I'm wanting to create an ensemble around a horn. The ensemble could consist of some combination of horn (G7), clarinet (G7), cello, violin, recorders and maybe flute.

Can anyone give any advice on what combination would work best? I have quite a bit of clarinet music for duets/trios/quartets - could I adapt any of that? Or does anyone know any specific pieces for horn + other?

Thank you

Can't really answer your questions but I recently heard a Mozart Horn Quintet (horn, violin, viola, cello), which I think is nice, so maybe that's an idea in terms of combination

And now that you plays the piano...

Its not really kosher but you could play wind quintets with the Cello taking the bassoon part and the violin taking the oboe. It won't sound much like the composer intended but it wouldn't sound awful!

Thank you both - I'll put out some feelers

last year i attended a horn trio recital
maybe this could help

trio for piano, horn and violin op. 40 - brahms

I suspect the Brahms might be a bit hairy for Grade 7. Its an awesome piece though.

Yes I'm afraid that one would be too difficult I think - I looked it up on some sheet music sites and it was described as very difficult. Thanks for the thought though my_broken_reeds

Telemann wrote a trio sonata for Horn,treble recorder and continuo. Sounds mad, but it works - much of the treble recorder part is fairly high when it needs to cut through the horn part, and there's a lot of echoing and arpeggiation. The horn player does get a bit of a break from blowing in the middle of the piece, when the recorder has to brave it alone... Continuo could be covered either by cello or keyboard* - ideally a harpsichord, but if needs must, a piano might do.

*or both. But if the keyboard ends up having to be a piano, it'd need to be played with a lot of restraint.

Thanks for the suggestion. I very much like the sound of this, and I think it could work. Could the harpsichord be a digital harpsichord (it's one of the voices on my portable digital piano) If not, there is a baby grand piano...

Is there any chance that somebody might have the music for this that they could let the players have a look at???

We managed my last recorder lesson with a digital keyboard set to a bit of a tinny harpsichord stop, and yes, it was okay - helped by my having had a very able accompanist, who managed somehow to get over the fact that the thing was touch-sensitive . My copy of the piece is currently lent out, I'm afraid - it's the Concerto a tre in F, published by Amadeus, BP 921 and costs about £7.25. - I got mine from Saunders Recorders, probably. They have printed an alto clef version of the horn part to fit the viola as an alternative combination. I do hope a copy might surface for you - it sounds like a crazy combination, so hats off to Telemann for making it work.

Thanks for that info, I'll have a look for it