Romantic Trumpet Sonatas - Jonathan Freeman-Attwood - Audiophile Audition

Jonathan Freeman-Attwood has made three previous SACDs for Linn and received major awards for other previous recordings and performances. BBC Music Magazine called him "a multi-talented trumpeter, academic and Renaissance Man." This album is part of his effort to improve the lot of the trumpet and piano duo by re-working other existing music for the combination. In this case he transcribed the familiar Grieg suite - originally for piano - himself, and collaborated with his accompanist on the transcriptions of the Schumann Violin Sonata and the Mendelssohn Cello Sonata.

All three of these works sound glorious in their new clothes. The five baroque dance movements of the Grieg work sound very convincing and not once did I wish I was hearing the familiar version for strings.  The intensities of some of Schumann's writing in the sonata seems even stronger on the trumpet than on the violin, but the instrument is equally adept at the quieter and more thoughtful passages. The sheer length of the Mendelssohn Sonata calls upon Freeman-Attwood to outdo himself in keeping up to the challenges at hand.

The original trumpet sonata by Pilss dates from 1935.  He was an Austrian composer writing in the Viennese post-Romantic tradition and accepting of the then-growing Nazi regime. Nevertheless it provides a tuneful three-movement work to close this unique program of trumpet and piano works. Linn's multichannel surround is at its usual best, with the highest audio standards matching these superb performances.