During the first lockdown I made editions of some works from the Düben collection, and George Clifford and I even multi-tracked one of them for a remote music-making YouTube collaboration during the first lockdown.
Finally, when lockdown conditions finally allowed, Will Russell came up to visit me. He was looking for a project idea for Spiritato’s next CD, and I suggested music from the Düben collection as a possible theme. He was keen on the idea and began fundraising for the project. About one year later, there we were, with the record label (Delphian), recording in a church just south of Hampstead Heath (All Hallow’s Church, Gospel Oak). The recording sessions involving trumpets took place on 28th and 29th of September 2021.
We began the first session by recording the D. Prentzl - Sonata a 2. instromenti Trombetta [Clarino] è fagotto. Con Basso Continuo - using my edition.
The pitch for the project was predominantly A=415Hz but the bassoonist, Inga Klaucke, and I decided to play this piece on instruments at A=465Hz. In lieu of using a 465Hz organ just for this piece, we transposed the continuo parts up a tone to accommodate our decision to use high pitch and low pitch simultaneously, simulating the common (historical) pitch difference between chorton and cammerton. The decision to use high pitch instruments alongside 415Hz continuo instruments was driven by the implied early, Dulcian-esque, style of this piece. It is a remarkable work for both clarino and fagotto. The transposition did not seem to cause any intonation problems; except for one of the wolfs of the sixth-comma mean tone that we were using was on the A#. Fortunately, we had an expert harpsichord and organ tuner, Keith McGowan, on hand at all times and he was able to rectify this issue very expediently, and under time-pressure; a brilliant and indispensable professional.
In the afternoon we recorded Clement Thieme’s Sonata ab 8 - 2 Violini 2 Trombetti e 4 Viol di Braccio, again using my edition. It was fantastic to hear the two violin and four, yes FOUR, viola parts played by real-life musicians (as opposed to Sibelius sounds, or remote recordings). I think the recording of this work will (hopefully) be one of the highlights of the resulting CD.
The following day we began by recording a work with two trumpets in C, by Melani. This was a charming work with two intertwining clarino parts. There was a lot to play in this, mostly within a limited clarino range (nothing higher than A’’, as I remember). It was an interesting piece to perform, and there was an opportunity so play some strident principale interjections in one of the movements.
After only a short break we recorded one of the very short Capriccio à 2. Clarini by Löw von Eysenach (Löwe von Eisenach). We had decided to record this in D, effectively in A=465Hz, using transposing continuo parts. We have not yet decided whether it is worth including this piece on the CD as it is so short, however we recorded it anyway and will make the final decision later.
After lunch we recorded a piece we have played before in Spiritato’s ‘Sound the Trumpet’ programme. The piece is for two trumpets by Albrici, and it is a fantastic example of trumpet writing from c.1653.
It was great to record these pieces, and see the fruition of a few of these lockdown ideas and editions. I was particularly glad to hear several of my editions being played by such fine musicians. We worked with an excellent production team, and the producer and editor had a very clear idea of what they wanted from each take, which makes the process run most smoothly. Many thanks must also go to Will Russell, Kinga Ujszaszi and Joanne Miller for organising this intricate recording project.
The recording continued for one more day (without trumpets) with music by Buxtehude and others. As luck had it, I was asked to step in at short notice with an orchestra in Oxford for the following four days. This week has turned into quite a varied marathon of music: it began in Croatia with Brandenburg 2; continued for these two days of rehearsals and two days recording with Spiritato; continued for a day of rehearsing, plus a concert the following morning playing Mozart’s Vespers in the Divine Office Festival at SJE Arts in Oxford; and finally continued with two more days of recording various Mozart and Haydn masses at Keble College in Oxford. Nine days of consecutive trumpeting, in several different projects. How lucky that they all lined up so well; this almost never happens without clashes and overlapping.