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Cormac ó hAodáin of the Philharmonia Orchestra discusses aspects of the horn range...
Notation
Horn players normally read in the treble clef, but sometimes in lower horn parts the music goes into the bass clef. There is such a thing as ´old notation´ and ´new notation´ and I think ´old notation´ was still being used by people like Richard Strauss, who wrote for the horn in bass clef and wrote the notes an octave lower than they were actually to be played. I don´t understand where this tradition came from, but since then composers have moved over to ´new notation´ where they actually write in the octave that you are supposed to be playing in. Sometimes the horn players in the orchestra will have a discussion about what note we think something is, taking into account what else is written in the part that might show whether it is ´old´ or ´new´ notation.
Distinction Between High and Low Horn
The horn is longer than any other brass instrument. Possibly the bass tuba will have a similar length, but the horn is maybe three times as long as a trumpet and twice as long as a trombone. If trumpets or trombones had to play in a similar register to the one we play in, it would be unbelievably high for them. So that´s largely why horn players find a niche for themselves depending on whether they are more comfortable on the lower or the higher register, because the range is actually so big that they usually specialise. The aim of all horn players really should be to try and cover the whole register, and be able to do everything but certainly in the Philharmonia Orchestra, at the standard that I have to play at, I have to do what comes easiest to me, and that is playing in the lower register.