Move Records

31 October 2014

A new fascination in the world of trumpet and organ music

Reviewer Neville Cohn said..."In this fascinating collection, many in transcriptions for trumpet and organ I’ve not encountered before, ace trumpeter Bruno Siketa and Rhys Boak at the organ rise to the occasion time and again.

Many of the tracks are of pieces long established in the concert repertoire but only rarely heard in these versions, giving the collection significant novelty value as well as high quality readings.

Bach, Telemann and Shostakovich rub shoulders with Piazzolla, Bellini and Monti, odd bedfellows to be sure – but how beautifully these arrangements are offered to the listener.

Jean­Baptiste Arban’s Variations on Casta Diva from Bellini’s Norma (arranged by Boak) are made memorable by the tonal beauty of Siketa’s trumpet line; it’s never edgy but invariably mellow. The same could be said of the solo line in the Romance from Shostakovich’s The Gadfly.

Rather improbably, Astor Piazzolla is represented not by a tango but a setting of the Ave Maria in an arrangement by Boak whose musicianship at the console runs like a golden thread through this compilation.

An adagio by Giazotto, in an arrangement by both Siketa and Boak, comes across as the quintessence of gentle melancholy. Intriguingly, a fascinating program note states that this little piece, known to millions as Albinoni’s Adagio, may not be by Albinoni at all. It may well be by Giazotto.

Doubt is also cast on the great J.S.Bach as composer of the magnificent Toccata and Fugue in D minor. A liner note states that some experts are of the view it is really by Johann Ludwig Krebs, a student of the great J.S.. There is also speculation it might have been written by Johann Peter Kellner. But does it really matter?

Like the debate about whether Shakespeare really wrote this or that play, it’s far more important that the music exists ­ and so, scholars, if they choose, can burn the midnight oil for years to come arguing about its authorship while music followers the world over continue to be moved by its magnificence.

Boak’s performance of Bach’s “little organ fugue” in G minor borders on perfection – it’s a musical gem.

Limelight reviewer, R. J. Stove had this to say "Even those who have previously abjured this ancient instrumental combination will find abundant delights. Bruno Siketa studied trumpet with Geoffrey Payne: no surprise, since he shares Payne’s opulent, bronzed timbre (with great delicacy when needed).

Together Siketa and Boak make the most hackneyed items seem new: including the non-Albinoni Adagio, the non- Caccini Ave Maria, and the possibly non-Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Thanks to Boak’s aptitude as arranger, Jean-Baptiste Arban’s Casta Diva variations, the Romance from Shostakovich’s Gadfly, Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, and Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás sound as if their composers had wanted organ performance all along. So does Astor Piazzolla’s exquisite Ave Maria, which will gratify even those of us allergic to this composer’s tango obsession.

Sensibly, Move intersperses duets with organ solos. Boak imperturbably sails through the Pilgrims’ Chorus, an idiomatic but dauntingly complex Wagner transcription by Edwardian recitalist Edwin Lemare. Ditto with the CD’s original organ works, including Bach’s Little Organ Fugue and Alexandre Guilmant’s March on a Theme of Handel. All tracks are commendably engineered (six were recorded at a private studio in Melbourne’s suburbia, the remainder at a downtown Melbourne church). Captivating and handsomely designed, this release is a winner."

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