Ib GLINDEMANN (1934-2019)
Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1962) [15:53]
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (2017) [17:17]
Medley (2020) [12:23]
Per Morten Bye (trumpet)
Robert Holmsted (trombone)
Odense Symphony Orchestra/Giordano Bellincampi
Rec. 2019, Odense, Denmark
DACAPO 6.220665 SACD [45:35]
Until this disc arrived for review, I had certainly never heard of Ib Glindemann, and I guess that I wouldn’t be alone amongst UK music-lovers. Glindemann died a couple of years ago, and was best known in his native Denmark as a fine jazz musician, and, especially, as the ‘father’ of Danish big-band jazz. That aspect of his background comes through strongly in all of the pieces on this disc. Yet rather sad is the fact that he had serious aspirations as a ‘classical’ composer, and never really recovered from the mauling his first symphony of 1962 received at the hands of the Danish press and musical establishment.
Fortunately, though it may have hurt him deeply, that experience failed to prevent him composing the two solo works on this CD, both of which are utterly delightful, and deserve to be heard widely. Any young trumpet and trombone players should be given this disc for Christmas, and then held forcibly in a comfortable chair until they’ve listened right through.
Enjoyable and listener-friendly though they may be, both concertos are genuinely virtuoso pieces, demanding not only a flawless command of the whole range of the instruments, but also great rhythmical alertness. Glindemann knows exactly how to get the best out of these instruments, and demands great fluency of articulation, as well as lyrical beauty when required. The Trumpet Concerto of 1962 – composed just after the ill-fated symphony – begins with an outrageously extrovert first movement, full of jazzy syncopations in orchestra and soloist. I was particularly tickled by the way Glindemann’s sequences – I mean short phrases repeated over and over, but at different either rising or falling pitches – go on right to the point you think they’re going to end up disappearing off the instrument’s range altogether. Is this a tribute to Vivaldi? Or perchance a cheeky send-up of the high-priest of the sequence?
The Trombone Concerto, composed many years later in 2017, is an equally enjoyable piece, with many of the same entertaining qualities as the Trumpet Concerto. The finale makes much use of the famous trombone glissando, relished noisily by both soloist and orchestral trombones. But the high-point for me in this work was the gorgeous slow movement, a tribute to George Gershwin if ever there was one. The soloist here is the man the piece was composed for, Robert Holmsted, principal trombone of the Odense Symphony Orchestra. He is superb in every aspect of the work, and boasts a truly fabulous trombone sound – powerful, masculine, but sweeter than a nut when required.
The trumpet soloist is Per Morten Bye, now principal in the Odense orchestra, and, like his colleague Holmsted, an assured and brilliant advocate of the music. The orchestra play with spirit and plenty of gusto and character – in fact the whole thing has that feeling of having been made con amore, to champion the work of this much-loved and admired figure of Danish music.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Previous review: Jonathan Woolf
