Hermann Baumann

Born in Hamburg, Germany on August 1, 1934, Hermann Baumann became one of the great classical horn players of his time, releasing several albums under his own name. He studied piano and cello, trained as a choral conductor, and played drums in Ernst Mosch's jazz orchestra, before devoting himself to learning the horn at the age of 17 at the Hamburg Conservatory, where his teachers included Heinrich Keller and Fritz Huth. He played with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra (1957-1961), then with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (1961-1967), and came to prominence when he won the 1964 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. A pioneer in the rediscovery of the natural horn used in the 18th and 19th centuries, he began a teaching career at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, where he remained until 1996, apart from a spell at the Stuttgart Hochschule between 1980 and 1983. As a soloist, the horn player signed to the Telefunken label recorded the albums Hornkonzerte von Danzi, Rosetti & Haydn (1969), Virtuoses Horn (1971), Mozart: Die 4 Hornkonzerte with the Vienna Concentus Musicus (1974), Horn (1977), and Hermann Baumann (1978). After premiering Ligeti's Trio For Violin, Horn And Piano in 1982, he performed Hans Georg Pflüger's Horn Concerto the following year. Regularly accompanied by the Concerto Amsterdam and violinist Jaap Schröder, Hermann Baumann explored the instrument's Baroque and classical repertoires, for orchestra and chamber music on releases like Der Junge Beethoven (1983). The following year saw the release of the first in a series of albums for the Philips label, bringing the musician and his works for horn to a wider audience: Richard Strauss: Horn Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (1984). That release was followed by collaborations with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner and Iona Brown on Telemann: Horn Concertos (1984), Concerti da Caccia (1987) and Haydn - Pokorny: Horn Concertos (1989). Other releases include Mozart: The Horn Concertos with Pinchas Zukerman and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (1985), Glière - Saint-Saëns - Dukas - Chabrier: Works for Horn (1986), Works for Horn and Piano with Leonard Hokanson (1987), and the Grande Messe de Saint Hubert (1991). Several of these recordings were included in the 7 CD box set Hermann Baumann Collection (2011). In 1999, the musician was awarded the Christopher Monk Prize by the Historic Brass Society. Weakened by a heart attack suffered after a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1993, Hermann Baumann slowly relearned to speak, walk, and play the horn, teaching for another three years before retiring. Hermann Baumann died on December 29, 2023, at the age of 89.

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