Reply To: Music theory and the JoCoeuvre
I had to look it up, but I think he’s referring to the opening solo here. An English Horn is an instrument in the double reed family which is intermediate in size and pitch between Bassoons and Oboes (and thus, the solo would fit “better” in it’s range).
That he didn’t use an English Horn would indicate to me that, for whatever reason, he was probably looking for the specific tone color of a high-pitched bassoon. Whatever that tone was on the historical instruments he would have used, I can’t say.
(ETA: Speaking of bassoon effects… Despite not being a bassoonist, I did use one in my Song Fu entry for deliberate comical effect… What’s that? Oh look, voting ends tomorrow night! See what I did there? 😉