HAYDN, HUMMEL, TORELLI, NERUDA: Trumpet Concertos – Alison Balsom, trumpet/ German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen/ Thomas Klug, leader – EMI

by | Oct 23, 2008 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

HAYDN, HUMMEL, TORELLI, NERUDA: Trumpet Concertos – Alison Balsom, trumpet/ German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen/ Thomas Klug, leader – EMI 2 16213 0, 52:50 ****:

Where does EMI find these people? Alison Balsom, one of the latest and greatest in the EMI philly-wagon, is beautiful, feminine, blond, and sultry, and she plays what has traditionally been recognized as the ultimate male instrument – the trumpet. And she plays the hell out of it. With her fourth album she moves away from concepts into the real meat and potatoes world of the traditional repertory standards, the Haydn and Hummel concertos, with some excellent additions by Torelli and Neruda. All are in the key of E-flat, with the exception of the D-major Torelli. The CD package is complete with sexy photos of the artist, of course. Well, why not?

The point remains that she is the genuine article, perhaps not the greatest artist of the age (as if such a thing is possible to determine), but a very fine trumpeter with a lovely sound and excellent sense of lyrical quality that comes across in everything she plays. The two standards here are rather up-tempo and replete with period-style punctuations from the orchestra, quite modern in approach when compared to the more spacious, long-lined, and broadly paced Karajan version with Maurice Andre, or even the Abbado recordings with Herseth. Both of those possess a timeless quality about them and will always remain as classical standards, but Balsom interjects her own variety of tempered lyricism that Haydn would surely have loved, especially his delightful and moving slow movement – though taken perkily here – and succeeds in making it her own.

Hey, it’s a new generation, and it will have its own take on the classical masters. With talent like Balsom’s surely we are in good hands. Only time will tell whether her legacy will equal that of the greats of the past, but she is certainly off to a fine start. EMI gives her rich and deep sound from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lunsen, Germany. A fine album, but it could have been much longer length. I guess EMI thinks that sexy pictures make up for loss of material.

— Steven Ritter
 

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