With the large selection of recordings on the market for both the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos, the browser might be forgiven for wondering whether British trumpeter Alison Balsom's no-neckline look might be the chief attraction here. It's not the case, and Balsom crafts a distinctive interpretation of these familiar works within the category of modern-instrument, chamber-orchestra readings. Annotator Jonathan Freeman-Attwood points out an interesting feature of the Haydn concerto's outer movements: the composer's ...
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With the large selection of recordings on the market for both the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos, the browser might be forgiven for wondering whether British trumpeter Alison Balsom's no-neckline look might be the chief attraction here. It's not the case, and Balsom crafts a distinctive interpretation of these familiar works within the category of modern-instrument, chamber-orchestra readings. Annotator Jonathan Freeman-Attwood points out an interesting feature of the Haydn concerto's outer movements: the composer's humorous treatment of the fanfares conventionally associated with the trumpet. The instrument seems to be trying to assert itself against the flow of melody characteristic of Haydn's time. Balsom catches this humor with restrained playing that has an unmistakably sly quality. She also handles the virtuoso demands of the Hummel concerto effortlessly; offers very langorous, lovely slow movements; and switches gears into a sparer idiom for the Trumpet Concerto in D major by Giuseppe...
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