Kovats/Larpa Festante - The Mystery of the Natural Trumpet

Along with the renowned classics of the trumpet concerto literature by Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the musical epoch known today as �Classicism� also witnessed the composition of other solo concertos for trumpet. These concertos were for the natural trumpet without valves. Performing on a four-hole Baroque trumpet model and with the richly nuanced L�arpa festante ensemble, the Hungarian trumpeter Kriszti�n Kov�ts interprets festive trumpet concertos by Johann Matthias Sperger, Johann Stamitz, and others. The purpose of the present recording is to call attention to the long-forgotten art of clarino playing. The use of original instruments enabling us to come very close to the composer�s musical intention. The corpus of the Baroque natural trumpet is much longer than that of modern valved instruments, so that a sound spectrum rich in overtones is the result. The repertoire recorded here was once performed by only a few most highly privileged and specialized trumpeters whose artistry enabled them to imitate the articulation and lightness of the human voice in the clarino register.