Like Meeting an Old Lover

Whichever horn he's playing, houseboat owner Phil Munds enjoys practicing on the open water.

French horn faculty member Philip Munds has had, by his estimation, some 20 horns since he began playing. "At this point in my life, I wish I had kept all of them," he says.

Munds, principal horn for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), received his first horn at age 16 ("I wore it out," he says) and is a big fan of British-built Paxmans because they're the horns he grew up hearing on recordings. "They have a really velvety sound that's warm and dark, but there's a sizzle to their sound" he says.

For Munds, it's not about developing a lifelong relationship with a perfectly matched instrument—it's about the thrill of trying to find that elusive "perfect" horn. "You think you've found the holy grail of horns, only to find—a few months later—another one," he says. For instance, he just acquired a new Paxman double after a fellow horn player in the BSO asked to borrow Munds' horn: both realized they adored the other's instrument. "I instantly fell in love—I'd played a Paxman for years, and it was like meeting an old lover. We decided to trade instruments: I was playing a Schmid triple, and I gave her that horn and took the Paxman."

Sometimes, though, a horn's magic is best left undisturbed. "I bought a Tony Halstead descant horn ... it was just fantastic," says Munds. "I played it on Mahler's Fourth and some other big pieces."

The horn was well seasoned, he recalls, so one day he took it in to Baltimore Brass to get it cleaned. "Apparently it hadn't been cleaned in 20 years. They said this yellow toxic ooze came out of the valves. They'd never seen anything like that come out of a horn." The ooze must have helped the horn, he says ruefully, "because it never sounded big again."

Munds currently plays two Paxmans: the double and a descant. He also owns a Paxman 23, the model he put aside for a while. "I came back to it and played it for five straight years," he says. "One of my students has it now, so I know it's in good hands, and I'm glad that it's close."