Adagio: Works for Virtuoso Trumpet

Advantages: Wonderful transcriptions of JS Bach's majestic music; sensitive, tender, vivacious, effortless and fluid playing.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...pieces are the devil to muster (and master) on any musical device, but the trumpet makes special demands on the player's breathing that the other plucked, hammered and bowed instruments do not. Being such a wimp at breath-holding and control myself, I listen amazed at Ms Balsom's sustained breaths on parts that run on without pause, such as those on the Allegro from the Vivaldi-inspired Concerto in D. The music on 'Works for Trumpet' occasionally ascends to such heights of sublimity that leave me on the verge of tears. Such heavenly ecstasy can be experienced with the Largo of the Concerto in C Minor (after Marcello) and the Adagio of the Concerto in D (after Vivaldi), which have Ms Balsom's reflective trumpet seeming all alone in a bittersweet melancholy, the companion organ sounding so hushed and distant. With the help of other, equally... Read review

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Advantages: Just great music making throughout
Disadvantages: There's not more of it

..., but with an ethereal, distant quality. Easy Mo Bee produced this album after Miles said he wanted the sound of the streets he heard outside his open NY windows. Never been to NY so I can't say, but this is much more about outdoor, bustling streets than it is about smoky, underground clubs. There is rap on here too. Not gangsta, not aggressive and with enough mellow harmonies to make it as musical as the trumpet and gentle keyboards. It breaks things up nicely for those not quite willing to go through an entire cd of only instrumental tracks. Considering that Miles died during the making of this it's surprising that his playing is as focused and energised as it is. In fact a couple of tracks were completed after his death, the backing music being virtually built around his improvisations. This is not crazy atonal virtuoso trumpet playing though... Read review

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Advantages: Relaxing, serene, dreamy
Disadvantages: The first track is not actual Albinoni

...Albinoni's Adagios Albinoni is an Italian composer of the late Baroque era. The Baroque era, 1600 to 1750, is used musically to describe a period in music in which the techniques used and expression achieved share similar characteristics. An important characteristic of the Baroque era is the use of contrasts; loud and soft, fast and slow, solo and tutti (all instruments). Adagio an Italian word translated to English as slow. Albinoni used slow movements to provide a contrast to faster movements. He is credited with being the first Italian composer to use three movements for a concerto. A concerto being a genre of music, in which a small group of players is set against a much larger group thereby providing the contrasts of soft and loud, solo and tutti. The usual pattern of concerto is three movements - fast – slow – fast. This CD... Read review

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