John Barrows: Solitude for English horn, strings, and harp

John Barrows (1913-1974)
Solitude for English horn, strings, and harp (1934)
arranged for English horn and piano by Leonardo Mendoza

William Wielgus, English horn
Mariana Airaudo, piano
Recording March 24, 2024, Escola de Música Harmonia, Camboriú, Brasil

Artwork: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket, 1874

Solitude" was first performed by the San Diego Symphony at the Balboa Park Organ Pavilion on August 14, 1934 with English horn soloist Robert Hester. After a repeat performance on June 6, 1935 the reporter for The San Diego Sun, Constance Herreshoff, wrote::
"Barrow's' "Nocturne Solitude' had its first hearing last summer at one of the San Diego Symphony concerts.. Last night, at the last minute request of Director [Nino] Martelli, Barrows rather reluctantly left the chair of first French horn player in the orchestra to conduct his own composition. This left him in a strategic position to receive the sincere and abundant applause bestowed by the audience at its conclusion.
Barrow's Nocturne scored for strings, harp and English horn, is music of beauty and imagination, a fine piece of workmanship indicating still greater accomplishment ahead for this young musician."

Subsequently the composer withdrew the music from circulation and the manuscript may be found in the John Barrows Collection at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

John R. Barrows was known for his elegant playing, his impeccable musicianship, his dedicated teaching, and his friendship with composer Alec Wilder, who once said that when his music was played by John Barrows it somehow came back sounding better than he had thought it could.

Barrows was born in 1913 in Glendale CA. His early years were spent in Montana, where he played euphonium. During his high school years in San Diego, he studied cello and later, horn. He attended the Eastman School of Music (1930-1932), San Diego State Teachers College (1933-1934), and Yale University (1934-1938). His teachers included Richard Donovan and David Smith

Barrows joined the Minneapolis Symphony in 1938, then served as assistant leader of the Army Air Forces Band during World War II, and afterwards moved to New York and played with the City Opera (1946-1949) and the City Ballet (1952-1955). He also appeared in San Juan PR with the Casals Festival Orchestra (1958-1961) and occasionally worked with such artists as Woody Herman, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday.

Chamber music was important to Barrows. He performed with such ensembles as the Budapest String Quartet and the Pasquier Trio before co-founding the New York Woodwind Quintet in 1952. Barrows made few recordings, but those with the quintet are among his best. Many reviewers have called the quintet the finest woodwind quintet in the world, and Barrows' horn playing was crucial to its success. He also performed regularly with the Fine Arts Quartet in Milwaukee. Barrows wrote, "There is no other musical experience that can quite equal playing chamber music in intensity of self-expression and yet within the framework of cooperative effort."

Barrows wrote several chamber works and made numerous arrangements for band. He was concerned about the limited repertoire for horn, so he performed little known works. Wilder's three sonatas and one suite were written for him, and the singing melodies in Wilder's works brought out Barrows' best playing.

Barrows taught at Yale (1957-1961), New York University (1958-1961), and finally at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (1961-1974), where he taught all levels although he could have accepted only the most advanced students. His influence, through his sense of humor and high artistic standards, won the admiration of audiences, the respect of students, and the devotion of friends.

(www.hornsociety.org)