By TOM STRINI_Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: Jan. 13, 2006

On Friday evening, Alison Balsom unfurled the long, lyrical melodies in the slow movement of Hummel's Trumpet Concerto as though breath were not an issue. On and on it went, all creamy legato and burnished tone, over the gentle pulsing of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Balsom showed great agility and speed in her negotiation of Hummel's third movement, the sort of bugler's holiday finale you'd expect from a trumpet concerto. But her performance was really more about beauty and than speed or power.In this, her thinking aligned with Hummel's. The composer, a younger contemporary of Mozart, exploits the horn's potential, but the music is not only about the trumpet - this would be a lovely concerto even if played on the violin or the clarinet. The vigorous, first-movement march tunes laid out in the orchestra turn surprisingly lyrical when the trumpet takes them up. The reversal on stereotype, and Balsom's full realization of that reversal, was one of the great pleasures of listening to this music.

Another, of course, was Balsom's ravishing sound and utter control. Playing high notes quietly on the trumpet is exceedingly difficult, but she integrated them into the arc of the phrase in every case. Nuanced tonal hue, articulation and dynamics warmed and clarified the music from start to finish.