I have been into all sorts of music throughout my life. I remember when I was a little 7 year-old boy, I would not stop listening to the songs from the 40s and 50s. I used to love hearing the voice of Pat Boone, Paul Anka and the excellent harmonizing from groups like The Drifters and The Four Seasons. Then when I started off in high school, my tastes drifted off the good ol' 40s and 50s and I moved onto a wider variety of music including Fat Boy Slim, Smashing Pumpkins and Metallica. It was only a few years ago when my tastes really broadened out into everything. Although I listen to everything, it certainly shows in my reviews that I tend to like classic rock albums. But here I will review a classical CD that I have owned for a while: Haydn: Trumpet Concerto and Mozart: Posthorn Serenade featuring Helmut Wobisch on solo trumpet and solo posthorn with Anton Heiler and Jonathan Sternberg conducting these pieces of music.

The Haydn's Trumpet Concerto is split into 3 movements, while Mozart's Posthorn Serenade is split into 7 movements. Here below is basic information about the concerto and serenade (numbers in the brackets denotes the duration of each movement).

Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in Eb for Trumpet and Orchestra
1. Allegro - (5:41)
2. Andante - (3:54)
3. Allegro - (4:23)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenade in D, K.230 "Posthorn Serenade"
4. Adagio maestoso (Allegro con spirito) (7:48)
5. Menuetto (Allegretto) - (4:27)
6. Concertante (Andante grazioso) - (8:43)
7. Rondeau (Allegro ma non troppo) - (6:54)
8. Andantino - (4:41)
9. Menuetto - (5:14)
10. Finale (Presto) - (4:11)

The first and third movements of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto are lively and loud pieces of music that has an allegro (fast) pace to it. In contrast, the second movement is a slow-moving, quiet and very pleasant sounding piece of music. The first movement begins loud and triumphant with the first violins moving the piece along by playing the main melody. This is ornamented with complex countermelodies from the flute and the second violins plus the other strings. Wobisch's trumpet also has little melodies of its own squeezed in between the dynamically increasing presence of the violins. The song crescendoes until Wobisch's solo trumpet comes back in to play the melody started off by the violin. He starts off quietly, but gets louder as he accelerates the music with a mixture of pitch-ascending semi-quavers and trills throughout the piece of music. The range of notes he uses throughout the song is amazing and he even reaches a high Db at one point, and on an Eb trumpet, it is hard to hit that note cleanly, let alone hit it at all (trust me, I play the instrument). The little bursts of speeds of semi-quaver melodies Wobisch plays on the trumpet is done perfectly. Each note is hit cleanly and you can literally hear every note he plays, despite the speed of his playing. The cadenza in the end is absolutely amazing, he plays around with various tempos, dynamics and notes and this is the perfect way to end the first movement. The music sounded so beautiful because of Haydn's sound composing. Whenever I listen to this piece of music, I am always amazed at how he is able to mix in various pieces of melodies for the variety of instruments used in the song. Also he uses the dynamics so well in this song that the first movement already sounds like an entire concerto to you. This creates the song's general liveliness. It is extremely vivacious and it builds to the trumpet's climactic cadenza at the end, which is played very freely. It always stuns you when you realize that there are another 2 movements to this concerto.

This is where we move onto the second movement. As I said earlier, this is the slow movement, but because it is slow, each note has to be hit perfectly. Again, the violins start this song off with the melody and the trumpet soon comes in emulating the same melody that the violins played. Then it carries on, playing a series pitch-ascending-descending demi-semi quaver passages, and what is stunning about these passages being played in a slow song is that each of these passages have to be played in perfect timing, unlike the first movement, which allows you to move in any fast speed, because it is hard to notice if the music speeds up in a fast song than it is in a slow song. Also, Wobisch focuses a lot on the round tone of the trumpet throughout this song. No matter what note it is, whether it is a middle Eb or a high Ab, each note has to be hit perfectly in order for this song to work. Like the first movement, Haydn included many other intricate melodies from the violins and flutes in the background and blended these in with the trumpet solo. If I were to describe the general feeling throughout this song, it would be described as what my trumpet teacher says: "imagine running your hand along the back of a beautiful blonde". Basically, it is solemn but at the same time, it is a poignant piece of music, because it takes its time to get louder and to speed up in passages. This is truly a masterpiece and it is a very sweet-sounding song, despite the melancholy nature.

The third and last movement of this song is like the "flaming finish" to the concerto, and what a way to finish this piece of music off! The violins start off the movement with a swing-like melody and this is ornamented with various semi-quaver passages. The trumpet, like all the other movements, comes in playing the same melody. However, Wobisch does some brilliant double-tonguing in this piece and he accentuates each note with authority. This song is definitely the most technically complex song, because it is always on the move and it uses strange rhythmic patterns for a song during the 18th century. The solo trumpet part in this movement is so complex that many professional trumpet players have problems playing this song (even my teacher, who plays in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra cannot play this). Haydn, again, crowds this song with a diversity of instruments playing their own difficult part mixed in with the solo trumpet. The fanfare ending is a perfect way to end such a great trumpet movement by a fantastic composer. The interpretation by Wobisch is absolutely amazing, and if you like classical trumpet playing, this is the movement to listen to! Also, try and find Hummel's Trumpet Concerto, which is much more difficult than the Haydn Concerto. I still prefer the Haydn Concerto, because it is written so well and being able to mix other instruments in always amazes me, and this interpretation of the song is almost a tribute to him.

Onto the Posthorn Serenade. The first movement of Mozart's Posthorn Serenade, Adagio maestoso (Allegro con spirito), is a very interesting song, but it is obvious that this song is done by Mozart. The quick increases in tempo and dynamics is a Mozart technique that is still used by many musicians today. The strings strike the chords at the beginning ferociously, while the posthorn hits the note loudly and crisply. The posthorn, although the music is not difficult in comparison to Haydn's concerto, is still played to perfection by Wobisch. The posthorn is a very difficult instrument to play and it is hard to play fast passages, so a lot depends on your tongue and the intonation of each note. Wobisch hits each note clearly and it is obvious why this is a serenade from the posthorn. The posthorn almost sings its part, and although the violins have the bulk of the song's melodic passages, you want to listen to that posthorn hitting those notes perfectly. This piece is a mixture of lively, powerfully-driven music and soft, turtle-moving string notes, hence the title, Allegro maestoso. Another excellent piece of music.

The next movement, Menuetto (Allegretto), is not as impressive as the first one, in that the posthorn's role is reduced to merely nothing. It has its occasional piece of posthorn serenading, but this movement is decorated with a very difficult main part for the violins. It is surrounded by nasty turns (a group of uneven notes that ascend and descend in pitch within one beat), swift trills and it moves at a generally quick pace. I find it interesting how there is an oboe that comes in during the song, but how there is a lack of flutes. The song is a very nice and pleasant song, but the fact that this song lacks the presence of the posthorn disappoints me to an extent.

The third movement, Concertante (Andante grazioso), starts off with a group of strings playing a succession of pleasant major chords together before the flute and oboes come in. The flute adds so much to the song that was needed in the previous song. There is even a hint of a french horn in the background and it helps create a full sound. The flutes, oboes and clarinets go onto play solos consecutively, each of them sounding very pleasant. Mozart, again, plays with the dynamics, making these changes as obvious as possible. In this song, however, the posthorn is nowhere to be found! Nevertheless, this movement is a very nice piece of music and I love the changes in major and minor keys. Unlike Mozart's other techniques, these are done subtlely and it gives this piece another dimension. A great and sweet-sounding song for any classical musician/fan to listen to.

The 4th movement, Rondeau (Allegro ma non troppo), starts off with a flute melody that is similar to the ever-popular Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik (its the song by Mozart that everyone knows and was even used by Salieri in the film, Amadeus, in an attempt to get the priest to recognize "his" music). The flute dominates this song and there are constant "cannon and response" passages between the flute, violins, cellos and oboes. Again, this song has no posthorn, and that disappoints a brass player like me. Mozart ornaments this with a variety of melodies and mixes the oboes' and clarinets' melodies with the flute's while the orchestra accompanies the solo instruments. The flutes make this piece a vivacious, fun piece of music. Good, but I wish the posthorn was there.

The 5th movement, Andantino, is another slow piece of music. The posthorn comes in with notes, but it is the violins who dominate this song. The sheer force of the violins help drive this song with the flutes and oboes blended into the mix of things. The song starts off solemn at first, but it starts to become more pleasant and when you listen to this song, its like being in a luscious field of green grass. The occasional presence of the quiet posthorn makes this song a great song. But wait. That's not a posthorn. It's a french horn! DAMN! Still no posthorn here. Ah well. Well, I can say that Mozart was usually at his best writing quiet pieces of music and here, he proves himself that he is best at writing these types of songs. However, after hearing so many songs without the posthorn, you feel a bit disappointed, because its a posthorn serenade and you want to hear the posthorn rather than the violins.

Just when you thought the posthorn was gone, the 6th movement, Menuetto, comes back in with the posthorn blaring notes. The posthorn has a more prominent role in this song, blaring notes throughout the piece of music. The piece of music is still dominated by the presence of the flutes, while the strings take a backseat while the flute plays a quiet melody. The posthorn is always there when the piece is reaching its loud moments, but the posthorn actually has a solo in here, and Wobisch plays this so well. He uses a diverse range of solid notes here, and Wobisch hits each note with flawless accuracy. The violins contrast its melody with the posthorn's accentuated notes and you can feel the force of the two instruments as they play. Great piece of music and a fantastic way for the posthorn to make an entrance into the song.

The final movement also starts off with the posthorn playing a more important part in this piece. It plays throughout this piece of music in loud, blaring fanfare, while the violins accompany this fanfare with fast, quick fingerwork and timpanis roll with a lot of speed and with lots of power. Despite the loud, ferocious beginning, Mozart still squeezes in solos for the oboe and the other woodwind instruments in this song in the quieter moment of the song with other brass instruments sustaining notes in the background. The posthorn even accompanies and hearing octave leaps from the instrument is something that is very hard to do, and Wobisch does this with such elegance that it sounds very pretty but at the same time, aggressive. The loud, fanfare ending is a great way to end the serenade.

I generally like the Posthorn Serenade, but its clear that I prefer Haydn's Trumpet Concerto, because of the fact that its trumpet music and that the trumpet has a more vital role in its concerto than the posthorn does in its serenade. Nevertheless, I feel that both these pieces of music are excellently written by two great composers and are interpreted very well by Wobisch. His trumpet playing and posthorn playing is amazing. Despite the huge difference in the two instruments and the difficulty of getting adjusted to the mouthpieces of the two instruments, Wobisch makes this all look too easy. I wish it was. If it was, I would have been playing both instruments right now! Last but not least, the orchestra of strings and woodwind played magnificently throughout. Oboes, flutes, violins, violas, cellos. You name it. All the parts were written and played well. If you like classical music (particularly classical music concerning brass instruments), get this CD!

Thank you for reading this review.

Recommended: Yes