Romantic Trumpet

Grieg: Holberg Suite, Op. 40
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58
Pilss: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105

Jonathan Freeman-Attwood (trumpet) & Daniel-Ben Pienaar (piano)

Linn CKD370

The 1935 sonata by Karl Pilss (1902-79) - he was "consumed for preservation of the Austro-German musical tradition during the Anschluss" - is the only original work here and it is one worth preserving.

But for the rest - "these new transcriptions expand the boundaries of the trumpet as a solo instrument and deserve to take their place in the standard repertoire for the instrument", claims Linn. I'd say the strings sonatas are strictly for trumpeters, and I have not brought myself to listen to them.

The Holberg Prelude & Rigaudon are fun, and brilliantly executed, but I'm glad to have heard the original suite in concert again only this month.

Freeman-Attwood's mission has been "to improve the lot of the trumpet/piano duo" and as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music it is a worthy objective, persuasively explored in his liner note essay, an unusually brilliant piece of special pleading.

Both musicians are active at RAM, where I have attended academic sessions involving them. I spoke with J F-A after a trumpet masterclass in a small studio there which was painful for listeners and potentially dangerous for the participants...

Peter Grahame Woolf