BARGAIN OF THE MONTH
Trumpet Concertos
Works by Telemann; Molter, Torelli, Michael Haydn, Leopold Mozart, Biber (Karl
Heinrich and Heinrich Ignaz Franz); Fux; Querfurth; Albrechtsberger; Georg
Von Reutter I and Georg Reutter II; Schmelzer and Tůma.
Otto Sauter (trumpet); Thomas Hammes (trumpet) [Torelli]; Franz Wagnermeyer
(trumpet II); Peter Leiner (trumpet II) [Torelli]; Kenji Tamiya (trumpet III)
Capella Istropolitana/Nicol Matt
Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim [Telemann]/Nicol Matt
European Chamber Soloists [Torelli]/Nicol Matt
rec. Bratislava, 2005 [CD 5]; 2006 [CD 7-10]; Mannheim, 2004. [CD 1-4]; Stuttgart,
2004 [CD 6]. DDD
detailed contents list at end of review
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94094 [10 CDs: 538:22]
There is no real reason why these discs have been issued together other than
to make up another 10 CD boxed set, a marketing concept that Brilliant Classics
sometimes appear obsessed with. The four Telemann CDs of this release were
first issued by Brilliant as a 4-disc set in 2005. In 2008 they also released
CDs 7 and 8 as a double entitled 'The Trumpet in Salzburg', and discs 9 and
10 as 'The Trumpet in Vienna'. Of the ten CDs of this latest edition, only
one is generous of length, and the whole collection would fit comfortably
on only 7 CDs. The present 10 CD set is called 'Trumpet Concertos', yet many
of the works are not concertos.
Furthermore, in the course of their laudable crusade to bring huge amounts
of music to the masses ('masses' in the relative sense), Brilliant must strike
a balance between cutting costs and maintaining a widely acceptable quality.
Often they do not get this quite right - probably the biggest disappointment
with their discs, time and again, is the lack of information to accompany
the music, and the fatuous errors in listings. Sometimes the documentation
- in these larger sets rarely anything more than card sleeves - appears to
have come off a conveyor belt without any obvious sign of human intervention
along the way.
For example, on the box itself, the timing for CD 4 is given at 65:02; this
is wrong - it is only 52:05, as the sleeve indicates. The box also gives timings
for CD 9 and 10 as 54:15 and 54:22 respectively; these are clearly cut-and-pasted
from CDs 7 and 8 - the sleeves again give the true timings of 59:44 and 57:01
respectively.
More vexatious is the type of error that misinforms you about the music itself.
On CD 9, for example, Johann Fux might be thought to have composed a work
which he called the "Franz Querfurth Concerto in E flat" - that is what the
sleeve indicates. But he did no such thing, and this is in fact a Concerto
in E flat by Franz Querfurth! In fact, many works are not properly labelled,
making identification unnecessarily troublesome. Telemann's TWV numbers, for
example, essential for the unique identification of much of his huge quantity
of music, are absent. All the more irritating is it to discover that Brilliant
have already supplied much of this information in previous incarnations of
these recordings - the 4-disc Telemann set, for example, did indeed provide
catalogue numbers that identified the works properly. Why omit them here?
To save a tiny bit of ink?
Why go to all the trouble of publishing a set - the container and sleeves,
incidentally, are made of stiff, glossy, durable card - only to dispense with
a proof-reader or editor and risk spoiling the product?
Nevertheless, there are many good things to be said about Brilliant in general
and this release in particular. Firstly, there is music by composers who have
generally been badly served by other labels - Johann Molter, for example,
who here gets a whole disc to himself, or the composers on CD 9 and 10 - Reutter
father and son, Tůma, Fux, Querfurth and others.
Secondly, the standard of musicianship is high. Glamorous 'stars' rarely feature
on Brilliant's discs, except sometimes on re-released licensed catalogue,
but groups like the Capella Istropolitana - who some may recognise from Naxos's
early days - or instrumentalists like trumpet player Otto Sauer still put
in many creditable performances to bring shrouded or obscure gems to public
attention. And they are obviously working hard in the studio while the big
names are swanning off on global tours. Nicol Matt tirelessly conducts all
the music in this set. CDs 7-10 were recorded over a period of only six days
in 2006.
Thirdly, sound quality is generally very good. In fact, with the exception
of the Molter disc - see below - the recordings are excellent.
Nearly all the composers featured in this set were dead by the time the keyed
trumpet was invented just before the turn of the 19th century. All were long
dead by the time the valved instrument was invented. In other words, these
works were all written for Baroque trumpet - in many cases involving clarino-style
playing.
The first four discs cover Telemann's complete instrumental music for trumpet
- 7 Concerti, 2 Ouvertures, a Suite, a Sonata,
the so-called Hamburger Trauermusik and one of the Musiques de Table.
All of this has been recorded before, often many times. Suffice to say here
that these are competent performances very well captured. Though clearly inspired
by Vivaldi, Telemann's genius is as self-evident in his concerto writing as
in his vocal music. Contrapuntal elegance, harmonic richness, melodic inventiveness,
structural innovation and irrepressible danceability are all on display. These
characteristics of Telemann's instrumental music make a mockery of the still
popular notion that Telemann wrote too much too fast to be considered a genius.
On the contrary, these works - surely some of the finest ever written for
Baroque trumpet - underline the fact that Telemann's genius is in virtually
everything he wrote. This box is worth the asking price for his works alone
- almost, in fact, for CD 4 alone, which contains the two magnificent double-trumpet
Ouvertures and the Concerto in E flat from the third Musique
de Table.
Disc 5 is devoted to the trumpet concertos of Johann Molter, who was fourteen
years Telemann's junior. According to the New Grove Dictionary, Molter
wrote five concerti for 2 trumpets and 3 for solo trumpet. This disc then
turns to Molter's complete trumpet concerti. The fourth Trumpet Concerto
has a different catalogue prefix from the others, MWV VI, instead of IV; New
Grove information on Molter's corpus is scant, but it appears that the
designation 'IV' is reserved for trumpet concerti, and 'VI' for all other
concerti. New Grove lists a single Horn Concerto in D - this could
well be the extra 'Trumpet' Concerto, included simply because it may
well often have been performed by a trumpeter.
All nine works featured here are in D major, very short - 5 to 10 minutes
in length - and in three fast-slow-fast movements. There is therefore a degree
of sameness about them, but it would be quite wrong to presume from that that
Molter was unimaginative. The concerti all appear to date from a similar period,
in which Molter was clearly moving towards the new galant style. Editing
joins are occasionally audible on this disc, which, though recorded in Bratislava
like CDs 7-10, precedes those by a year.
Disc 6 is reserved for trumpet works of Giuseppe Torelli. These are variously
titled 'concerto', 'sinfonia' and 'sonata', but all are essentially chamber
miniatures, in three to five movements, with considerable variation on the
fast-slow-fast theme. Even so, no work lasts more than five minutes in total!
Fortunately, these are listed with their G (Giegling catalogue) number, apart
from the first Concerto, which is the one published in a collection by Estienne
Roger, attributed to Torelli. G.1 to G.10 are included, even though Torelli's
trumpet works for similar forces continue right up to G.32 - there is no obvious
reason why Brilliant left off with more than half an hour of space still on
the disc. Torelli's music is, however, particularly enthusiastically and ably
performed by the European Chamber Soloists, with excellent sound quality.
Even within the confines of such small sections, the considerable invention
and variety of this music makes it obvious why Torelli ranks as one of the
great early composers not only for the trumpet, but also for strings. Thomas
Hammes is soloist here, with Peter Leiner briefly appearing as second trumpet
in the Concerto.
CD 7 opens with works by two composers with more famous relations. First come
a 'Concertino' and a Concerto, both in two movements, by Michael
Haydn. Both works are quite breathtaking: not only are they beautifully crafted,
but truly stratospheric trumpet technique is required in both. In the Concerto
in C the trumpet plays higher than the pair of flutes, which themselves
must play uncommonly low, giving the work an almost surreal feel. In the Concertino
in D, in fact two movements extracted from a Divertimento, the
trumpet actually reaches the impossibly high A above high C - and to do this
on a natural trumpet, which Otto Sauter does, is an almost superhuman feat
- and a real rarity on disc.
By contrast, Leopold Mozart's Concerto in D for clarino trumpet and
two horns is a more sober, ironically more classical, affair. Again in two
movements, the concerto provides plenty of detail, interest and melody whilst
staying within respectable limits. It has been recorded several times and
is probably Mozart senior's most popular work. Unfortunately, Brilliant do
not credit the horn players.
The main composer on CD 7 is Karl Heinrich Biber von Bibern, who was one of
four of eleven of the famous Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's children who
survived into adulthood. All four inherited some of their father's musical
talent, but Karl was evidently the most gifted. According to New Grove,
Biber junior wrote exclusively church music, including a set of sonatas, from
which these five colourful, creative works, plus the one on CD 8, are presumably
drawn.
Disc 8 features Biber senior himself. The opening Sonata in C by his
son Karl properly belongs with his other five sonatas on CD 7 - its separation
from those seems almost wilful. The first of Biber's works is a Balletti
a 6, which is a suite of dances not for trumpet(s), but rather one with
trumpets in some movements for colour and texture! Then there are six trumpet
sonatas, five of which are drawn from the set of twelve Biber published in
Salzburg in 1676 as his sacred/secular Sonatae Tam Aris, Quam Aulis Servientes,
for five to eight instruments, probably inspired by Johann Schmelzer's Sacro-Profanus
Concentus Musicus (see CD 10 below). For no obvious reason, the sleeve
lists the key only of the first Sonata - IV, VII and XII are also in C, X
is in G minor - and omits the instrumentation details of Sonata VII - IV and
X are scored for single trumpet, the remaining three for two trumpets. These
are virtuosic works, not just for the trumpeter - who has the unenviable task
in Sonata X of playing tricky music in the very awkward key, for a
natural trumpet, of G minor - but also for the strings (violins, violas and
violoni - the latter replaced on this disc by cellos). These instruments,
though not tuned scordatura, as those familiar with Biber might expect,
often have elaborate music consistently near the top of their ranges.
Most of the music on CD 9 is by Austrian composer Johann Fux, better known
for his 1725 treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum, one of
the most important theoretical works in the history of music. Fux also wrote
an enormous amount of music, which is only very slowly being recorded. In
these works by Fux the trumpets form merely part of the tutti - there is little
or no solo writing. Pulcheria was one of his early operas, and the
Overture, in keeping with the era, has a prominent role for trumpet.
The Parthia in C is Tafelmusik by another name, an elegant suite of
dances in the style of Handel or Telemann, taken from Fux's Concentus Musico-Instrumentalis,
which was published in 1701. The Serenada was written for the same
forces minus the timpani. It is also in C, is also a graceful suite of dances,
and is also from the Concentus.
Little is known about Franz Querfurth - unusually for an 18th century composer,
not even his date of birth or death - but his accomplished, amazingly virtuosic
clarino Concerto in E flat has been recorded on at least one occasion
- by Robert Civiletti in 2007 on Buccina Cantorum Recordia, a disc which also
contains the two concerti on CD 10 by Reutter II and the 'Concertino' in D
by Michael Haydn. Soloist breathing noises intrude into this particular recording
for no obvious reason. Another composer more renowned for his theoretical
writings, not to mention the fact that he taught composition to a certain
Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Albrechtsberger, rounds off the disc with an
interesting four-movement Trumpet Concertino in E flat. Part of the interest
lies in the fact that Albrechtsberger did not write a trumpet concerto! However,
he did write two jew's harp concertos and two concertinos, quite possibly
the first composer in history to do so, and the Naxos biography of Albrechtsberger
notes that these have "occasionally made their way into the modern trumpet
repertoire". One of them is in E flat, the key of this 'trumpet' concertino;
this is, therefore, presumably a transcription - liner or sleeve notes could
have made this clear.
Disc 10 is mainly devoted to the Viennese father and son composers, the Reutters
- both minor nobles, although only the son used his title. Reutter I was mainly
known for his organ music and playing, and not even New Grove provides
a list of works, though it does state that some may have been falsely attributed
to his son. For Reutter II New Grove lists two clarino concertos and
a Servizio da Tavola ('Table Music'). The CD sleeve does not label
the concertos 'clarino', but any doubt is quickly dispelled once the music
is under way. These are appealing works, somewhat in the style of Molter.
The second, longer concerto is particularly striking. The Servizio
is not surprisingly reminiscent of Telemann, albeit at a more moderate level
of genius.
The last two works on this disc are a clarino Sonata a 5 by Austrian
composer Johann Schmelzer, and a Sonata for 4 trumpets (not listed
in New Grove) by Johann Fux's pupil František Tůma, a Czech
composer whose sacred works were known to Mozart and Haydn. Despite his dates,
Tůma was a conservative who kept to the styles of late Baroque, but as
five-minute works go, this is rather enjoyable. Schmelzer was a generation
older than Reutter I; his Sonata a 5 presumably comes from his influential
set of 13 sonatas for various chamber combinations, the Sacro-Profanus
Concentus Musicus, published in 1662. It is a jaunty piece in one movement,
with imaginatively written high and low strings - and no sign of the bassoon
listed on the sleeve. The numbering on CD 10 goes awry, as there is no track
10. This does not affect the music - all sections are present - but anyone
wanting to listen to Schmelzer's Sonata a 5, for example, will get
the first movement of Tůma's Sonata for 4 trumpets if they select
the track number indicated by the sleeve.
Byzantion
Many good things: music by composers generally badly served by other labels,
the standard of musicianship high and sound quality generally excellent.
Detailed contents list
CD 1-4 [51:14 + 48:46 + 39:44 + 52:05]
Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Trumpet Concerto in D [5:10]
Trumpet Concerto in D [14:40]
Suite no.1 in D for Trumpet, Strings & Continuo [22:41]
Trumpet Sonata in D [10:54]
Trumpet Concerto in D [9:28]
Musique de Table in D for Trumpet, Oboe, Strings & Continuo [39:28]
Concerto for 3 Trumpets [9:31]
Trumpet Concerto in D [12:32]
Hamburger Trauermusik [9:50]
Concerto in D for 3 Trumpets [7:48]
Ouverture in D for 2 Trumpets, Strings & Continuo [18:34]
Concerto in E flat for 2 Trumpets [from Musique de Table III] [14:43]
Ouverture in D for 2 Trumpets, Timpani, Strings & Continuo [17:11]
CD 5
[72:51]
Johann Melchior MOLTER (1695-1765)
Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/12 [9:37]
Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/13 [11:21]
Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/14 [9:59]
Trumpet Concerto in D MWV VI/35 [9:03]
Double Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/7 [6:01]
Double Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/8 [6:12]
Double Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/9 [6:41]
Double Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/10 [6:31]
Double Trumpet Concerto in D MWV IV/11 [7:01]
CD 6 [48:21]
Giuseppe TORELLI (1658-1709)
Trumpet Concerto Estienne Roger [5:06]
Trumpet Sonata G.1 [6:18]
Trumpet Sonata G.2 [4:19]
Trumpet Sonata G.3 [4:12]
Trumpet Sonata G.4 [2:56]
Trumpet Sonata G.5 [3:21]
Trumpet Sonata G.6 [3:46]
Trumpet Sonata G.7 [5:18]
Trumpet Sinfonia G.8 [4:38]
Trumpet Sinfonia in D G.9 [3:54]
Trumpet Sinfonia in D G.10 [4:33]
CD 7-8 [54:15 + 54:22]
Michael HAYDN (1737-1806)
Trumpet 'Concertino' in D [7:29]
Trumpet Concerto 'no.2' in C [9:17]
Leopold MOZART (1719-1787)
Trumpet Concerto in D [12:07]
Karl Heinrich BIBER VON BIBERN (1681-1749)
Clarino Trumpet Sonata in C [5:38]
Clarino Trumpet Sonata in D [5:36]
Clarino Trumpet Sonata in C [4:33]
Sonata for 4 trumpets, timpani & strings [5:04]
Sonata Paschalis in C [3:44]
Clarino Trumpet Sonata in C [3:54]
Heinrich Ignaz Franz VON BIBER (1644-1704)
Balletti a 6
Sonata a 6 in C [5:49]
Sonata I in C [4:45]
Sonata IV [4:52]
Sonata VII [7:12]
Sonata X [6:14]
Sonata XII [4:47]
CD9-10 [59:44 + 57:01]
Johann Joseph FUX (1660-1741)
Pulcheria - Overture [6:50]
Parthia in C [11:56]
Serenada [14:04]
Franz QUERFURTH (fl.1750s)
Trumpet Concerto in E flat [11:16]
Johann ALBRECHTSBERGER (1736-1809)
Trumpet Concertino in E flat [12:35]
Georg von REUTTER I (1656-1738)
Overture a 6 in C [15:09]
Georg REUTTER II (1708-1772)
Trumpet Concerto no.1 in C [5:47]
Trumpet Concerto no.2 in D [10:42]
Servizio da Tavola no.2 in C [11:29]
Johann Heinrich SCHMELZER (1620-1680)
Sonata a 5 [7:16]
František TŮMA (1704-1774)
Sonata for 4 trumpets [5:34]