Horn alumnus Cohen returns for recital Sept. 5
calendar icon21 Aug 2018 user iconBy Kathe C. Andersen
Lincoln, Neb.--Steven Cohen (B.A. 2014; M.M. 2015) returns to Lincoln for a recital on Sept. 5 that will feature works from his debut album, “Cruise Control” on the Siegfried’s Call Artist Label. The recital is at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall and is free and open to the public.
“Cruise Control” was released at the 50th International Horn Symposium in August and is available on all major streaming services. The album features horn music from five emerging American composers.
“I feel very fortunate that I got to do this, and that this album and these works not only came to fruition after a long and arduous creative process, but the fact that these composers wrote such incredible compositions that it has transformed this project from just being my debut album, to being something for the horn community that will last a long time,” Cohen said.
Professor of Horn Alan Mattingly has heard the album and calls it “truly fantastic.”
“This recording project features five, brand-new works that Steven commissioned from composers who have made a name for themselves writing for the horn,” he said. “I’ve listened to all the tracks, and not only are the pieces incredibly well written, but Steven’s playing is remarkably expressive and technically flawless.”
The works on the album include: “Sonata for Horn and Piano” by James Naigus; “Dawn for Horn in F and Piano” by Jenni Brandon; “Cruise Control for Horn, Piano and Percussion” by Adam Wolf; “Pranayama” by Wayne Lu; and “Sonata for Horn and Piano” by Gina Gillie.
The works by Wolf, Naigus and Lu will be included on his Sept. 5 recital.
“It is a journey from start to finish that allows you to explore the horn and 21st century composers at its finest,” Cohen said.
Cohen began working on the project in April 2017 when he first approached Naigus about writing a sonata. According to the liner notes of the album, Naigus’s “Sonata for Horn and Piano” is a three-movement work that echoes many formal aspects of the traditional French horn sonata while simultaneously expanding the genre.
“James and I have the longest working relationship of any of the composers,” Cohen said. “I oversee and organize a project that creates commissions and new music for horn choir for presentation at the International Horn Symposium. James wrote for that project in 2015, the first summer we did it, and after that we started to develop a really good relationship.”
Brandon’s “Dawn for Horn in F and Piano” is inspired by Edith Södergran’s poem of the same name.
“Jenny writes with such color,” Cohen said. “And the ability for her tell a story is magnificent.”
The title track, “Cruise Control for Horn, Piano and Percussion,” was inspired by long drives on the Los Angeles freeway. The composer, Wolf, is best known as the founder and hornist of Rock Horn Project, a multi-genre fusion band.
“Rock Horn Project is a rock band, but instead of vocals at the front, features the horn,” Cohen said. “It’s a tremendous concept, but what a lot of people don’t know about Adam is that outside of his ability to write his own works for Rock Horn Project, he’s a fantastic classical composer. ‘Cruise control’ is unique and challenging for me, but it’s just absolutely perfect because it is Adam. It’s signature Adam.”
Lu’s “Pranayama” encapsulates the energy and force of playing the horn, according to the composer.
Cohen said, “When Wayne and I started talking about the project, he had really good concepts of what he wanted to create and turned out a fantastic piece.”
Gillie’s “Sonata for Horn and Piano” opens by paying homage to the German Romantic Era in the first movement, then shifts to the French influence of Gounod in the second movement, before shifting themes in the third movement, which features Afro-Cuban rhythms.
“I was introduced to Gina when I presented at the Northwest Horn Symposium in 2015 and heard her piece, ‘The Great Migration’ for two horns and piano,” Cohen said. “I remember her piece making a really good impression on me, and I reached out to her.”
She told him she really wanted to write a sonata.
“I said okay, why not?” Cohen said. “James already had his going, but you know, we need more repertoire, so why not another sonata for the album?”
It was important for Cohen to expand the horn repertoire with this album.
“We tend to play the same things over and over again,” he said. “We learn the Mozart and Strauss concerti. We learn the sonatas of Beethoven and Hindemith. The horn repertoire is really unchanged—though granted these pieces are masterworks within the standard repertoire. Even when there’s a new Mozart album, it’s still Mozart at the end of the day. My goal with this project was to give back to the horn community as much as possible and to say this is what’s out there. These are the composers that are waiting in the wings, writing pieces that are equal to the task, and the horn community should be playing them. My drive was to create an entire collection of repertoire from 21st century composers for 21st century horn players and beyond.”
He is excited for the album’s release and for people to begin hearing the music.
“Everyone is really excited,” he said. “We’ve all worked very hard and very long to bring this to fruition, and I cannot be more thrilled with what this product is. It’s really special to me.”
Cohen has stayed busy since he graduated from Nebraska in 2015.
“Steven is literally one of the most active horn players I know,” Mattingly said. “He consistently travels across the country performing recitals, musical productions and orchestral engagements.”
Cohen has held numerous positions with numerous orchestras, toured with various Broadway shows and is a member of the Ad-Venturi Horn Duo.
“I’ve been touring with various national touring Broadway shows, and I’m still working with Mannheim Steamroller,” Cohen said. “I have been traveling around the country giving masterclasses and recitals at universities and am freelancing in New York with orchestras. There’s really nothing I’m not doing.”
He will also be traveling to Germany in October to present a recital at his horn maker’s workshop.
“To be able to takes this project with American composers and present an international recital is a huge deal for me,” Cohen said.
The first brass instrument Cohen picked up was a slide trumpet at age two. He began playing the horn when he was nine and says he loves “everything” about it.
“I love it,” he said. “James [Naigus] describes it really well and is what he tried to create with his work. The horn is able to show beauty, but also melancholy, as well as triumph. That’s how James mapped out his sonata. Those are, he feels, the three innate characteristic qualities, and I agree with that. There are so many signature moments in classical and commercial music that utilize the horn, that it’s almost the perfect instrument, while being the hardest to play at the same time.”
Cohen is looking forward to returning to Nebraska for his recital.
“I am looking forward to this,” Cohen said. “And it’s a nice treat to have this recital be right before Glenn Korff Day [on Sept. 6], especially with what his donation to the School gave to me during my time there, and how it has furthered the School of Music since my time there.”
He sees the recital as a homecoming, of sorts.
“I’m really excited to bring ‘Cruise Control’ back to Lincoln, and especially to bring it back to Nebraska as a whole, because it’s where everything came from,” Cohen said. “It’s where many of my relationships were forged with some of the album’s composers, and the fact that it was recorded in Omaha, this album—by almost any sense of the word—is Nebraska born.”