Matt o-iii<O

Hi.

Just curious.
I have three different recordings of the hummel concerto.
in two of them, the entire orchestra and the soloist are tuned up a semitone
from where it should be.
Does anyone have any idea why this would be?

Thanks.


Matt o-iii<O

swissdude

Actually most recordings are tune a half step down from where it should be! Hummel Concerto is originally in the key of E major not E-flat. It was arranged a half step down many years ago. This made it easier for students to perform it with a B-flat trumpet or E-flat. Not many people own an E.

JC

amtrpt

I think Swiss has got it right. I have always played it Eb or Bb.
Andrew

Vulgano Brother

Fuzzy old memory going back some 30 plus years, but my recollection is that Ghitalla claimed to have found both versions (E and Eb) when he "discovered" the piece. Ghitalla chose Eb, Tarr chose E. That was word on the street back in the day.

(In other words, rumor and hearsay.)

bkonstans1

Wynton's recording is probably right. :)

bagmangood

*sigh*
I personally prefer the Nakariakov

But on a separate note, I think someone posted somewhere about a company mass producing Eb/E trumpets?
Which may lead to more people playing it in E,

One thing to think about though (and i don't know the answer for certain)
were there any trumpets at the time that played in E because they'd be the mostly natural (keyed i think?) trumpets, and you couldn't play in any key but there basic one, so unless hummel wrote something in E, and then remember no trumpet can play in that key and transposed it to Eb it doesn't make much sense to me...

bkonstans1

I should probably add (just as the fine print) that its my own opinion, you're entitled to your own, blah blah blah.

bagmangood

Sorry, I just couldn't resist, I do doubt wynton has recorded anything that wasn't perfect...

timcates

didn't Wynton record the Hummel in BOTH keys? (the debut classical album and the London Concert a decade later)

swissdude

Actually the original manuscript is in E major. There was an E trumpet at that time as well. Haydn's concerto was written for E-flat keyed trumpet, few years later an E trumpet is invented and Hummel writes his piece. There are plenty of books and articles on these pieces and the keyed trumpet out there.

As far as which one is the right one to play....well play the one that fits you the best. E version works better for the orchestra as well as having some parts in the strings in the correct octaves. For the E-flat version some modification was done in the strings to make it playable.

Hard to justify buying a trumpet for just one piece. Yamaha makes a great E-flat/E combination.


JC