To celebrate
Maurice André's 70th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon has combined all four of the recordings he made with the label in the 1960s and 1970s into a two-CD package. What's memorable about the discs are those pieces most familiar to listeners: the
Franz Josef Haydn Concerto for trumpet in E flat major and the
Vivaldi Concerto for two trumpets in C major, in which
André performs both parts. Both works are played with liveliness and a respect for the music. What also sticks out are the incredibly high notes in the first movement of the concerto by Michael Haydn, which even
André struggles to reach. His transcriptions of oboe concertos by
Telemann and
Handel allow him to demonstrate singing lines of melody and ornaments not normally found in works for trumpet. The second disc contains a good selection of Italian and German Baroque works ranging from early to high Baroque. In the Alessandro Scarlatti Sinfonia for flute, trumpet & strings and Sonata Prima for trumpet & organ by Viviani, the trumpet seems to unnecessarily overpower the other soloists. However, the trumpet is decidedly not overpowering bass soloist
Franz Crass in the aria "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from The Messiah. This set certainly shows why
André is as well respected as he is and will give the Baroque trumpet music fan a chance to hear something other than Clarke's voluntaries or
Purcell's Trumpet Tunes.