cold to this, and of course the piece starts with solo horn - a real challenge!

And you’ve also got to work out how the sound will be affected in the different venues not least because you’ll be performing offstage for part of the piece – do you have to practise this?
We’ll cover that in the rehearsal on the day because you can’t practise anywhere else – every hall’s different.

Is it a weird feeling standing offstage in a corridor somewhere playing the horn and knowing there’s an audience behind a couple of walls listening to you?
Yes it is a bit. I’ve played this piece many times before - once I performed it in a church and had to go outside and stand in the graveyard for the last movement which was a bit odd.

Was that an evening concert?
Yes, it was a bit spooky!

So how much do you get to work with the tenor when you’re playing this piece and be able to match your sound with them?
Generally tenors who sing this piece have a certain type of voice, and the score really indicates what Britten wants. Although I’ve played this piece with a few different tenors the feeling is generally quite similar. I won’t see Mark Padmore until the day before the Bedford concert, but I know that once we start playing together it will quickly come into focus.

Does the piece have a particular highlight for you?
Not really, it’s more the experience of the whole piece. The beauty of the poetry, the tenor lines the string harmonies, the horn and the way that it all fits together.

It’s one of those pieces that really improves with a few hearings isn’t it?
I think there are different levels you can enjoy the piece on – it’s great hearing it for the first time, but once you have a deeper knowledge of the texts and contexts it definitely improves in my opinion.

How does this piece compare to the horn concerto repertoire – it’s similar in terms of difficulty and prominence isn’t it?
It’s different because the horn is a supporting role here, and although it’s difficult it’s not the same as playing a Strauss concerto. The words and the way the singer performs them are the important thing and the horn is colouring the texts in an almost improvisatory way, to reinforce the messages.

I fear this may be false modesty, but Laurence we look forward to seeing you perform and thank you for talking to us.
Not at all.