This is one of those recordings which you will either deeply
love, or which will leave you with perhaps some warm and patchy
feelings of nostalgia but not otherwise particularly enamoured.
If the latter, you are unlikely to go for it in the first place,
but with legion fans of Håkan Hardenberger’s superb
playing and almost invariably exciting programming there will
be many tempted to try this titbit. You may detect here and
there that this is not really my ‘bag’, and I have
to admit to not being hugely excited by the kinds of sentiment
so warmly purveyed by much of this album. If however, you are
not a churlish old purist who prefers original cuts, or you
are someone who delights in quietly expressed heart-on-sleeve
romanticism, then this may be right up your street.
The booklet notes declare that, having earned his reputation
as a trailblazer, “finally the time has come for Håkan
Hardenberger to indulge his audience, and himself, with some
of the greatest melodies ever written.” If you like your
music sweet and slow, then this is like a hot steamy bath with
added oils at the end of a tiring day. With this recording you
can indeed immerse and indulge in fifty minutes of unchallenging,
beautifully performed music, and I would be the last person
in the world to deny you your pleasure. Hardenberger’s
ability to sing with his instrument is given free rein in every
song here. He is a model of good taste and restraint, like every
good vocalist, even when he does let rip you always have the
feeling he retains a little in reserve.
There are some nice changes of timbre here and there. The Kurt
Weill tune Speak Low is played with a mute, making the
trumpet sound a little as if it was coming through the horn
of an old 78 rpm acoustic record player. The subtly placed piano
notes are a nice little touch in this arrangement as well. The
programme selection is driven by music which appears in, or
was written for films. Pianist and collaborator Roland Pöntinen,
whose exploits in this field has already been proven with his
marvellous Pianorama album for BIS, made many of the
orchestrations for this album, and Hardenberger credits him
with ‘freeing his own musical imagination.’ For
me the Pianorama album works better, as there is a greater
sense of improvisatory invention and contrast. With Both
Sides, Now the emphasis is very much on the elegiac, which
is all well and good, but becomes a bit samey after rather a
short time.
The magic in this album is, if you are prepared to listen, in
the detail. Pöntinen’s harmonic solutions in the
orchestrations are often very sophisticated, and create something
new from each song rather than trying to re-create ‘something
like’ the original. Atmosphere is crucial, and the Academy
of St Martin in the Fields strings are warmly responsive to
the arranger’s intentions in each case. Depending on your
Hi-Fi set-up, you may find yourself wishing the trumpet sound
was a little more recessed in relation to the strings, which
are present but make too little impact - especially in stereo
and through smaller speakers. The little countermelodies in
something like the title track Both Sides, Now aren’t
equal enough to the solo, and the musical conversation never
really gets going. Hardenberger’s trumpet is always worth
listening to, and there would perhaps have been more moments
you could have forgotten it was a trumpet if there had been
just a little more air between him and us. His range of expression
is tremendous however, and there is no mistaking the mood of
each number. I love the thinning out of texture you get in moments
such as the passages with trumpet and pizzicato bass, in My
Funny Valentine for instance, and the opening of The
Seagull. The Andante pour trompette is a fascinating
little piece as well, written by Hardenberger’s teacher
Pierre Thibaud. Lyrical tone and phrasing are superlative throughout.
With the SACD surround layer the sound does open out significantly,
the acoustic taking on a more prominent role and making the
string contribution more all-embracing.
I hope this release does really well and rides high in the charts.
It is true to its intentions and rewarding in subtle and genteel
ways which will grow on you when the lights have dimmed and
the children have been packed off to boot-camp. I could have
wished for a bit more grit, smoke and swearing, but that’s
just me.
Dominy Clements
Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet) 
[50:21] 