Wynton Marsalis: In Gabriel's Garden

Jean-Joseph Mouret (Composer), Jeremiah Clarke (Composer), Giuseppe Torelli (Composer), Henry Purcell (Composer), Jean-Francois Dandrieu (Composer), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Composer), John Stanley (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Anthony Newman (Conductor), English Chamber Orchestra (Performer), Ian Watson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: English Chamber Orchestra, Ian Watson
• Conductor: Anthony Newman
• Composer: Jean-Joseph Mouret, Jeremiah Clarke, Giuseppe Torelli, Henry Purcell, Jean-Francois Dandrieu, et al.
• Audio CD (May 14, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AP7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,975 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #38 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Rondos
  • #70 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Brass > Trumpet
  • #76 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750) > Composers > Purcell, Henry

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Wynton, December 14, 2001

By 

"badric" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wynton Marsalis: In Gabriel's Garden (Audio CD)

Wynton Marsalis is a superb musician. His style is bright, pure and exuberant, but he has a tendency to go a little overboard sometimes. In this CD that tendency is particularly evident in his rendition of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto. However, his playing is terribly moving and charismatic and he brings a vitality to these pieces that is seldom present in other performers' interpretations. The repertoire is very varied and the English Chamber Orchestra provide wonderful accompaniment. These versions may be a little flamboyant sometimes, but they are great nonetheless, and Wynton's masterful playing is always worth listening. Very few people can express the sheer joy of making music as intensely as Mr. Marsalis; his renditions of Jeremiah Clarke's works are absolutely marvellous.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darn Good Trumpet Playing, November 10, 2001

By 

A Reviewer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wynton Marsalis: In Gabriel's Garden (Audio CD)

Okay, I'll admit Mr. Marsalis may have taken some liberties with the music and made it a little more "flashy," shall we say. However, this IS Wynton Marsalis, and as long he continues to play impeccably on all his albums (this one being no exception), he can do whatever he darn well pleases as far as I'm concerned.

On this recording, Wynton Marsalis produces music from an instrument from which it is difficult for most other trumpet players to get any kind of respectable sound. His mastery of the piccolo trumpet is nothing short of remarkable, to say the least. If you've ever tried to play one, after hearing this you will gain a much deeper appreciation for the man's seemingly limitless talent and potential with both piccolo and regular trumpets.

Yes, piccolo trumpet means some high notes, so if high notes bother you, maybe you should shy away from this one and pick out another one of Mr. Marsalis' spectacular albums.

Conclusion: Why four stars instead of five? Mostly because of the liberties taken with the music. Still unbelievable trumpet playing - worth the price just for that.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one for the purist!, September 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wynton Marsalis: In Gabriel's Garden (Audio CD)

As a Baroque trumpet enthusiast, Marsalis' latest offering of Baroque music on CD is not something I wish to hear again. The playing is fine, taking into account the high pitch of the arrangements. Taken individually, the performances are good. But who's idea was it to take perfectly good music and rearrange it, adding comical timpani parts to sonatas for trumpet with chamber strings! The performance of Brandenburg 2 is, for me as something of a baroque trumpet purist, broadly offensive. This is NOT a trumpet concerto! It is a concerto grosso, with four equal solo parts. It just happens to have one of the most difficult and taxing trumpet parts in the repertoire, but this does not mean that Bach intended the trumpeter to take over the whole texture like Marsalis does. The other instrumentalists compete well, given the bright tone and insistent quality of Marsalis' playing (doubtless egged on by sympathetic electronics) and, one must admit, the quality of playing on the recording is good. It is just that the music is mass-murdered, given a thoroughly modern and, to my mind, thoroughly inappropriate treatment. Marsalis did much better in the previous album (Baroque Music for Trumpets), which contained rearrangement, but Raymond Leppard's efforts were for more tasteful than this offering. Someone please give Wynton a natural trumpet, let him get his admirably skilled chops around it, and we should all benefit greatly from the result.