Trumpet

“Indisputably the most consummate artist in the history of the classical trumpet,” was how Gramophone described Maurice André, a musician characterised by both brilliance and refinement. These six CDs, which give pride of place to music from the 18th and 20th centuries, complement some of the most popular concertos ever written for trumpet with an enticing and fascinating selection of rarely-heard works.

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.

In his opening remarks, Marco Blaauw admits that only latterly did he enjoy the extrovert tendencies of his instrument – and this recital “shows off” in exemplary fashion. Only Hanna Kulenty’s Brass No 1 is a truly abstract study: the first in a cycle of trumpet-centred pieces that puts the double-bell instrument as thoroughly and as scintillatingly through its paces as any music written from a non-jazz perspective.

Jean-François Madeuf and Pierre-Yves Madeuf are two of the leading exponents of the historically informed performance practice as applied to wind instruments. On natural horn or natural trumpet they can be found in many of Europe’s main early music ensembles and orchestras. On this new Accent CD, they team up with Sigiswald Kuijken’s exquisite La Petite Bande to perform a set of Georg Philipp Telemann concertos as they have never been heard before on record: using natural trumpets and horns, and bringing the pieces back to their original chamber music context.

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.