Cello by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini anno 1751

The original is in private hands. The owner had a 1: 1 copy of her instrument made.

Copy of the cello by Gabriele Zeeck anno 2017

The original has a very characteristic back, which was a great challenge. So I'm all the more pleased that the copy is being played in concert and solo.

Sound comparison played by Maximilian Hornung

(Johannes Brahms: Excerpt from the double concerto in A minor for violin, cello and orchestra, op. 102)

 

Cello A:  

Cello B:  

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MaxHornung

Maximilian Hornung plays a cello by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini from 1751 and the 1:1 copy by Gabriele Zeeck from 2017 in this comparison recording in Gasteig / Munich.

 

Maximilian Hornung

“The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra debut of cellist Maximilian Hornung on Friday night added another element of surprise to Strauss’ work [‘Don Quixote’]: His performance seemed to take stock of all this textured material and rise above it all, producing a breath with each statement. (...) Mr. Hornung’s clear-eyed interpretation capably sifted through Strauss’ dense musical material, his tone direct yet warm. Like an able guide navigating through an undiscovered forest, he commanded the pace of the work…” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With his striking musicality, instinctive stylistic certainty and musical maturity, the young cellist Maximilian Hornung is taking the international music scene by storm. Today, he regularly performs as a soloist with such renowned orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony under conductors such as Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézét-Séguin, Mariss Jansons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Zinman, Pablo Heras-Casado, Semyon Bychkov, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Antonello Manacorda, John Storgårds, Mario Venzago, Jonathan Nott, Kristjan Järvi, Andrew Manze, Krzysztof Urbański and Robin Ticciati. His chamber music partners include Anne-Sophie Mutter, Antje Weithaas, Hélène Grimaud, Daniil Trifonov, Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Hisako Kawamura, Herbert Schuch, Lars Vogt, Jörg Widmann and Tabea Zimmermann. He has performed with the Arcanto Quartett and the Cuarteto Casals and has been invited to perform at festivals including Schwetzingen, Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Lucerne, Verbier, Ravinia and Hong Kong. He has appeared in concert halls such as the philharmonic halls of Berlin, Cologne and Essen as well as the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and London’s Wigmore Hall.

Highlights of the 2019/20 season include re-invitations to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Florida Orchestra, both under Michael Francis, the Bern Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago, the Munich Symphony under Kevin John Edusei , the Bochum Symphony under Hans Graf and the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim under Roderick Cox. He will make his debuts at the Bregenz Festival, the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna under Jérémie Rhorer, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Ruth Reinhardt, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra under Kahchun Wong and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra under Erik Nielsen. Additionally, he will be Artist-in-Residence at the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt and showcase the wide-ranging cello repertoire as well as his own musical versatility.

His versatile discography is impressive, and includes solo concertos as well as recordings with prominent chamber musicians. He received the ECHO Klassik Prize for his first album (Sony 2011) – for which he was designated as Young Artist of the Year – as well as for his recording of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony under the direction of Sebastian Tewinkel the following year (Sony 2012). Further recordings have included Richard Strauss’ major cello works with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink (Sony 2014) and Joseph Haydn’s cello concertos with the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda (Sony 2015). In 2017, Deutsche Grammophon released a highly acclaimed recording of Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov amongst others. Further recordings were released on Genuin, Linn Records, NEOS, Bridge Records and CPO. In October 2018, myrios classics released his recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 and Sulkhan Tsintsadze’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Andris Poga. The spring of 2020 will see the release of his next myrios CD of Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.

Maximilian Hornung, born 1986 in Augsburg, began taking cello lessons at the age of eight. The teachers with whom he has studied most intensely are Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher and David Geringas. As cellist of the Tecchler Trio, in which he played until 2011, he won the First Prize of the ARD Music Competition in 2007. At the age of only 23, he became first principal cellist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and held this position until 2013. Maximilian Hornung has been supported and sponsored by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation and Borletti-Buitoni Trust London.