Nobody Knows Hosokawa: Im Nebel; Jost: Pietà in memoriam Chet Baker; BA Zimmermann: Nobody Knows De Trouble I See* Simon Höfele (trumpet); BBC Symphony Orchestra/Geoffrey Paterson, *Ilan Volkov Berlin Classics 0302712BC 58:50 mins
Simon Höfele has a track record in contemporary music and finds the thread of darkness weaving its way through these works. Pietàstarts off very much in the territory of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, with melodic lines reminiscent of My Funny Valentine – his signature tune. The opening finds Höfele exploring the potential of the muted trumpet, and there’s a feel of jazz in the harmonies and the colour of the vibraphone, before the music expands into wider (and wilder) territory, where Höfele’s command of the instrument, now unmuted, is such that his virtuosity almost passes you by.
Im Nebel (In the Fog), inspired by a Hermann Hesse poem, is more static at times, with wisps of string harmonics and slow-moving harmonies. Even when the solo line is wide-ranging and the orchestra active, there’s an underlying sense of calm and inwardness. Höfele plays with extraordinary breath control and a wide tonal palette.
Nobody Knows De Trouble I See is the most conventionally ‘modern’ of these works, taking the spiritual as an underlying theme, with a subtext of racial injustice, but expanding its scope by way of serial harmonies. The sound of the Hammond organ puts it firmly in the mid 1950s, and the jazzy lash-up in the middle is real big-band stuff. Höfele reckons that it’s the best concerto there is for trumpeters, and completely owns it. With terrific contributions from the orchestra, this is an exciting issue.
Martin Cotton