Duelling Trumpets: Crispian Steele-Perkins and Simon Munday
Director: Jim O'Toole

PROGRAMME:

Concerto for 2 Trumpets in D major -Francesco Onofrio Manfredini

Sonata in D – Arcangelo Corelli - Soloist: Crispian Steele-Perkins

Banchetto Musicale no.6 - Johann Hermann Schein

Sonata G1- Guiseppe Torelli - soloist: Simon Munday

Concerto in C for 2 Trumpets - Antonio Vivaldi

Vivaldi Concerto in D for 2 Trumpets - Antonio Vivaldi

Sinfonia 'Il Barcheggio' part II - Alessandro Stradella - Soloist: Simon Munday

Concerto in 7 parts Op 5 no 2 - Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco

Sonata for Trumpet in D – Henry Purcell - Soloist: Crispian Steele-Perkins

Concerto for 2 Trumpets in D major - Petronio Fransheschini


REVIEW:
More a Friendly Duet than a Duel..

Jim O'Toole's Norwich Baroque launched its 10th season with a flourish of a pair of unvalved period trumpets. They were played with expertise and flair by the celebrated Crispian Steele-Perkins and the gifted Simon Munday.

A concerto by manfredini came first in the programme with works by well-known composers as well as some of their minor contemporaries. More a friendly duet and than a duel between adversaries, it had a thrilling ring as the two instruments seamlessly combined as equal partners.

All elegance in a solo concerto that Corelli is supposed to have written in 1710 for an English virtuoso, Steele-Perkins was also totally assured in Purcell's sonata in D. Munday was no less impressive in challenging music by Stradella.

Tireless exuberance came in Vivaldi's typical cascades or noates innot one but two concertos for a pair of trumperts, and Franceschini's rather bolder, more imaginative conceptions showed the way forward. Sensitive, sympathetic and never too loud in accompaniment, the strings gave delightful accounts of Schein's 6th Musical Banquet, dating from the early 17th century, and of Dall'Abacos's Concerto in Seven Parts. It would be good to hear both these pieces again some time soon.

Christopher Smith.