This CD is a real treat - a little box of absolute delights
with a vivid power to surprise.
The first and longest work on the disc is by a composer who
the booklet notes say is not even listed in any music lexicon.
That’s unfathomable especially after hearing this concerto.
It is one of those compositions that fool you into thinking
you’ve heard it before when clearly you can’t have
as this is a world première recording. A violin pupil
at the Moscow Conservatory Music School, Ilya Shakhov volunteered,
aged 16, to help defend the capital when the Second World War
came to its gates. He only started composing after the war.
This concerto dates from 1955 and is an important and valuable
contribution to Soviet trumpet repertoire. The concerto abounds
in lovely joyous themes and the main melody is particularly
gorgeous. Romantic is certainly the correct description for
this concerto. The soloist is involved right from the start.
Reinhold Friedrich has a wonderfully rich and clear tone and
every note is true.
The next work is surely the best known of all works for trumpet
to have been written in Soviet times. The title of the disc
should really have been Soviet Trumpet Concertos since Arutiunian,
who died this year only six months short of his 92nd
birthday, was Armenian, born in Yerevan in September 1920. This
concerto was intended to be written in 1943 for the principal
trumpet of the Yerevan Philharmonic Orchestra, Zsolak Vartasarian
but he died during the war. The work was only completed in 1950
and premièred by Aykaz Messlayan, though it was Timofei
Dokshitzer whose recording brought it to world attention. Since
then it has become a firm favourite. Right from the beginning
it uses traditional folk melodies from his native land imparting
an attractive oriental flavour. Arutiunian clearly favoured
the trumpet as a solo instrument and he composed several works
for it.
Oskar Böhme was another composer whose attachment to the
trumpet resulted in several works for the instrument including
the only known concerto for trumpet and orchestra that was composed
during the romantic period. This work helped to establish his
career in his adopted country of Russia to which he emigrated
in 1897 from his native Germany. His short work La Napolitaine,
a tarantella, written in 1900, is full of exuberance and joie
de vivre. It became extremely popular with its evocation of
Southern Italy through its allusion to a folk dance.
Sergei Vasilenko’s concerto, subtitled Concert-Poem
is a highly attractive work that was another valuable addition
to Soviet trumpet repertoire. Written in 1945 its three movements
contain rich themes which emphasise the trumpet’s gentle
side. Other music by Vasilenko on Toccata
and Marco
Polo has been reviewed on Musicweb.
Considered as a founder of the Russian organ school, Alexander
Goedicke wrote several works for trumpet (see review
of a concerto) including this highly virtuosic piece . It calls
for much double-tonguing, a challenge for any trumpeter but
which Reinhold Friedrich finds no trouble at all. A Conzertstück
for piano and orchestra by Goedicke featured on a early Romantic
Piano Concertos release by Hyperion.
This is an interesting disc presenting rarely heard repertoire
and played by a true lion of the trumpet. His sound is absolutely
pure presenting these works in their finest light. He is complemented
by a great orchestra that serves its soloist wonderfully well.
Steve Arloff
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Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet) 
[61:26] 