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 ...
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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...
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