Rolf Smedvig - Trumpet Concertos of Haydn, Hummel, Torelli, Tartini & Bellini (2022)

This 1990 recording was a Grammy winner and a consistent audience pleaser, which isn't a surprise: the combination of Telarc's snappy digital sound with the triumphant, all's-right-with-the-world mood of the Baroque and Classical trumpet concerto was a winning one. Smedvig is one of the world's great virtuosi on the trumpet, with a smooth sound that seems to be almost effortless but of course is not -- the earlier works here, written for a valveless trumpet, require the player to jump around in the trumpet's top register, which was the only portion of the instrument's range that could produce a passable scale at the time. In fact, the concertos by Torelli and Tartini come off as just a bit too smooth in these performances; the charm of the galant Tartini work, which doesn't sound much like the composer's well-known violin piece The Devil's Trill, lies in its combination of what should be a very piercing trumpet line with the graceful pleasantries of the orchestral parts. On the more spacious concertos by Haydn, and especially Hummel, however, Smedvig really shows his stuff with faultless performances that are well planned in both details and overall structure. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Jahja Ling adapts itself seamlessly to Smedvig's playing, and the disc makes for pleasant listening for everyone from professional trumpeters to calisthenicians looking for a lift.