Norway
Ceremonial Music for Trumpet and Symphonic Organ is the recommended CD this week. Rolf Smedvig is the featured trumpeter and Michael Murray is on the organ. Of the positive reviews on Amazon, this one provides an overview of what to expect from this music. As a former trumpet player, I thoroughly enjoy this sound. As a footnote, my favorite trumpeter of all time is Maurice André.
“Music is drawn from the past four hundred years – works of well-known composers such as Purcell, Handel, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Bach are collected here, together with lesser-known composers such as Paradis, Mouret, Charpentier, Clarke and Martini, famous and respected in their day, but less known as personalities now (although their music will undoubtedly sound very familiar to the listener with any exposure to Western music). The CD also includes a few pieces from modern composers such as the French Charles Gounod, the British Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the American Alan Hovhaness.
Organist Michael Murray and trumpeter Rolf Smedvig make a dynamic duo in this celebratory music. Murray plays the symphonic organ from the First United Methodist Church of Cleveland (I’ve been in that church for a concert, and it is grand indeed). Smedvig is a Grammy nominee for his work with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, serving on the faculty of Boston University and Tanglewood. Murray has had a worldwide career of recitals, being a frequent guest of orchestras, and often sought to inaugurate grand organs upon their installation.
This is a grand disc, a ceremony in sound, and a wonderful piece to have in one’s collection.”
I totally agree with that last sentence.