While the English horn and the French horn couldn’t be much more different as instruments, the Nashville Symphony has given both their time to shine, thanks to the talents of Roger Wiesmeyer and Leslie Norton.

Nashville Symphony principal horn Leslie Norton

In this episode of Classically Speaking, Norton answers the audience’s most burning questions about the French horn, accompanied by her performance of Brad Warnaar’s Horn Concerto, and the orchestra’s recent performance of Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Percussion, Timpani, and Strings.

Here Norton describes the concerto near the Nashville Symphony’s performance:

Also, Wiesmeyer describes making peace with the oboe and English horn’s inherent quirks through the lens of the famous English horn solo in Antonin Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony.

Here, Wiesmeyer reminds us why classical music matters: