Search - Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell :: Music for Trumpet and Organ

Wonderfully Addictive CD!

Kevin Peterson | Milwaukee, WI | 02/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Inspired by a recent recital performance I attended featuring Ms. Balsom, I purchased her latest CD ("Bach Works for Trumpet"). I was completely blown away by her performance and immediately fell in love with the disc. And so began my quest to find "Music for Trumpet and Organ"- her debut album, released in the US in 2003.



I finally got it yesterday. I decided to put it in my CD player, and take it in while reading the program notes she included in the CD jacket. Wow, what a performance!



Ms. Balsom plays everything from Sweelinck's "Variations on 'Mein junges Leben hat ein End'" to Petr Eben's "Windows" with a sweet and captivating tone, and with virtuosic technical ability to match. Her performance on the "suite" of excerpts from Act IV of Purcell's "King Arthur," played on the baroque trumpet (basically a trumpet with no valves) was especially remarkable; and her performances of "Shenandoah" and George Thalben-Ball's "Elegy" on the flugelhorn were incredibly passionate. She captures the emotion of the pieces well.



Whether your interests are in late Renaissance or Baroque music, 20th century music, or anything in between; it's on this CD. And it's all played incredibly well. I would recommend reading her program notes that accompany the CD, they really add a lot to her performance."