Along with the renowned classics of the trumpet concerto literature by Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the musical epoch known today as “Classicism” also...

Along with the renowned classics of the trumpet concerto literature by Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the musical epoch known today as “Classicism” also witnessed the composition of other solo concertos for trumpet. These concertos were written not for valved instruments but for the natural trumpet without valves – an instrument on which the player in principle can produce only the tones of the natural harmonic series. Performing on a four-hole Baroque trumpet model and with the richly nuanced L’arpa festante ensemble, the Hungarian trumpeter Krisztián Kováts interprets festive trumpet concertos by Johann Matthias Sperger, Johann Stamitz, and others in which the timpani expressively reinforce the tutti sound of the orchestra. The purpose of the present recording is to call attention to the long-forgotten art of clarino playing. The use of original instruments enabling us to come very close to the composer’s musical intention is a very substantial prerequisite here. The corpus of the Baroque natural trumpet is much longer than that of modern valved instruments, so that a sound spectrum rich in overtones is the result. The repertoire recorded here was once performed by only a few most highly privileged and specialized trumpeters whose artistry enabled them to imitate the articulation and lightness of the human voice in the clarino register.