COMPOSERS: Denisov,Jolivet,Rääts,Shostakovich
LABELS: Capriccio
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Reinhold Friedrich
WORKS: Concertino for Trumpet, Strings and Piano; Trumpet Concerto No. 2; Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings; Concerto for Trumpet, Piano and Strings; Con sordino
PERFORMER: Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), Thomas Duis (piano)Deutsches SO Berlin/Lutz Köhler
CATALOGUE NO: 10 575
What do Shostakovich, Jolivet and Jaan Rääts have in common? They each wrote a work for piano, trumpet and strings, brought together for the first time on one recording on this new Capriccio release. While the musical high ground is claimed by the piano in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, it is the trumpet that appears as dominating protagonist for the remainder of the disc.
The two Jolivet works portray the trumpet in ebullient, muscular form with music heavily indebted to jazz; indeed, the instrumental line-up called for in Jolivet’s Trumpet Concerto No. 2 – including a saxophone section and a solo double bass (the only string instrument) – resembles that of a fully-fledged jazz band.
Sandwiched between the two Jolivet works, Denisov’s Con sordino for trumpet and piano explores a delicate, subdued sound-world rarely associated with the trumpet. The expressive playing of trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich (the work’s dedicatee) is partnered and complemented by Thomas Duis’s superb translucency of tone. Duis is more disappointing in the Shostakovich – a work for which there is extensive competition in the catalogue, chiefly from Martha Argerich on DG. His lacklustre playing, combined with Lutz Köhler’s reticent direction, seems impoverished in comparison with Argerich’s electric account. Deborah Calland