Short version: this is really wild. Trumpeter
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood points out that he does use techniques drawn from the world of historical performance, and he doesn't sound anything like
Maurice André. But in the main this release has to be classified with the recordings that go to the opposite pole from historical performance, and indeed the booklet uses the term "unhistorical" as a description.
Freeman-Attwood and pianist
Daniel-Ben Pienaar, who did the arrangements, play music by
Johann Sebastian Bach and other members of the
Bach family on trumpet and piano. The effect of this is difficult to describe, partly because it's so far from any way
Bach has been played before, even in pure modern-instrument approaches. But what makes it even more slippery is the fact that the combination has a different effect in each piece. With regard to
Johann Sebastian Bach, the alteration the players wreak on the source material varies from chorale settings (fairly minor) to fundamental (the Prelude and Fugue for organ in G major, BWV 541, where the balance among the voices is something
Bach would hardly have recognized). On top of this, there are no fewer than ten other members of the
Bach family involved, from the commonly heard ones like
Johann Christian Bach to the almost completely unknown (
Gottfried Heinrich Bach). The players go back to the early musical manifestations of the
Bach clan in the early 17th century (the
Bachs other than
Johann Sebastian are presented roughly in chronological order). This again lends the trumpet and piano a great variety of roles. In the little Sonata in F major of
Johann Heinrich Bach (1615-1692), the trumpet's role is not far from its familiar sound in brass music of the late Renaissance. In the likes of
Johann Christian Bach, however, its effect is strange indeed. If it sounds as though there's a lot going on here -- maybe too much -- you're right, there is. But for sheer originality this has to take some kind of prize.