Reviews
Richard Wigmore, Gramophone Magazine
October 2008
"More than any performance I know, Schuster's included, Alison Balsom brings out the mellow, even veiled, colouring of so much of the writing. Where clarion brilliance is in order she can peal out with the best of them. But what lingers in the memory is the lyrical grace of her phrasing, and the delicacy of shading. In the entertaining Hummel concerto, with its palpable Mozart cribs, she mingles tonal subtlety and swagger in the opening movement, spins a refined, beautifully modulated line in the slow movement, and makes the finale's pyrotechnics properly dazzling. The spruce Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie match her all the way in sensitivity and rhythmic verve. Moving back in time, Balsom savours the bold, bugling fanfares of Torelli's miniature concerto ... In sum, a stunning recital from a poet of this traditionally martial instrument. "
October 2008
"The Haydn concerto is still wonderfully inventive on its own terms, and here it receives another superb performance. Balsom does nothing particularly radical, but it is all first-rate: her first movement cadenza stays within the bounds of taste if not period, while the orchestra feels entirely right. It is not too large, not too reverberant, with firm but not clattery timpani, and everything is beautifully balanced. Nothing is over-driven by Balsom (or Klug); the slow movement is mercifully not sentimentalized, as one sometimes hears. Balsom brings to Torelli and Neruda the same qualities of phenomenal accuracy and agility, over-arching phrasing and suave elegance that she demonstrates elsewhere. (...) She has set something of a bench-mark for anyone brave enough to join her."
October 2008
"In her hands, the two concertos emerge as models of delicacy and restraint. Alison brings a controlled zest to the twin peaks of the repertoire, Haydn's and Hummel's trumpet concertos, with sharp articulation, a singing tone and an effortless feel for melody. The trumpet is rarely this beautiful."
October 2008
"Franz Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel composed the most famous trumpet concertos in the repertoire. On her new disc, Britain's Alison Balsom applies nimble refinement to these favourites, which sound freshly minted. Balsom also has stylish help from the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in the program's less-familiar but eminently appealing concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Jan Neruda."
October 2008
"Balsom plays them all with great virtuosity, varied tone and good style. On a recent Simax disc, the young Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth delivers the Haydn, Hummel and Neruda efficiently but with unchangingly bright vibrato; and a similar lack of tonal variety detracts from Håkan Hardenberger’s classic Philips recording of the Haydn and Hummel. So even against strong competition Balsom stands out as something special."
October 2008
"More than any performance I know, Schuster's included, Alison Balsom brings out the mellow, even veiled, colouring of so much of the writing. Where clarion brilliance is in order she can peal out with the best of them. But what lingers in the memory is the lyrical grace of her phrasing, and the delicacy of shading. In the entertaining Hummel concerto, with its palpable Mozart cribs, she mingles tonal subtlety and swagger in the opening movement, spins a refined, beautifully modulated line in the slow movement, and makes the finale's pyrotechnics properly dazzling. The spruce Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie match her all the way in sensitivity and rhythmic verve. Moving back in time, Balsom savours the bold, bugling fanfares of Torelli's miniature concerto ... In sum, a stunning recital from a poet of this traditionally martial instrument. "
--------------------
Piers Burton-Page, International Record ReviewOctober 2008
"The Haydn concerto is still wonderfully inventive on its own terms, and here it receives another superb performance. Balsom does nothing particularly radical, but it is all first-rate: her first movement cadenza stays within the bounds of taste if not period, while the orchestra feels entirely right. It is not too large, not too reverberant, with firm but not clattery timpani, and everything is beautifully balanced. Nothing is over-driven by Balsom (or Klug); the slow movement is mercifully not sentimentalized, as one sometimes hears. Balsom brings to Torelli and Neruda the same qualities of phenomenal accuracy and agility, over-arching phrasing and suave elegance that she demonstrates elsewhere. (...) She has set something of a bench-mark for anyone brave enough to join her."
--------------------
Mark Forrest, Classic FM Magazine
October 2008
"In her hands, the two concertos emerge as models of delicacy and restraint. Alison brings a controlled zest to the twin peaks of the repertoire, Haydn's and Hummel's trumpet concertos, with sharp articulation, a singing tone and an effortless feel for melody. The trumpet is rarely this beautiful."
--------------------
Sunday Plain Dealer (Cleveland)October 2008
"Franz Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel composed the most famous trumpet concertos in the repertoire. On her new disc, Britain's Alison Balsom applies nimble refinement to these favourites, which sound freshly minted. Balsom also has stylish help from the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in the program's less-familiar but eminently appealing concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Jan Neruda."
--------------------
Anthony Burton, BBC Music MagazineOctober 2008
"Balsom plays them all with great virtuosity, varied tone and good style. On a recent Simax disc, the young Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth delivers the Haydn, Hummel and Neruda efficiently but with unchangingly bright vibrato; and a similar lack of tonal variety detracts from Håkan Hardenberger’s classic Philips recording of the Haydn and Hummel. So even against strong competition Balsom stands out as something special."