Solos for the Horn Player (Mason Jones Solos)

The works contained within this CD have been recorded from the well-known book entitled Solos for the Horn Player with Piano Accompaniment; Selected and Edited by Mason Jones. Although originally published in 1962, these works have never been recorded in their entirety until now. Internationally known by soloists, teachers and students alike, this publication has long been considered one of the staples of the horn repertoire. I was first introduced to them while a student at Oberlin Conservatory. My teacher was Robert Fries, who studied under Mason Jones and who, in fact, went on to become Co-Principal Horn with Mason Jones in the Philadelphia Orchestra. Although a majority of the works are arrangements by Mason Jones, a few of the selections are original works for Horn and Piano. Mr. Jones has tastefully arranged these works in keys most adaptable to the comfort range of the horn. It is also of interest to note that they represent repertoire from chamber, symphonic, operatic and solo literature. My main purpose for recording these works was to provide young players the opportunity to hear these works at a professional performance level. I thought it appropriate to offer a recording of this book which is almost universally used by teachers and students. These works were recorded on an Elkhart Conn 8D 398205, the very horn used by my teacher while a student and colleague of Mason Jones. Equally at home as a soloist, teacher, chamber musician, and symphonic horn player, GREGORY MILLER is one of the most accomplished horn players of his generation. After five seasons with the internationally acclaimed Empire Brass, Mr. Miller has performed in nearly every major concert hall in the world, including Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Tokyo Opera City, the Mozarteum, Petronas Towers, the Barbican, and Suntory Hall. His solo career includes appearances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica; the Daegu City Symphony Orchestra, Daegu, South Korea; and the U.S. Navy Band of Washington, D.C. Mr. Miller has been Professor of Horn at the University of Maryland School of Music since 2000 and was appointed Chairman of the Wind and Percussion Division in 2005. He has served on the faculties of Florida International University, the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University, and the University of Hawaii. His orchestral experience includes principal positions with the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, National, Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, and the Florida Philharmonic. Mr. Miller, a founding member of the New World Brass Quintet, recorded the Ingolf Dahl Music for Brass Instruments on the Argo Decca Label. His recordings with Empire Brass, which include Class Brass: Firedance and The Glory of Gabrieli, can be heard exclusively on the Telarc Label. In 2003, Mr. Miller released his debut solo album, From Bach to Bernstein: Romantic Music for Horn and Piano on the MSR Label. He is a clinician for Conn-Selmer Musical Instruments and performs exclusively on the CONN 8D. Active as a recitalist and clinician, Mr. Miller currently serves on the faculties of the National Orchestral Institute and the Las Vegas Music Festival. He has served on the faculties of the Bowdoin Summer Festival and the Trombones de Costa Rica International Brass Festival. In 1999, he was appointed an International Principal at the Pacific Music Festival of Sapporo, Japan. Mr. Miller also performed annually at the Monadnock Music Festival of New Hampshire, the Festival de Musique de St. Barthelemy, and continues to perform with the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Mr. Miller received his BM in Performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music where he studied with Robert Fries, former co-principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra.