German Baroque Trumpet Concertos Works by Biber, JM Fasch, Handel, Reinhart, Schickhardt, Stölzel and Telemann Thomas Reiner (trumpet); Interpreti Veneziani Naxos 8.551419 59:49 mins
The title is not strictly correct – five of the eight works presented were intended for instruments other than the trumpet. Three of them, by Stölzel, Telemann and Handel (or possibly not), are oboe concertos, while two others are arrangements of a horn concerto (Telemann) and a recorder concerto (Schickhardt). Still, Thomas Reiner and Interpreti Veneziani play the music with vivacity and stylistic aplomb.
A trumpet’s character is distinct from that of an oboe, yet Reiner’s transcriptions are convincing and involve the kind of alternative instrumentation frequently offered by Baroque composers themselves. The Stölzel concerto is a splendid piece by a musician much admired by Bach. Of even greater interest is the Concerto for trumpet, violin and strings by Johann Michael Fasch, not to be confused with his better known elder brother Johann Friedrich. This work, in its first recording, includes effective cantabile and Italianate violin writing, especially in its joyous finale.
The C minor Concerto by Telemann, one of his most original for oboe, begins with a startlingly dissonant bar, to some extent characterising the agitated timbre of the entire piece. The playful Franz Reinhart Sonata, the other work on the disc claiming world-premiere status, is a genuine trumpet work from the pen of a composer who served as a violinist at the Hapsburg court in Vienna.
Nicholas Anderson