Classical Music: Casta Diva: Operatic Airs Transcribed For Trumpet

Casta Diva: Operatic airs transcribed for trumpet

Matilda Lloyd Trumpet
Britten Sinfonia Conductor Rumon Gamba

Mercadante 'Liete Voci!'; 'Ah si, questo di mia vita' from Zaira; Rossini 'Ah! Quel giorno ognor rammento' from Semiramide; Prélude, thème et variations; Bellini 'Oh! quante volte' from I capuleti e I Montecchi; 'Oh! mie Fedeli' from Beatrice di Tenda; Ricci Tarantella Napolentana from La festa di Piedigrotta;
Donizetti Prelude to Act II from 'Quel guardo il cavaliere'; from Don Pasquale; 'Una furtive lagrima' from L'elisir d'amore.; Arban Variations on a Cavatina from Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda and Variations on Bellini's 'Norma' (Casta Diva),
Pauline Viardot Chanson de la pluie from Le Dernier Sorcier; Havanaise.

Chandos CHSA 5321
https://www.chandos.net/

Technique is everything and trumpeter Matilda Lloyd has mastered it, as is demonstrated on this debut album of transcribed operatic arias. Having studied with Håkan Hardenberger and devoured the ultimate technique book by Jean-Baptiste Arban, affectionately known as the ‘The Trumpet Bible’, there is no wonder that Lloyd was described by Saarbrücker Seitung in March 2020 as a player with ‘flawless sound and virtuosic technique’.

Lloyd writes that at the end of the Arban book there are sets of themes and variations, her favourite being the Variations on Bellini’s Norma and this is the inspiration behind the concept for this disc.

It has all the magic of being in the opera house, wonderful accompaniments from the Britten Sinfonia, judged superbly well by Rumon Gamba’s direction with mellifluous and impeccable trumpet playing. There are virtuosic phrases which Lloyd polishes off with aplomb - when does she breathe?

In his notes Ditlev Rindom writes that the trumpet was a fundamental part of the nineteenth-century Italian operatic landscape and added brightness and military colour as well as offering noble expressions of pathos.

From Lloyd’s instrument we get many beautiful moments with gracefully shaped lines plus showpiece virtuosic brilliance all wrapped up in a tasteful album. Her technique comes into its own with wonderful ornamentation and sophisticated rhythmic playing

If you expect a litany of pot boilers then that is not what this disc is about; there are familiar and unusual arrangements that come together to offer the listener variety.

For example, Lloyd discovered Pauline Viardot, the celebrated opera singer who was a composer in her own right, and here there are two of her chansons arranged for trumpet, strings and harp; originally written for voice and piano they are exquisitely performed.

This album has undoubtedly achieved what Matilda Lloyd set out to do, namely breaking down the loud fanfare type of music that was historically performed by men.

Lloyds’s touch brings out the loveliness of the trumpet revealing the instrument's many delightful qualities with an expressive range.