“Russian Trumpet Concertos from the 20th Century” = ILYA SHAKHOV: Romantic Concerto for Trumpet and Orch.; ALEXANDER ARUTIUNIAN: Concerto for Trumpet and Orch. in A Flat Major; OSKAR BÖHME: La Napolitaine – Tarantelle; SERGEI VASILENKO: Concerto-Poem in c minor for Trumpet; ALEANDER GOEDICKE: Concert Etude – Reinhold Friedrich, trumpet/ Göttinger Sym. Orch./ Christoph-Mathias Mueller – MDG Scene multichannel (2+2+2) SACD 901 1770-6 [Distr. by E1] [11/27/12] ****:
Reinhold Friedrich is a leading German trumpet player, and principal trumpet of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The Göttingen Symphony was founded in 1862 and is one of the most successful in the Central and Northern Germany area. Swiss conductor Mueller has led the orchestra since 2005, and in 2000 had won the International Conducting Competition in Spain.
The Russian trumpet school was founded by German emigrants in the 19th century, and came to the fore with the popularity of Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto in 1950, heard here. Ilya Shakhov, a member of Arutiunian’s generation, was mostly self-taught and made important contributions to the Soviet trumpet repertory. His concerto is the longest of the five works here. The Armenian influences are strong in Arutiunian’s concerto, altho it also encompasses European musical traditions. It has an unusual five-part structure and though given three separate tracks on the disc is basically a single-movement work.
Both Valsilenko and Goedicke were products of the Moscow Conservatory. His Concert-Poeme first movement has a narrative structure. The composer enjoyed Russian folk songs and old Orthodox church hymns. Goedicke was an organist and pianist as well as composer, and performed at the time the complete organ works of J.S. Bach. His Concert Etude is short but full of extreme virtuoso parts. His works are regarded as milestones in the Soviet trumpet repertory. Friedrich sails thru all the trumpet parts with excellence and MDG’s surround sonics support him well.
—John Sunier
B.B. King In France: Live At The 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival – Elemental Music
This Record Store Day release from Deep Digs/Elemental Music is a fitting tribute to a bona fide legend.