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I Found My Horn Jasper Rees

I Found My Horn By Jasper Rees

I Found My Horn by Jasper Rees


£3.50
New RRP £14.99
Condition - Very Good
Only 4 left

Summary

The story of a compulsion with the French Horn, and where it can lead you.

I Found My Horn Summary

I Found My Horn: One Man's Struggle With The Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument by Jasper Rees

Most people who take up a musical instrument have dropped it by the time they leave school. With the onset of maturity they start to regret giving it up. But still they do nothing about it. At the age of 39 and three quarters, Jasper Rees did do something about it. He fished his French horn out of the attic, where it had lain silent for 22 years, and took it to the instrument's annual jamboree: the British Horn Society festival. Along with 69 other horn players, he stood onstage and played Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. There and then, despite severely limited ability, he set himself a near impossible target: to stand up in front of a paying audience in twelve months' time and play a Mozart concerto. Alone. 'I Found My Horn' is the story of a midlife crisis spent not on a Harley Davidson but on 18 feet of wrapped brass tubing. It is also the story of man's first musical instrument, and its journey from the walls of Jericho to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, from the hunting fields of aristocratic France to the heart of Hollywood.Along the way, Jasper Rees seeks expert advice as he prepares to stand up in front of a packed London auditorium and perform a Mozart concerto on this notoriously treacherous instrument. Everyone says the same thing. Don't do it.

I Found My Horn Reviews

'[This book] reads like the best kind of Nick Hornby novel - all midlife crisis, technical obsessiveness and boyish defiance...The build-up to his climactic, foolhardy performance is irresistible, and his unashamed fixation with everything horn-oriented rings so true that it's impossible not to get a little horn-obsessed oneself.' SUNDAY TIMES 'this is a book teeming with first hand research and thorough reading. It remains enough of a laddish yarn to amuse the casual reader, but there is also enough meat packed into its pages to entice those with a genuine love of musical history, and especially those with any interest in the French horn.' THE HERALD 'the strength and reach of Rees' enthusiasm carry the day...Rees did stand up to be counted, and he got a fine book out of it, too' TELEGRAPH 'There are things in this delightful, warm, witty, erudite book that will appeal to almost everyone...It's not just Rees's personal transformation that makes this book such a joy, though. It's also playfulness, the flourishes, his eye for detail and the persuasive weight of his enthusiasm.' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A very approachable insight into a world of obsessive perfectionists.' THE INDEPENDENT 'This quirky memoir, in which Rees decides after 22 years to take up the French horn again, is surprisingly evocative and moving' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'This inspiring, moving and quite hilarious book is the perfect cheer-up present for everyone you ever knew. Rush out and buy...' CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE

About Jasper Rees

Jasper Rees has been a freelance journalist since 1989. He writes arts features for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times, and has also reported on football for the Independent on Sunday. He is the author of 'Wenger: the Making of a Legend' and 'Blizzard: Race to the Pole'.

Additional information

GOR001488889
9780297852254
0297852256
I Found My Horn: One Man's Struggle With The Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument by Jasper Rees
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Orion Publishing Co
2007-01-01
304
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - I Found My Horn