Haydn, Michael Haydn, Leopold Mozart, Hertel & Hummel

COMPOSERS: Haydn,Hertel & Hummel,Leopold Mozart,Michael Haydn
LABELS: Hyperion
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Classical Trumpet Concertos
WORKS: Works
PERFORMER: Crispian Steele-Perkins (trumpet); The King’s Consort/Robert King
CATALOGUE NO: CDA 67266
This release of Classical trumpet concertos is an attractively programmed collection featuring the beloved works by Haydn and Hummel, framing less familiar examples by Michael Haydn, Leopold Mozart and Hertel. The soloist, trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins, an authority on old trumpets, is one of the leading exponents in their performance, and this disc features two different instruments that he himself has reconstructed.

Both the concertos by Haydn and Hummel were written for the Viennese court trumpeter Anton Weidinger, to be played on his newly invented fully chromatic keyed trumpet. Despite its ability to play melodies in the middle range (using notes unavailable to the natural trumpet) this instrument had limited popularity owing to the tonal differences between the open and closed notes – a problem Steele-Perkins struggles to overcome. Far more successfully, Mark Bennett renders a virtuosic performance of the Haydn on DG Archiv, while Reinhold Friedrich plays both concertos superbly on Capriccio.

The remaining three pieces on this disc are highly virtuosic works for the natural trumpet and do go extremely high. Once again, one senses struggle in the trumpet part, which is played carefully with a rather small sound and little of the stylish exuberance and panache of the orchestral tuttis. Deborah Calland