SOUND THE TRUMPETS - TRUMPET AND ORGAN SPECTACULAR (2 CDS)

A trumpet and organ spectacular: three original Argo and DG albums on a generous, newly compiled 2-CD set. In Baroque works generally, the trumpet is always accompanied by drums, both of these instruments having strong associations with military music. The organ, on the other hand, is primarily associated with the church, and it is within the pageantry and rituals of divine worship that the combination of trumpets, timpani and organ comes most splendidly into it's own. The repertoire on these recordings includes fine examples from the German, French, Italian and English schools, mixing original works and arrangements, jubilant fanfares with arias of liquid beauty. It is especially fitting that there should be two works by Buxtehude, who was for so many years organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck. In the city's central Dom, Preston was joined by the three prodigiously talented, twenty-something Läubin brothers to make 'Awake the trumpet's lofty sound' in 1985. Five years later they were reunited at the studios of Abbey Road in London to record Italian and German concertos full of stately proclamations and brilliant figuration. Back in 1968, Preston had scored a commercial and artistic hit for Argo with 'Music for trumpet and cornetto', a collection which ventured into little-known pre-Baroque territory and presented the uniquely rounded sonority of the cornet, the trumpet's forebear, for the first time on record. The soloist was the American Don Smithers, who had only begun to learn the trumpet a decade previously but rapidly made an international reputation as a trumpeter of astonishing security and virtuosity, especially in the early-music repertoire.

‘The Läubin brothers form a fine ensemble, and the organ has magnificent clarity and quality of sound … the performances are superb in this most enjoyable celebration of noble sounds and music.’ Gramophone, March 1987 (‘‘Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound’)

‘The solo playing and the partnership with the ECO are so well managed that this disc is almost irresistible.’ Gramophone, December 1991 (Trumpet Concertos)

Albinoni: Trumpet Concerto, Op. 7 No. 6
Bach, J S: Cantata BWV69 'Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele'
Bach, J S: Cantata BWV130 'Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir'
Bach, J S: Jesu, bleibet meine Freude (from Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben')
Buonamente: Sonata quarta
Buonamente: Sonata quinta sopra 'Poi che noi rimena' from 'Il quarto libro de varie sonate'
Buxtehude: Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV160
Buxtehude: Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nun BuxWV 51
Cazzati: Sonata a 5 'La Bianchina'
Cazzati: Trumpet Sonata in C major, Op. 35 No. 11 'La bianchina'
Charpentier, M-A: Marche de Triomphe
Coprario: Suite C-Dur
Corelli: Sonata a quattro in D for Trumpet, Strings and Continuo, WoO 4
Franceschini, P: Sonata in D major for two trumpets
Frescobaldi: Canzona terza for organ
Grossi, A: Sonata à 5 No. 11 in D major for trumpet, strings and continuo
Handel: Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63
Handel: Keyboard Suite, HWV 430 in E major 'The Harmonious Blacksmith': Air & Variations
Handel: See, the conqu'ring hero comes! (from Judas Maccabaeus)
Handel: Trio Sonata, HWV397 in D major, Op. 5 No. 2
Hingeston: Fantasia
Mouret: Symfonies de Fanfare
Purcell: Sound the trumpet (from Come Ye Sons of Art, Z323)
Purcell: Trumpet Voluntary
Purcell: Voluntary in D minor, Z719
Rathgeber: Concerto in E flat major Op. 6 Nr. 15 for 2 Trumpets, 2 Violins and Continuo
Scarlatti, A: Toccata
Telemann: Concerto in B flat for Three Trumpets and Orchestra
Telemann: Concerto in D major for three trumpets, two oboes, strings and continuo
Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Trumpets, Strings & Continuo in C major, RV 537
Viviani: Sonata No. 1 in C major for trumpet and organ
Viviani: Sonata Prima per Trombetta sola
Viviani: Sonata Seconda