mahaberio

Hakan Hardenberger has a new CD out on Deutsche Grammophon with the Gothenbourg Symphony and Peter Eotvos. The CD includes HK Gruber's "Aerial," Mark-Anthony Turnage's "From the Wreckage," and Peter Eotvos' "Jet Stream." In my opinion, these are by far the best works written for Hakan to date and some of the best ever for trumpet. This album is a must-have for any trumpeter or new music lover.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...232640?ie=UTF8

ecarroll

maha,

I've listened carefully to a live performance of Jet Stream by Tristram Williams (Associate Principal trumpet in Melbourne and participant at Chosen Vale) and it's an absolutely wonderful piece. By the way, I've played with Peter Eotvos (a fabulous conductor), and this is the first solo trumpet work from him that has crossed my radar. Terrific that Mr. Hardenberger has "launched" it into the mainstream.

I heard Hakan play Aeriel with the Los Angeles Philharmonic a few seasons back and it stands alone as the best trumpet concerto that I've ever heard (huge Heldenleben sized orchestra and fabulous that somebody put up the money to record such an expensive project!). Hakan played out of his mind that night. . . the best performance I've ever heard on the trumpet, bar none (and I've heard a few).

Turnage is no slouch as a composer either. Was this piece written for Hakan or for John Wallace?

Nice to hear that our recorded repertoire is moving ahead. Perhaps in 50 years our fiddle playing colleagues will envy us for our repertoire instead of the opposite?

Thank you for the tip, my friend. TMers -- buy this CD and listen with your ears (and soul) wide open.

Best,
EC

mahaberio

It's my understanding that it was written for Hakan. Though I also highly recommend Turnage's "Dispelling the Fears" (which I'm sure Ed's familiar with) with both Hakan AND John Wallace on trumpet. It's not often you get to hear two players of their calibre playing side by side. He's a little tidbit I found about the new Turnage piece:

"The concerto depicts a psychological journey from sorrow to calm via barely repressed anger and rage, its emotional trajectory delineated by the fact that Hardenberger opens the work playing a dark-sounding flugelhorn, which he changes first for a standard trumpet during the agitated central section, then for an ethereal-sounding piccolo trumpet in the closing pages."

It's a one-movement work and Hakan's been travelling everywhere with it. I'm crossing my fingers for a live performance somewhere within driving range (even if the drives takes say, 12 hours).

trumpetmike

Just out of interest, are these pieces that were written for Hakan, featuring technical displays "because he can" or have they been written with mortal trumpeters in mind?

One of the most frustrating parts of having seen Hakan playing in the past is that so many of the works seem to have certain passages in purely to prove that he has an incredible technique, rather than being there for the audience's benefit. If this is a "technical display becuase I can" CD, it is great that he has recorded it (to get new works into the public arena) but I may have to give it a miss.

They will only envy us when we have repertoire that is as musical as the great works by Mozart and Beethoven which are not only incredible pieces of music, but also very audience friendly - possibly not a description that can be attached to a great number of the modern trumpet works.

_TrumpeT_

Hmm your comments made me come up with new questions trumpetmike. I'll start another thread so I don't hijack this thread.

ecarroll

TptMike,

Beethoven's music, as discussed in another interesting thread elsewhere on the site, could only be played by a smattering of musicians when it was written. Nothing at all has changed.

I can vouch for Ariel as being challanging but completely understandable to most audiences on the first hearing. I saw little old ladies in Los Angeles almost breaking legs to be the first to their feet after hearing Hakan play it with the Philharmonic.

Cheers,
EC

CGUM

HI Ed et all,

There is another Eotvos piece that might perk your ears. It's called snatches of a conversation and I think it was written for and recorded by Marco Blaauw. It's a pretty interesting piece. It's on a cd with jet stream performed by Markus. Also there is a radio broadcast on the net somewhere. If i can remember where it is I'll post the link. It's a pretty cool piece.

cheers,
CG

ecarroll

Charlie,

I'd love to hear this CD if you find it.

Marco Blaauw, as you probably know, is a member of Markus' trumpet ensemble (Michael's Trumpeters) and assumed the Michael role in the operas after Markus stopped playing Pere Stockhausen's music. I'm sure it was a smooth transition -- they even look alike!

By the way, Markus will be at CalArts in late Nov/early Dec for a concert at the Disney Hall (REDCAT) and classes. Fun for all and I'm really looking forward. His improvs at Chosen Vale were amongst the most beautiful things I've ever heard, let alone on the trumpet...

Stay pasteurized,
EC

mahaberio

Thanks for bringing this piece to our attention. For anyone interested, here is a little snippet I found on it:

"Snatches of a Conversation

The playful sounds of language are explored in Snatches of a Conversation, a theatrical, jazz-influenced exchange between a solo trumpet and a speaker whispering percussive fragments of words.

This piece was originally commissioned by the Europäischer Musikmonat 2001 in Basel and is the first piece written for double bell trumpet, a trumpet created by trumpeter Marco Blaauw.

Blaauw designed the modified trumpet together with an instrument maker in 2000 in order to be able to switch more quickly between a muted trumpet and an open trumpet. An extra valve was added to swap between the two bells and allows for a large scale of colours that Snatches attempts to explore.

Blaauw received a phone call from Eötvös wanting to create a new piece for trumpet and ensemble on the very same day Blaauw put his new trumpet idea into works. During this conversation, Blaauw shared his ideas for making the double bell trumpet and out of it came the first composition for the new instrument.

Snatches of a Conversation also features a 'noise-maker', a speaker whispering a collection of words, chosen specifically for their plethora of consonants into a mike which then is transformed electronically into what Eötvös describes as a "part eavesdropping, part percussion instrument". The words themselves are nonsensical or have no meaning and were chosen for their specific syllabic and consonant qualities imitating percussion, sounding like a brush on a hi-hat in the jazz style."

ecarroll

I've had that conversation many times with my wife. It never crossed my mind that she was imitating Elvin Jones. . . I thought she was just saying "no".

Looking forward,
EC