Customer Reviews

Trumpet Concertos

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This CD was my introduction to Wynton Marsalis. I'm surprised that Amazon doesn't publicize it as the first year he won both the classical and jazz (Hot House Flowers) Grammys. And there is a reason why. The choice of material, the execution; everything is perfect, classical trumpet yet with a style that is his alone. Wonderful artist. Wonderful work.

I was given a recording of Maurice Andre's interpretation of these 3 concertos many years ago as a gift. I thought that they were the definitive recordings. NOT ANY MORE. I brought this CD without ever really knowing who Wynton Marsalis was, and I have NEVER regreted it !!! This is THE definitive recording of Haydn, Hummel, & L. Mozart. I'll always remember my late father's reaction when he first heard this CD: "Lord Have Mercy, this young man is GREAT!!"

While I mean no disrespect to Mr. Meuller, his 1 star rating for the sublime performance by Marsalis and company here is quite frankly an insult to such a fine effort. Wynton Marsalis is without a doubt the best trumpet player on the face of this planet, and that is not going to change any time soon. Quite frankly, this debut classical recording by Marsalis is also his best (and Grammy Award winning to boot). I don't begrudge Mr. Meuller for thinking another player or performance better, but to say that *many* trumpet *students* play these works better is an outrageous statement, and I hope other prospective buyers do not take such unfair and inacurate remarks to heart.For my part, this CD has been in my collection for years (actually, I have had to replace it several times due to wearing the CDs out), and it will remain so. You have a classic CD at an unbelievable price here. Don't pass this one up for your collection.

This is one of the most astonishing classical debut's for years, all the more so because of Marsalis's fame as a jazzman at the time. He was extremely young at the time of recording, and this youth shows through, not in the exuberance of the performance, but in the rough edges.

The performances are technically brilliant and the tempi are in my opnion perfectly judged, but there is a brashness that detracts slightly from the elegance of the pieces. Marsalis has a habit of "adding" to the concerti, no doubt due to his grounding in jazz, and at times these embellishments can be less than successful. The Mozart is a good example of this, but there are instances in the Haydn too which can grate on the nerves.

That said this is THE seminal recording of the Haydn; there are no others which even come close to it. The rough edges and add-ons are easily forgiven in the face or Wynton's sheer fluency with the instrument. Many people say he plays with no soul, but this recording alone should put paid to any argument. The Hummel is good natured and the lighting quick rondo is sheer fun the way Marsalis plays it. The Mozart, rapidly establishing itself in recent years, is not up there with Hardenberger's recording, but Marsais has, for me, the perfect piccolo trumpet tone, not sickly sweet nor too subdued.

If you're a trumpeter, or even if you're just looking for wonderful performances of great music, (ie the Haydn and the Hummel, which IS a great concerto), then GET THIS DISC! If you're more fond of Andre's tone or Hardenberger's refinement then it may take a little longer to grow on you, but it's well worth it.

So why only four stars when I obviously love it so much? Marsalis had a long way to go at this time, and the lack of refinement (yes I know he's NEVER going to be quite refined) can take away from the music sometimes. As well as that the cadenza for the Haydn, breathtaking as it is, fits in about as well as a Yak in a poodle grooming parlour.

All the same, this is a disc no-one should be without.

In the time of Bach and Handel the trumpet was a melodic instrument. By the time of Haydn, the Mozarts and Hummel the dot-and-dash treatment had become normal, and it stayed that way in classical orchestration until Wagner came on earth to see to its redemption. This makes it all the more pleasant and surprising to find such agreeable minor masterpieces from these composers for the instrument as a concerto solo. Haydn never showed his full powers in the concerto form, but the trumpet concerto is, I think by common consent, the best he did in the genre. Leopold Mozart's has only two movements here, an adagio and a concluding allegro, from which I presume that the normal opening allegro has been lost, unless for some inscrutable reason he chose to depart from the usual 3-movement scheme. Hummel's is a most attractive piece, rather larger than Haydn's and a good introduction to the composer for musicians who know him only as a figure given a passing mention in books on Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

Wynton Marsalis strikes me as an out-and-out genius. I like just about everything he does here. The quality of his playing is not only perfect technically, it is aristocratic. There are any number of exquisite touches of variation of tone, and from beginning to end he has an easy sense of the idiom of the works, and he brings a relaxed charm to the whole recital. I don't know who the `National Philharmonic' are in real life, but I know very well who Leppard is, and I don't doubt that he had a lot to do with the felicitous choice of tempi. The outer movements of the Haydn are neither rushed nor dragged but just right to my ears. The same can be said of Hummel's first movement, and I particularly like the speed taken in the andante - kept moving but not succumbing to a modern tendency to hustle things marked `andante', a treatment I heard this movement given in a broadcast performance only a few days ago. Once the orchestral triplets start to sound tense the speed is too fast, and it was a pleasure to hear them given the proper easy-going beat that they get here. In the last movement they all let rip, the speed fast, the solo playing thrilling, but still as relaxed and effortless as ever - a bit like Michelangeli at his piano on one of his better days.

Entire credit goes to Marsalis for his own cadenzas in the Haydn and his own ornamentation in the Mozart. All in all, this is a gem of a record, and I recommend it in particular to music lovers who may have been told that Hummel is dull.

This is one of my favorite classical CDs. If I had to choose 10 CDs to take to a remote island this would be one of them.

For someone to play a disc-ful of pieces that have been performed thousands of times and bring something new to them is outstanding, and that is what Marsalis does with this title. Just as Maurice Andre brought a new perspective to the trumpet and its literature in the 60s and 70s, Marsalis has been the trumpeter of this generation. He has been a fixture in the classical repertory, as well as jazz, during the last two decades. This was a watershed recording for Marsalis and it should be enjoyed by all that find pleasure in listening to a first class musician that is intact technically and artistically.

On the contrary to another review, I found the sound of Marsalis delightfully better than Maurice Andre. Maurice's interpretation involves rushing and brash sound. Marsalis plays with perfection in mind and a dark full sound. The one thing I did not like was Marsalis's cadenza on the end of Haydn's first movement however that is my taste.

I agree with those who are enthusiastic about this recording, this is extraordinary trumpet playing. I also agree that this is Marsalis' best version of these pieces, he just outdid himself on this first round.

I gave this CD to my one-time trumpet-player brother, and he went out and bought a new stereo!

If you have any doubts, listen to the samples, they speak for themselves...

Lee

i recieved this cd when i was in fourth grade, about 5 years ago and i still listen to it today. i think it is excelent and a must get if you like the trumpet playing along with an orchestra.