Håkan Hardenberger

During the second half of the 19th century, a French school of trumpet playing was established, with French musicians and composers at the forefront of the instrument’s musical and technical development. As a result, it was entrusted with a more prominent role within the orchestra and soon also as a solo instrument. On the present disc, Håkan Hardenberger – who like so many other leading trumpet players studied in Paris – presents some of the fruits of this development: five important French works composed between 1944 and 1977. With the support of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Fabien Gabel – who incidentally began his career as a trumpet player – he opens the disc with Henri Tomasi’s Trumpet Concerto. Often performed and recorded, it here appears on disc for the first time with its original, longer ending, reconstructed from a newly discovered manuscript.

Neeme Järvi, with his children now as rivals, remains a busy star on the international conducting scene. Born in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, on June 7,1937, and brought up within the USSR's system for developing musical talent, Järvi studied percussion and conducting at the Tallinn Music School. He made his debut as a conductor at age 18. From 1955 to 1960 he pursued further studies at the Leningrad Conservatory, where his principal teachers were Nikolaï Rabinovich and Yevgeny Mravinsky.

These works of Sally Beamish, composed 2003-12, highlight the inspiration she has found in her adopted homeland Scotland and its landscape and history, while also reflecting her interest in jazz and Scottish traditional music. Often collaboration closely with her performers, the present discs the three concertante works are all played by the eminent soloists for whom they were written: James Crabb, Branford Marsalis and Håkan Hardenberger. Conductor Martyn Brabbins and the RSNO, an ensemble that has performed her works on several occasions, join the former two soloists.

Alongside his celebrated performances of the classical repertory, HåkanHardenbergeris also renowned as a pioneer of significant new trumpet works. The three works on this disc were all composed with him in mind, and illustrate his many-facetted musical persona. The most recent of them, ‘True Stories’ by Betsy Jolas, was written in order to give Hardenberger and Roger Murarooccasion to perform together. Its title springs from the fact that the work forms the composer’s first attempt to work with sounds selected from daily life and either ‘tamed’ through stylization or left quasi crude.

Hakan Hardenberger possesses a polished technique, a clear tone, and a smooth legato, and his playing is superb. A few examples of questionable musicianship (such as the undue stress he puts on the resolution of trills) point to the fact that he is a not-yet-fully-educated virtuoso. One might prefer a somewhat less bright, more mellow and burnished sound, but the technique and control the trumpeter exhibits are not to be faulted. He offers an excellent cadenza, true to the style of the period. Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields do a smashing job with the rest of the piece. Philips's engineering is excellent, though the trumpet is larger-sounding and closer than it should be a small flaw.

The duo with Hakan Hårdenberger is my musical safe space for maximum risk-taking. From my earliest point of connection with this most regal of musicians, what entranced me was the fearless audacity of the endeavour. Envelopes pushed, or simply reinvented, boundaries moved and canvasses recast. Rehearsals are intense; not many words spoken, a glance here or there, a certain type of breath taken, whilst the concerts are zones of feverish intensity, many-coloured and highly emotional. Too many now to pick out - San Fransisco, Seoul, Verbier, London, the Hanover concert with three World Premieres - I want to thank him for his encouragement, daring, humour and above all, friendship.” - Colin Currie