Search - Joseph Arnold Gross, George Frideric Handel, Michael Haydn :: Art of Baroque Trumpet Vol.4

Niklas Eklund, world class baroque trumpeter

Robert Kase | University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point | 04/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Niklas Eklund demonstrates the superiority of the baroque trumpet in this medium with this incredible recording of some of the most difficult and favorite baroque trumpet literature. He is without a doubt one of the finest virtuoso artists of our time. His playing and interpretations are wonderful, and the beauty of his sound and authentic baroque concepts present a fresh and welcome addition to the trumpet repetoire. Bravo to Eklund for a recording of unprecedented quality and ability. It is sure to become the new standard of baroque trumpet playing."

The Higher You Get, the Higher You Get!

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 10/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"That's a little motivational mantra left over from my climbing days, but it suits this Volume 4 of the 5-volume Art of the Baroque Trumpet. The instrument now called a 'natural' trumpet was a longer piece of tubing than the modern valved B-flat instrument, but it was capable of playing extremely high passages of heart-stopping extension. In fact, the 'holes' in its natural scale were in its lower octaves, which most composers avoided anyway because of the less thrilling timbres. Mouthpiece and embouchure made most of the difference. You WILL hear Niklas Eklund play some fearsomely high passages on this CD, and with immaculate tuning and tone. The Hichael Haydn concerto launches the trumpet into the ionosphere with repeated e''' and one f''', notes one might expect from a piccolo or a sopranino recorder.



But this volume is higher in another sense; this is the HIGH Baroque, with Telemann as the oldest composer (born 1681) and Michael Haydn (1737-1806) the youngest. And these are not only "virtuoso" concertos, as the title proclaims, but also, with the Haydn and Telemann pieces, compositional masterpieces of High Baroque in full bloom. The Michael Haydn concerto is so elegantly perfect in its way that one might wish he'd written as much as his brother Joey. Handel's overture to the opera Atalanta is very good Handel, and Telemann's Trumpet Concerto #2 in D major is even better Telemann, but the three pieces by lesser known composers (Gross, Molter, and Hertel; doesn't that sound like a Hamburg legal firm!) are far from shabby.



Eklund is joined joined on Johann Wilhelm Hertel's Double Concerto in E-flat major by oboist Ulf Bjurenhed. The Telemann concerto uses only winds rather than strings in the orchestra. Luckily the woodwind section of the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble is among the best in the world. Listen carefully to the bassoon played by 'Sven Aarflot'! Yes, that is a bassoon, and not badly played! Drottningholm, by the way, is one of the most interesting sites in Sweden. It's the Queen's rococo summer palace, a short scenic boatride up the fjord from Stockholm. The theater there was never remodeled in the 19th C, praises be! It has been refurbished splendidly but not modernized except for lighting. It was the setting for Ingmar Bergman's production of Mozart's Magic Flute, and other baroque and classical operas are staged there annually, with costumes and sets historically authentic down to the ties in lieu of velcro. If you ever visit Stockholm, the three sites you must see are the salvaged ship Vasa, the Skansen museum of rural life, and Drottningholm.



Hey, look! I've reviewed four of the five CDs in the Art of the Baroque Trumpet now, with the fifth to follow tomorrow, and nobody has posted a derogatory comment! Have I outlived my stalkers? If so, Hallelujah! In any case, let's call The Art of the Baroque Trumpet the Giordano Bruno "Must Buy" performance for October, 2009. At Naxos prices, you can afford the whole set, but if you're resistant to such extravagance, Volume 4 would be a good single choice."