Pieces of a Dream" by composer Christian Jost is a unique chamber music suite of symphonic proportions for flugelhorn/trumpet, vibraphone, and piano played by Simon Hofele, Frank Dupree, and Christoph Sietzen. This innovative composition transcends the boundaries of traditional music genres, inviting listeners to explore over 50 minutes of intricate melodies, harmonies, and rhythms across it's four captivating movements: "Is It Safe," "Come to Me," "Driven by a Strange Desire," and "In My Dream, It's All Alive." Is It Safe" opens the suite with an elegiac duo of flugelhorn and piano, setting the stage for a sonic exploration of deceptive beauty and emotional depth. The flugelhorn weaves a breath-like melody, creating a vivid and nuanced dreamscape. At the same time, the piano enriches this melody with complex emotional progressions. "Come to Me" introduces the vibraphone in a mysterious and melancholic mood, escalating into a scherzo-like movement filled with virtuosic passages and an ostinato rhythm that propels the music forward. The third movement, "Driven by a Strange Desire," marks the climax of the suite with it's fanfare-like vibraphone solo and a trumpet that soars over hammered piano rhythms and polyrhythmic structures. This extensive movement travels through varied sections, leading to a dramatic and fast-paced finale. "In My Dream, It's All Alive," the final movement, captures the essence of the suite with it's fragile mood and enchantingly tender melodies, wrapping up the musical journey in a transfigured serenity." Pieces of a Dream" stands at the crossroads of genres - not confined to jazz, yet it swings and grooves; nor is it experimental new music, as it embraces atmospheric drifting. This work represents a path untrodden, crafted by a new generation of musicians unbound by categorical constraints. Our heartfelt thanks to Simon, Frank, and Christoph for their commitment to bringing this visionary piece to life. Dive into "Pieces of a Dream" and let it's innovative compositions and emotional depth guide you through a musical journey unlike any other. Discover a world where chamber music meets symphonic scale and experience the beauty of music that defies categorization
In 2013 a group of Krakow-based instrumentalists shared the stage as part of the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, conducted by maestro Rudiger Bohn. Having then played together at Darmstadt's Internationale Ferienkurse fur Nee Musik, the musicians established an independent body. A couple of events held in a community center by one of the town's exit roads and in a then neglected theater marked the beginnings of Spoldzielnia Muzyczna contemporary ensemble, a group who specializes in performing new music. This is the ensemble's first entirely self-curated and self-produced album. It includes compositions which shaped the group's identity.
The concept of recording this CD was born during the uncertain times of the pandemic in 2020, when musicians were facing a great deal of instability and personal connections became restricted. As live music came to a halt in the UK and Europe, trumpeter Oscar Whight found himself taking on the role of Principal Trumpet in the Cairo Symphony Orchestra for a period of 10 months. This unexpected journey became the backdrop for the first piece commissioned for this recording, Winter Journeys by Martin Butler. On his return to the UK, Oscar collaborated with other renowned British composers and these exciting new works for trumpet and piano are now showcased in this album. This project provided a wonderful opportunity to bring together a diverse programme of fresh and exhilarating music which is uncompromising in it's ambition, yet can connect immediately with the listener. The programme encompasses a wide range of styles and techniques, showcasing the trumpet's versatility. From technically demanding passages that push the instrument to it's limits, to simple melodies that highlight it's inherent vocal qualities, each piece requires a unique approach. The title Nexus not only symbolises the desire to present music that connects, but is also representative of the various connections that brought this CD to fruition. Artistic working relationships create friendships and Oscar was fortunate to collaborate with the talented pianist Zeynep ozsuca for this recording, who also happens to be a neighbour. Two of the composers featured on this recording are contemporaries of Oscar's father Michael: Martin Butler was a member of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra with him, and Mark Anthony Turnage studied at the Royal College of Music at the same time as Michael. The artwork for this disc, titled Pathways, was created by Stuart Hartley, a family friend whose work perfectly complements the theme of connections explored in this album.
Hakan Hardenberger and Roland Pontinen have enjoyed a fruitful artistic relationship for over forty years. They have played, toured and recorded together and have devoted much time and energy to repertoire ideas. 'For us to create a new programme is an exciting, stimulating and fun process', says Pontinen. 'A process that often mirrors our mutual interest in jazz, film and other art forms. The idea of juxtaposing works of contrasting characters, or composed centuries apart, can often shed new light on the music itself.' We are treated here to recently composed works, arrangements, favourites of both musicians and standards from the Great American Songbook. The centrepiece of the programme is Three Autumns by Staffan Storm, atmospherically connected to Anna Akhmatova's poetry, a reflection on elegiac autumn moods. Among contemporary composers, Mark-Anthony Turnage and HK Gruber, who have provided Hardenberger with more works than any other composers, are also represented. Roland Pontinen contributes two pieces, one of them a meditative work inspired by the simplicity and mood of Thomas Newman's masterful film scores. Legende by George Enescu reflects the impressionistic style of the composer's teachers. The recital is also interspersed with shorter pieces, arrangements and reinterpretations of classic American songs, and includes legendary jazzman Ornette Coleman's Chanting, a favourite encore in Hardenberger/Pontinen programmes - always improvised, every time different.
As pianist, conductor and composer, Ole Schmidt was one of the great polymaths of the Nordic musical world. His music was influenced by Bartók, Stravinsky and the French school and is underpinned by a certain Nordic clarity. It combines rhythmic energy, high concentration, elemental expressivity and deadpan humor. Schmidt's experience on the podium gave him an inside track on the working of the orchestra, and his pragmatism and refinement are evident in his larger scores, including the three momentous concertos on this album. In his Pièce Concertante, Schmidt places a trumpet and a trombone in the foreground. The piece has a bustling concerto grosso atmosphere and a consistent good humor. The album also presents his Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, which explore the full expressive capabilities of the tuba, and the Concerto for Horn and Chamber Orchestra consisting of two contrasting movements: the first serious and dreaming, the second fast and playfully light.
Shostakovich: Jazz Suites; Ballet Suites; Concertos
Capriccio
CD
$33.99Jul 04, 2025
Dmitri Shostakovich is first and foremost known for his symphonies and string quartets - works that contain some humor, but even more darkness, brooding, and desolation. But there is the jaunty side of the great composer, too, and nowhere does it come to it's cheerful fore than in these works, the Jazz Suites, the Tahiti Trot, and his Ballet Suites. This set, accompanying Capriccio's boxes of Shostakovich's Symphonies, Film Music, Orchestral Songs, and Chamber Music, is rounded out with two concertos. In the playful Piano Concerto, that humorous side comes through in the many quotations of songs, own works, and Beethoven. Only the grim Violin Concerto, held back, like the 4th Symphony, for fear of retribution, offers no smile.
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos / Melichar, Berlin Philharmonic
Danacord
CD
$18.99May 03, 2024
The first ever attempt to present the Brandenburg Concertos in accordance with Baroque tradition. The pioneering early Berlin recordings conducted with élan and elegance by Alois Melichar, a now nearly forgotten Austrian master. The set includes bonus tracks of the Third Brandenburg Concerto conducted by three legendary masters: Eugene Goossens, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and the Dane Georg Høeberg. All recordings from the collection of Claus Byrith and transferred using the best possible digital technology.
An English Concert (Festliche Musik Fur Trompete & Orgel) / Hofs, Janz
Berlin Classics
CD
$21.99Jan 05, 2024
Matthias Hofs (trumpet) and Matthias Janz (organ) present a program of works by English masters from the Renaissance to the late Baroque. The instrumental combination of trumpet and organ let this repertoire resound in festive splendor. The musical performance is historically informed and played on modern instruments. Among the works on this album are songs from “The Musical Entertainer 1737”, English Dances and Trumpet Voluntaries by George Frideric Handel, John Stanley and many more.
Alchemy: New Music for Trumpet & Orchestra / Brum, Royal Orchestra of Sevilla
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Sep 23, 2022
Like alchemists of old, attempting to recombine the four elements, here Fábio Brum presents four distinct musical languages in a program forged during lockdown. Gabriele Roberto’s Tokyo Suite charts the astonishment of a traveler dazzled by the vast megapolis, whereas Dimitri Cervo’s The Brazilian Four Seasons offers a colorful, energetic panorama of the natural and human worlds. Fábio Brum’s very personal musical journey is highlighted by the contrast between the Talmudic contemplation of Menachem Zur’s De Profundis and the abstract ruminations of Nicola Tescari’s Trumpet Concerto ‘Nine Moods.’
The trumpet has had many concertos written for it by composers from the Soviet era and beyond. Appealing in its unabashed melodies and colorfully nostalgic feel, Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto became popular in the West, while Weinberg’s emotive Trumpet Concerto in B flat major was summed up by Shostakovich as a ‘symphony for trumpet and orchestra’. Shostakovich’s own playful Concerto No.1, Op. 35 is recorded here with Timofei Dokschizer’s extended trumpet part, bringing it closer to the Baroque ‘double concerto’ model that the composer may initially have intended.
Mary Elizabeth Bowden, praised for her “splendid, brilliant” artistry (Gramophone), celebrates the narrative power of the trumpet with "Storyteller: Contemporary Concertos for Trumpet." Bowden is joined by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Allen Tinkham in a collection of new concertos that redefine the trumpet’s voice in modern classical music. This recording, a testament to Bowden’s commitment to expanding the trumpet repertoire, features world premiere recordings of works by James M. Stephenson, Clarice V. Assad, Vivian Fung, Tyson Gholston Davis, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Reena Esmail, showcasing the richness and versatility of contemporary classical trumpet music.
The Spanish Suites is inspired by a different palo of flamenco, which the composer transforms in unique ways. Some movements incorporate elements such as bitonality or atonal diatonicism-techniques used to create contrast or convey a particular effect-without becoming the predominant compositional resource. Gines Martinez Vera, is a distinguished educator and an expert in orchestral arrangement, Martinez Vera presents here new compositions that are not only impeccably crafted but also deeply rewarding in performance, rich in analysis, and thoroughly enjoyable to the ear. These are works unafraid to delight-modern in their folkloric inspiration, brimming with rhythmic vitality and orchestral colour, evoking the celebrated Huapango of Moncayo. A student of Copland who, in turn, studied under Nadia Boulanger, Moncayo embodies that powerful Franco-American model, brilliantly adapted to a Hispanic symphonic language-one that merges Albeniz-like lyricism with jazz inflections and flamenco flourishes. It is within this lineage that the music of Martinez Vera finds it's voice. His is a bold artistic vision in a world of high art music still dominated by the experimental. But, fortunately, Gines Martinez Vera writes beautiful music. And beauty is not the privilege of the elite-it is a necessary sustenance for all.
Italian Baroque Trumpet Concertos / Reiner, Interpreti Veneziani
Naxos
CD
$19.99Oct 11, 2024
The brilliant dynamism of Italian Baroque music is at it's most virtuosic and thrilling in works featuring the solo trumpet, whether in original compositions or transcriptions. Albinoni's astonishing ornamentations and the luminous dexterity of Vivaldi's concerto both represent each composer's distinctive character, heard alongside works by Corelli, Zipoli, Baldassare and Torelli. Domenico Sarri's Sinfonia a 5 is heard here in it's world premiere recording. Thomas Reiner is an acknowledged exponent of this repertoire with his performance of German Baroque Trumpet Concertos (Naxos 8.551419) described as 'first rate and spirited... an excellent protagonist' by Fanfare magazine.
Bernstein, M. Davis, Gershwin et al.: Salted Caramel / Höfele, Dupree
Berlin Classics
CD
$20.99Feb 04, 2022
Let’s just do it: that was the motto when Simon Höfele and Frank Dupree decided to grab a hot potato. The two musicians, who have been making music for years, and not exclusively in the classical field they studied, love jazz as much as they love Hummel’s trumpet concerto and Beethoven’s for piano. That said, they can seldom stray far afield in their repertoire: the gap between classical music and jazz is so great; prejudices are simply insurmountable, and musical approaches too diverse. So they have done that anyway, and together with Frank’s colleague Obi Jenne on drums, Jakob Krupp on bass and the Goldmund Quartet they have produced an album that aims not to point out differences, not to emphasize what divides, but something that instead creates musical networks, music that aims to liberate us from conventions and put us in a good mood.
French Trumpet Concertos / Hardenberger, Gabel, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
BIS
SACD
$21.99Jun 03, 2022
During the second half of the 19th century, a French school of trumpet playing was established, with French musicians and composers at the forefront of the instrument’s musical and technical development. As a result, it was entrusted with a more prominent role within the orchestra and soon also as a solo instrument. On the present disc, Håkan Hardenberger – who like so many other leading trumpet players studied in Paris – presents some of the fruits of this development: five important French works composed between 1944 and 1977. With the support of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Fabien Gabel – who incidentally began his career as a trumpet player – he opens the disc with Henri Tomasi’s Trumpet Concerto. Often performed and recorded, it here appears on album for the first time with its original, longer ending, reconstructed from a newly discovered manuscript. Another rarity is the version for trumpet and orchestra of Florent Schmitt’s Suite, a work which is more commonly heard with piano accompaniment. Rather more frequent in concert are André Jolivet’s Concerto and the Concertino in which Hardenberger is joined by his regular chamber music partner Roland Pöntinen as co-soloist. The most recent work on the disc is Onze Lieder by Betsy Jolas, a work which has a special resonance for both soloist and conductor as it was written for their trumpet teacher Pierre Thibaud.
Holt: Canto Ostinato Arranged for Organ & Trumpet (Deluxe)
Brilliant Classics
CD
$16.99May 03, 2024
A new and strikingly effective
arrangement of a modern
minimalist classic.
Canto Ostinato is a familiar
landmark of modern Dutch art
music. Known affectionately and
simply as the Canto, it receives
many performances each year in a
plethora of arrangements, whether
with the two or four pianos which
Simeon ten Holt had in mind when
he wrote the work in 1976, or
performed by soloists and
ensembles. This flexibility is
inherent in the form of the piece.
Ten Holt supplies a sequence of 106
rhythmic cells which may be
repeated one or many more times,
thus potentially creating a duration
of one or many more hours. The
simple and repetitive patterns blur
the listener’s sense of time, which
becomes space: space for the
performers, space for creation, but
also space for the listeners, space
for imagination.
At the invitation of Orgelpark
Amsterdam, the organist Aart
Bergwerff has been giving annual
performances of Canto Ostinato,
always in a new instrumentation, in
company with different musicians.
This groundbreaking version for
trumpet and organ arose as the
result of a chance meeting
backstage between Bergwerff and
the trumpeter Eric Vloeimans. The
recording captures a concert given
in October 2023 at the Orgelpark,
presenting Canto Ostinato as a kind of
monody for trumpet and organ, like a
long-spun solo with basso continuo.
Bergwerff and Vloeimans had known each
other as students at the conservatoire in
Rotterdam, and so this artistic partnership
was a renewal of friendship as well as a
synthesis of common musical values.
Relying as it does on the stamina of a solo
trumpeter, this version of Canto Ostinato
is necessarily shorter than most of the
canonic versions, but it illuminates the
piece with a fresh perspective, more
melodically focused than keyboard-centric
instrumentations, and evolving more
rapidly through Ten Holt’s cycle of
harmonic change.
- The trumpet concertos by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) are two of the most celebrated works in the trumpet repertoire, showcasing the instrument's evolving capabilities in the Classical period. Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major was composed in 1796 for Anton Weidinger, a Viennese trumpeter who developed a keyed trumpet capable of playing chromatic notes. This innovation allowed Haydn to explore a wider range of expressive possibilities, incorporating lyrical melodies and rapid passages previously unattainable on the natural trumpet. - Similarly, Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major, composed in 1803, was also written for Weidinger and the keyed trumpet. Hummel, a prominent composer and pianist of the time, crafted a work that emphasizes virtuoso technique and lyrical expression. The concerto opens with a grand, dramatic Allegro, followed by a lyrical Andante, and concludes with a lively Rondo, which tests the soloist's agility and technical prowess. Hummel's concerto reflects the transition from the Classical style of Haydn to the more elaborate, early Romantic idiom. - Played by the young, gifted Italian trumpet player Marianne LI Gregni, accompanied by the Orchestra da camera Domenico Mazzocchi del Civita Festival, conducted by Martin Sieghart.
Colonna: Caro ardore, Sacro amore - Concerted Psalms for 2 C
Dynamic
CD
$16.99Jan 31, 2025
The sumptuous music of Giovanni Paolo Colonna is brought to life in this concert to honour Bologna's patron saint at the Chapel of St Petronio Basilica - the very place in which this great musician was organist and chapel master in the mid-17th century. The works in this programme are rarely heard due to their grandiose proportions and virtuoso demands in performance. They include the colossal Dixit Dominus for two choirs, trumpet fanfare and strings, as well as the dazzling Beatus vir, possibly the earliest ever example of a concerto grosso.
