Trumpet Concerto

This complete recording of the trumpet concertos of German High Baroque composer Johann Melchior Molter actually includes the concertos in which the trumpet plays any role at all, and this is its biggest strength. Sample some of the concertos on the second CD, such as the Sonata Grossa for three trumpets, two oboes, timpani, strings, and continuo, or either of the works designated as a sinfonia concertante – the trumpet is not the first work one would associate with that elegant French form and its genteel conversations among a group of solo instruments, but Molter's command of instrumental textures is most unusual for his era.

The tragic fate of composer Oskar Böhme long went unresearched. His music suffered a similar fate. On his new album “Oskar Böhme – Trumpet Concerto & Pieces” the trumpeter Matthias Höfs is joined by The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in a performance of his most ambitious works that aims to win a hearing both for his striking and sensitive music and for the story of his life. The album will be released by Berlin Classics on September 30.

One of the very rare incursions of Riccardo Muti in pre-romantic repertoire, and featuring trumpetist Maurice André, this album gathers together two heavyweights in their discipline. It includes masterpieces of the trumpet concerto (with notably a virtuoso transcription of a violin concerto by Torelli) and the second Brandenburg Concerto, in which the trumpet holds a prominent place.