Search - Wallace, Miller, Phil Orch :: Wallace Plays Trumpet Music From Italian Baroque 1

Spectacular Confidence

Patrick A Daley | Fredericton, New Brunswick | 04/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This music is extremely confident, reflecting, as the liner notes say, a new confidence in humanity and its powers, the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Although not very complex or subtle by today's standards, these pieces are well constructed and very effective. The first two by Monteverdi (orchestrated by John Wallace) and Torelli, respectively, are sheerly spectacular, with brass and orchestra alternating with contrasting short string passages. The effect is often simply breathtaking.



This is not familiar repertoire, although most of the composers are quite well known, with Sonatas and Concerti by Monteverdi, Torelli, Albinoni, Purcell, Bononcini and Alberti. Some might say there is not enough contrast on the disc, but all the works are quite individual and there are both piano and forte passages. This is a period when many musical structures were just being developed.



John Wallace and John Miller are both excellent trumpeters and acquit themselves well. They and the Philharmia Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green give exciting performance, full of vim and vigour. The sound quality is excellent, very spacious with a good ambience.



This is one of the fine series of recordings by John Wallace and The Wallace Collection made by Nimbus. Nimbus went out of business, but the recordings are available on The Wallace Collection label. This is one of my favorites from the series.



Note: Nimbus is thankfully back in business but the Wallace Collection label seems to handle the Wallace Collection recordings."