Andre Schoch (trumpet)
Core
Johann Wilhelm Hertel (1727-1789)
Concerto No. 1 in E flat major
Leopold Mozart (1719-1787)
Concerto in D major
Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765)
Concerto in D major, MWV6.32
Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
Concerto No. 2 in C major, MH60
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto in D Major, TWV 51:D7
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester/Susanne von Gutzeit
rec. 2023, Gedächtniskirche, Stuttgart, Germany
Es-Dur ES2091 [49]
Early on in my time listening seriously to classical music, I heard a quite glorious trumpet piece on the radio, which was back-announced as the Largo from a trumpet concerto by Johann Hertel (who I’d never heard of). I was able to identify and order the disc: the trumpeter was Håkan Hardenberger, with the ASMF and Sir Neville Marriner on Philips. It remains a favourite album, and led me to similar albums by Maurice André and Alison Balsom.
Andre Schoch is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic, so is obviously no slouch. This is his first recording as soloist, and he has chosen five 18th century concertos, spanning the late Baroque to the mid-Classical, none in common with the Hardenberger album. The Mozart and Telemann are relatively often recorded, the other three much less so, so, in principle, it is a good mix.
The Hertel concerto that so impressed me all those years ago was No. 3 In D major, and it is a so much better work than No. 1. I have another recording of No. 1 (Wolfgang Bauer, MDG), and it made no more impression than Schoch’s version here. I don’t think Hardenberger, Balsom or André could make much of it. That being the case, it is not a great way to start the disc. Placing the better-known and far superior Mozart first would make a much better first impression.
Michael Haydn is very much in the shadow of his elder brother, and there is a very good reason for that: he is no more than a competent composer, whose music is well-crafted, but ultimately not especially memorable. The concerto here, in two movements, is a good example: enjoyably pleasant while it plays, but very little remains in the memory afterwards. However, the concerto by Johann Molter is a real discovery: not at the level of Hertel 3, but still graceful, elegant and with more melodic inspiration than the Haydn or Hertel on this disc.
With the Hertel, Haydn and Molter, Schoch has the field more or less to himself (certainly as a grouping), but with the Telemann and Mozart, he runs up against recordings by Maurice André (of both) and Alison Balsom (Telemann), and unfortunately, comparisons aren’t favourable. With Alison Balsom’s Telemann (Warner Classics), there is a soulful longing in the opening Adagio missing from Schoch’s rather straight and overly quick rendition, nor does he match Balsom’s lithe Allegros. In my admittedly not vast experience of Leopold Mozart’s music, the trumpet concerto strikes me as his best work. Schoch takes the Adagio quite slowly, more than 30 seconds slower than Maurice André, but doesn’t match the Frenchman’s poetry. By contrast, he charges through the Allegro Moderato, and misses out on its elegance.
In a review of an early Alison Balsom album, my only criticism was of its poor runtime (53 minutes). This release is even more miserly, and unfortunately, the performances are not good enough to make up for the shortfall. The playing of the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester is satisfactory, but like the soloist, lacks a little character. Sound quality is good and the notes are quite informative. For those wondering about the title of the album, the notes indicate that it refers to the sound that the performer wants to produce, but also the central pieces of the repertoire. The first is fairly hard to argue with, but I suspect there might be more than a few trumpet aficionados, myself among them, who would see the concertos by Hummel and Joseph Haydn as being far more “core” than at least three of the works here.
I was pleased to make the acquaintance of the Molter, and while Schoch is unquestionably a good player, his readings are simply not characterful enough to compete with the trumpeters named elsewhere in this review.
David Barker
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