Alison Balsom: Sound The Trumpet: Royal Music of Purcell and Handel

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This charming disc contains some of the most imaginative and polished trumpet playing you're ever likely to hear...Born-again authenticists may cavil at Balsom's vented trumpet, a modern development... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2013, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 15th Oct 2012
Catalogue No: 4403292
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 66 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

8th October 2012
Gramophone Magazine

December 2012

Editor's Choice

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Handel: Sento la gioia (Amadigi di Gaula)

Work length4:44

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Handel / Arr Pinnock: Amidigi di Gaula, HWV 11, Act 3: Sento la goia

Track length4:44

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Purcell: Suite from King Arthur

Work length14:18

$9.10

$11.90

$13.65

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 1: Overture

Track length3:36

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 1: Come if you dare

Track length3:01

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 5: Symphony

Track length1:55

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 2: "Shepherd, Shepherd, Leave Decoying"

Track length1:48

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Purcell / Arr Balsom: King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 5: Round thy shores

Track length1:10

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 5: Trumpet Tune

Track length0:46

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

King Arthur Suite, Z. 628, Act 5: Fairest isle

Track length2:02

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Handel: Atalanta: Overture

Work length4:01

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Atalanta, HWV 35: Overture

Track length4:01

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Handel: Eternal Source of Light Divine (from Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, HWV74)

Work length3:34

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Birthday Ode for Queen Anne, HWV 74: "Eternal Source of Light Divine" (countertenor)

Track length3:34

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Purcell: Suite from the Fairy Queen

Work length14:14

$6.50

$8.50

$9.75

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 - Suite of Musicks and Dances: Symphony

Track length6:27

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 - Suite of Musicks and Dances, Second Musick: Rondo

Track length1:40

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 - Suite of Musicks and Dances, Act 1: Jig

Track length1:06

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 - Suite of Musicks and Dances, Act 5: Prelude

Track length1:03

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 - Suite of Musicks and Dances, Act 5: Chaconne and Chorus

Track length3:58

$1.30

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Excerpt, Purcell: Come ye sons of art (Ode for Queen Mary's birthday, 1694), Z 323

Work length2:35

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Purcell / Arr Balsom: Come Ye Sons of Art, Z. 323: Sound the trumpet (countertenor)

Track length2:35

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Handel: Water Music Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV349

Work length7:25

$6.50

$8.50

$9.75

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Water Music, Suite in D Major, HWV 349: I. Overture

Track length1:43

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Water Music, Suite in D Major, HWV 349: II. Gigue (Allegro)

Track length1:47

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Water Music, Suite in D Major, HWV 349: III. Minuet (Aria)

Track length1:49

$1.30

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$1.95

Water Music, Suite in D Major, HWV 349: IV. Bourée

Track length0:59

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Water Music, Suite in D Major, HWV 349: V. March No. 2 (Partenope, HWV 27)

Track length1:07

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Purcell: Plainte - O, Let Me Weep (from The Fairy Queen, Z629)

Work length7:44

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Trevor Pinnock (organ), Alison Balsom (trumpet), Lucy Crowe (soprano)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Purcell / Arr Balsom: The Fairy Queen, Z. 629, Act 5: "The plaint"

Track length7:44

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Handel: Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B flat major, HWV 301

Work length7:28

$5.20

$6.80

$7.80

Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock

Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major: I. Adagio

Track length1:59

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major: II. Allegro

Track length1:41

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major: III. Siciliana (Largo)

Track length2:13

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major: IV. Vivace

Track length1:35

$1.30

$1.70

$1.95

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Recording of the Week, Alison Balsom: Sound The Trumpet

8th October 2012

In her first solo album to be performed exclusively on the natural trumpet, Balsom joins The English Concert and Trevor Pinnock for a programme of music celebrating real or mythic monarchs by Handel and Purcell, including excerpts from The Fairy Queen, King Arthur and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne.

In the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Alison Balsom celebrates the heroic era of the Baroque trumpet in works by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Henry Purcell (1658 or 1659-1695), whose anthems, odes, sinfonias and operas have provided the music for numerous royal celebrations from their own day to the present.

Joining forces with Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist, conductor and pioneer of historical performance, and with the English Concert orchestra that he founded, Balsom demonstrates the versatility and expressive power of her valve-less instrument in original works and new arrangements. These include Purcell’s Sound the trumpet and Handel’s Eternal Source of light divine in duet with countertenor Iestyn Davies and Purcell’s The Plaint from The Fairy Queen in duet with soprano Lucy Crowe. Further repertoire includes suites from Purcell’s semi-operas King Arthur (1691) and The Fairy Queen (1692) in new arrangements by Balsom and Pinnock, Handel’s Water Piece in D Major HWV 341 and his Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major HWV 301 transposed into C Major.

Alison Balsom is one of today’s most popular classical musicians. Having managed to break through to the mainstream without abandoning her musical integrity, she continues to draw ever-wider audiences for her performances and recordings of diverse repertoire.

Reviews

January 2013

This charming disc contains some of the most imaginative and polished trumpet playing you're ever likely to hear...Born-again authenticists may cavil at Balsom's vented trumpet, a modern development aiding intonation. But her flexible tuning, scrupulously focused to blend with the harmony, is a relief from the compromised tuning needed to play certain notes on true 18th-century instruments.

December 2012

when the instrument is played as fluidly agreeably as it is here, nobody could doubt that it is the right tool for the job...And it all works. This is rattling good music, and so easily does the trumpet fit into it that often it is hard to recall what the original scorings were anyway. Balsom, too, sounds utterly at home...and [is] wonderfully backed by the English Concert and the bright natural musicianship of Trevor Pinnock

December 2012

Up at the top of her range, or down below, fast or slow, she is in superb control and form...the lightness of the string accompaniments, the calm attention to springy rhythms, the unobtrusive sensitivity of the phrasing, all done without exaggerated emphasis or anachronistic flamboyance, are a sheer delight...[Pinnock] is surely a national treasure

April 2013

the music-making is a joy from beginning to end. Alison Balsom’s playing is stunning. The tone and intonation are fabulous; the lip trills, ornaments and runs simply staggering. How she achieves this level of technical assurance on an instrument without valves is remarkable...Crowe’s rendition of The Plaint from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is sensitively and beautifully sung and it’s obvious that there’s an equal musical partnership captured here

8th October 2012

the easy rapport between soloist and band is evident from every bar of every work...One of the great pleasures of this disc is the seamless and apparently effortless blend of trumpet and each voice: Alison colours her timbre to take on almost crumhorn-ish tones when duetting with Crowe, whilst there’s plenty of ‘front’ and metal in the sound when she joins Davies for the more vigorous Purcell.

13th October 2012

For historical accuracy, she plays the valve-less “natural” trumpet: it really does appear to offer a more direct access to the human voice, a quality confirmed when she duets with countertenor Iestyn Davies

19th October 2012

The music is glorious; so is Balsom’s artistry as she weaves a flawless path alongside Trevor Pinnock’s English Concert

Early Music Today

One of the disc’s chief merits is the skill with which Balsom demonstrates the versatility of natural trumpets, reminding us that they are capable of a wide range of colours.

1st December 2012

Her distinctive tone remains clearly recognisable, despite the instrument's limitations. The timbre is sweeter, less aggressively strident than that of the modern trumpet, and she’s paired with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, providing crisp, bouncy support.

Videos

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Presto Classical talks to Alison Balsom about her new disc of Handel and Purcell, 'Sound the Trumpet' on EMI Classics

Alison Balsom: Sound The Trumpet

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Recording of the Week, Alison Balsom: Sound The Trumpet

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