John Nelson (16) (1909–)

Over two decades ago and fairly late at night, my local classical music radio station announcer mentioned that he was going to play a track from a new CD (I vaguely remember that it was more than one track that was played that night). I believe he mentioned Wynton Marsalis and Kathleen Battle, by name, but the names meant nothing to me then. When it was ended I was agog to know who was responsible, and what the name of that divine music was.

It wasn’t long before I owned a couple of copies for home and car, which I’ve played it countless times. When frazzled this music picks me up, when I need to bask in beautiful sounds it fills my soul. This is the CD that I would take with me to the proverbial desert island.

The program notes for the disc say that during the Baroque, trumpet signified military, religious and regal music. It says that a higher, sweeter style of playing was created for indoor playing during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries called ‘clarino’. It was matched with high voiced instruments such as the recorder, such as to be found in the Brandenburg Concerto, the voice was also well suited to composers.

“The voice was deemed an especially good match for the trumpet. In particular, the sound of the castrated male voice (castrato) was often compared to the brilliance and strength of the trumpet and all that it symbolized. Throughout the Baroque era, heroic male operatic roles, such as Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, were typically sung by castrati. If we find the association of the castrato and a high (soprano or alto) singing range with male virility surprising today, it is partly because we fail to make a connection with the sound of the trumpet.”

The music is from some of the greats of the Baroque period: George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alessandro Stradella and Johann Sebastian Bach. The notes point out that the three Handel selections “specifically represent the trumpet’s three symbolic uses: military, regal and religious”. Straddella’s piece, is in the form of a “typical chamber sonata with a succession of four dance movements ([Allemande; Corrente; Canzone; [Gigue]) in which the solo trumpet is contrasted with a string orchestra.”

Bach’s Jauchzet Gott, a serious favorite of mine, is also to be found on this CD. This is not a surprise since it is a famous piece for voice and trumpet. “The work calls for extraordinary virtuosity from both the singer and trumpeter; the singer’s part not only demands agility and speed, but the range extends up to high c’’’. “
I have read critiques on this CD that were unfavorable. But the critics most have a far more sophisticated ear than I, because I hear nothing but beauty and passion and skill, and I suspect that I will love this disc until the day that I die.… (mehr)