This complete recording of the trumpet concertos of German High Baroque composer Johann Melchior Molter actually includes the concertos in which the trumpet plays any role at all, and this is its biggest strength. Sample some of the concertos on the second CD, such as the Sonata Grossa for three trumpets, two oboes, timpani, strings, and continuo, or either of the works designated as a sinfonia concertante -- the trumpet is not the first work one would associate with that elegant French form and its genteel conversations among a group of solo instruments, but Molter's command of instrumental textures is most unusual for his era. The trumpet in these works is made to blend into the texture in artful ways. Hear for example the final Vivace a tempo di minuet in the Sinfonia concertante for trumpet, two oboes, two horns, bassoon, strings, and continuo, MWV VII-2 (CD 2, track 19), where the trumpet dances above the other instruments as a sort of descant. In many passages, texture takes on fascinating implications in conjunction with the development of Classical harmonic structure -- this is music that those enthusiastic about the development of Classicism should investigate. The concertos for one or two trumpets with orchestra are often oriented toward sheer virtuosity (and composed for a piccolo trumpet), much more so than other trumpet concertos of the middle eighteenth century. Their thematic material is a bit too dull to allow one to agree with the major inflation of Molter's importance proposed by Ralf Siepmann in the booklet notes (which have a footnote mark but no footnote to go with it), but they did mark a major increase in the size of the trumpet's vocabulary. Trumpeters themselves will make up another audience for this set, and they will not be disappointed by the clarity of playing on the part of principal trumpeter
Otto Sauter, even in the most difficult passages. The venerable
Capella Istropolitana under
Nicol Matt is less clear, but the soloists are the center of attention, and they are given a suitably heraldic sonic space by the sound environment of a Baroque-era hall in Bratislava. The recording reveals a Tartini of the trumpet, better appreciated in the whole than in the samples that other recordings provide, even if there is room for further recordings that hone everything to a sharper edge.