A trumpet and organ spectacular: three original Argo and DG albums on a generous, newly compiled 2-CD set.
In Baroque works generally, the trumpet is always accompanied by drums both of these instruments having strong associations with military music. The organ, on the other hand, is primarily associated with the church and it is within the pageantry and rituals of divine worship that the combination of trumpets, timpani and organ comes most splendidly into its own. The repertoire on these recordings includes fine examples from the German, French, Italian and English schools, mixing original works and arrangements, jubilant fanfares with arias of liquid beauty.
It is especially fitting that there should be two works by Buxtehude who was for so many years organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck. In the city’s central Dom, Preston was joined by the three prodigiously talented, twenty-something Läubin brothers to make ‘Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound’ in 1985. Five years later they were reunited at the studios of Abbey Road in London to record Italian and German concertos full of stately proclamations and brilliant figuration.
Back in 1968, Preston had scored a commercial and artistic hit for Argo with ‘Music for trumpet and cornetto’, a collection which ventured into little-known pre-Baroque territory and presented the uniquely rounded sonority of the cornet, the trumpet’s forebear, for the first time on record. The soloist was the American Don Smithers, who had only begun to learn the trumpet a decade previously but rapidly made an international reputation as a trumpeter of astonishing security and virtuosity, especially in the early-music repertoire.
CD 1
Music for Trumpets & Organ
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound
JEAN-JOSEPH MOURET: Symfonies de Fanfare
DIETERICH BUXTEHUDE:
Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nun
Ciacona in E minor for organ
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH:
Jesu, joy of man’s desiring
Lobe den Herren
Darum wir billig loben dich
Dein ist allein die Ehre
GUSTAV CHARPENTIER: Marche de Triomphe et Second Air de Trompette
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI Toccata
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Air & Variations
HENRY PURCELL:
Voluntary for double organ
Sound the Trumpets
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Trio Sonata No. 2
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Sonata from Cantata, BWV 31
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: See, the conqu’ring hero comes!
Hannes Läubin, Wolfgang Läubin & Bernhard Läubin, trumpets
Norbett Schmitt, timpani
Simon Preston, organ
Trumpet Concertos
GEORG PHILLIP TELEMANN: Concerto in D major for three trumpets & two oboes
ANTONIO VIVALDI: Concerto in C major for two trumpets, RV 537
CD 2
PETRONIO FRANCESCHINI: Sonata in D major for two trumpets
TOMASO ALBINONI: Trumpet Concerto in B flat major
JOHANN VALENTIN RATHGEBER: Concerto in E flat major for two trumpets, Op. 6 No. 15
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN: Concerto in D major for three trumpets
Hannes Läubin, Wolfgang Läubin & Bernhard Läubin, trumpets
English Chamber Orchestra
Simon Preston, organ & conductor
Music for Trumpet & Cornetto*
ANDREA GROSSI: Sonata Decima à 5
GIOVANNI BATTISTA BUONAMENTE: Sonata Quarta à 2
JOHN COPRARIO: Suite
GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI: Canzona Terza à 2
ARGANGELO CORELLI: Sonata in D major
MAURIZIO CAZZATI: Sonata à 5 ‘La Bianchina’
GIOVANNI BATTISTA BUONAMENTE: Sonata Quinta à 2
GIOVANNI BUONAVENTURA VIVIANI: Sonata Prima
JOHN HINGESTON: Fantasia
GIOVANNI BUONAVENTURA VIVIANI: Sonata Seconda
Don Smithers, trumpet & cornetto
Simon Preston, organ & harpsichord
Kenneth Sillito & Iona Brown, violins
Cecil Aronowitz, viola
Desmond Dupré, gamba & chittarone
Adam Skeaping, violine
Alan Lumsden, trombone
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
Producers: Dr. Steven Paul (Music for Trumpets & Organ); Dr. Steven Paul, Christian Gansch (Trumpet Concertos); Michael Bremner (Music for Trumpet & Cornetto)
Balance Engineers: Hans-Peter Schweigmann (Music for Trumpets & Organ); Gernot von Schultzendorff (Trumpet Concertos)
Recording Locations: Dom, Lübeck, Germany, November 1985 (Music for Trumpets & Organ); Abbey Road Studio 1, London, UK, July 1990 (Trumpet Concertos); Kingsway Hall, London, UK, April 1968 (Music for Trumpet & Cornetto)
Remastering Engineer: Chris Bernauer
Original Deutsche Grammophon CD Releases: 419 245-2 (Music for Trumpets & Organ); 431 817-2 (Trumpet Concertos)
Original Argo LP Release: ZRG 601 (Music for Trumpet & Cornetto)
‘The Läubin brothers form a fine ensemble, and the organ has magnificent clarity and quality of sound … the performances are superb in this most enjoyable celebration of noble sounds and music.’ Gramophone, March 1987 (‘‘Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound’)
‘The solo playing and the partnership with the ECO are so well managed that this disc is almost irresistible.’ Gramophone, December 1991 (Trumpet Concertos)