At the Peak

Trumpet and Organ
Works by Johann Wilhelm Hertel,  Michael Haydn, Leopold Mozart and more
Immanuel Richter,
piccolo trumpet
Hans Jürg Bättig, organ

Trumpet and organ has us immediately thinking of trumpet tunes and trumpet voluntaries, of majestic, bombastic music by Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel, of mixtures and reed stops that resound so strongly as to make church walls tremble.
 
The music on this CD does not adhere to those stereotypes: it is very delicate, light, transparent, elegant. If one was to pigeon-hole it, the choice of genre would be difficult. From a musical point of view, it is located between the Baroque and the Classical eras, a period whose various art forms are given numerous labels: early Classical, sensitive style, Rococo, Sturm und Drang.
 
In addition to numerous performances as a soloist and chamber musician, Immanuel Richter is also principal trumpet player of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. Together with Hans Jürg Bättig on the organ, the trumpeter has slowly approached the works of this CD, often playing them in concerts in order to become completely familiar with the music. There is no instrument in his eyes that fits the trumpet better than the organ.
 
The timbres merge into each other and complement each other wonderfully.