ALISON BALSOM · TOM POSTER — Légende : Works for Trumpet and Piano (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Alison Balsom has been successful since the early 2000s with a standard diet of Baroque trumpet works and the usual Classical-period concertos. In the mid-2010s she turned toward more contemporary repertory with a French conservatory flavor. The results on the trumpet-and-piano Légende, named for the effusive Enescu piece (track five), are impressive; Balsom deepens her art with a coherent program even as she plays mostly music that could be characterized as light. Sample one of the movements of the opening Sonatine of the mightily underrated Jean Françaix, whose understated style, not so much humorous as subtle and elegant, poses challenges for a trumpet confined mostly to its middle register. Balsom's bright, perfectly controlled lines and close ensemble with pianist Tom Poster pass all the tests. After that you get a mix of other neoclassic pieces, the heavier Hindemith Trumpet Sonata in the middle, and popular songs, small chunks all hanging together that stimulate the listener even without awareness of same. Brava. James Manheim
Tracklist :
1-4.    Sonatine Pour Trompette Et Piano (6:50)
Composed By – Jean Françaix
5. Légende For Trumpet And Piano 6:09
Composed By – George Enescu
6. Concert Etude, Op.49 (3:17)
Composed By – Alexander Goedicke
7-11. Farewell To Stromness 3:52
Composed By – Peter Maxwell Davies
Transcription By – A. Balsom, T. Poster
8-11.    Sonata For Trumpet And Piano (15:47)
Composed By – Paul Hindemith
12. Minuet From Sonatine (Piano Solo) 3:36
Composed By – Maurice Ravel
13.    The Thoughts Of Dr May 6:27
Composed By – Alison Balsom, Tom Poster
14.    Sonate For Trumpet And Piano 7:05
Composed By – Bohuslav Martinů
15.    Rondo For Lifey1:19
Composed By – Leonard Bernstein
16.    Someone To Watch Over Me 4:00
Arranged By – J. Turrin
Composed By – George Gershwin
17.    The Way You Look Tonight 2:52
Arranged By – A. Balsom, T. Poster
Composed By – Jerome Kern
Credits :
Piano – Tom Poster
Trumpet – Alison Balsom

HOWARD HANSON - Howard Hanson Conducts American Masterworks (2004) 5CD SET / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

All of the material on the five-CD Mercury set, Howard Hanson Conducts American Masterworks, has been previously released as single discs in exactly the same configuration. Most of the older issues, however, are out of print and are unlikely to return, given the availability of this box set. This is no reason to mourn, for this set is retailing at a bargain basement price, working out to roughly a "five for the price of four" ratio. Some collectors may welcome the added shelf space.

As to the performances themselves, they are all outstanding, with several performances being definitive, such as the Ives Three Places in New England, Barber's Capricorn Concerto, Douglas Moore's Pageant of P.T. Barnum, and many others heard here. Howard Hanson with the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra was just simply a hard act to follow. Hanson's performances have hardly dated at all sonically, thanks to Mercury Living Presence's pioneering attitude toward sound quality and the careful maintenance accorded the master tapes of these early stereo recordings, which date from 1957 to 1966.

Not all of the pieces heard here are "masterworks" -- one would be hard pressed to apply such an adjective to such pieces as William McCauley's Five Miniatures for Flute and Strings or the greatly enlarged orchestral arrangement of one of Moravian composer Johann Friedrich Peter's six chamber sonatas as a "Sinfonia in G." There are still some excellent Hanson recordings for Mercury Living Presence that have never appeared on CD, presumably because they were made in mono; this would include his superb renderings of Griffes' The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan and Sessions' Suite from The Black Maskers. It is unfair, nevertheless, to complain about that which is not present; besides, the new disc does include greatly improved notes, detailing recording dates and locations, microphone setups and includes a well-written, conversational liner by Bill Newman, a producer and engineer who worked on a lot of these sessions. Unless one has already acquired all five of these single discs, the American concert music fancier can hardly afford to pass up Howard Hanson Conducts American Masterworks. by Uncle Dave Lewis  
CD.1
Samuel Barber :    Capricorn Concerto, Op. 21
Flute – Joseph Mariano
Oboe – Robert Sprenkle
Trumpet – Sidney Mear
Walter Piston :    The Incredible Flutist (Ballet Suite)
Flute – Joseph Mariano
Charles Tomlinson Griffes : Poem For Flute And Orchestra
Flute – Joseph Mariano
Kent Kennan : Three Pieces For Orchestra
Trumpet – James Austin
Viola – Francis Tursi
William McCauley : Five Miniatures For Flute And Strings
Flute – Joseph Mariano
William Bergsma    : Gold And the Señor Commandante (Ballet Suite)    
CD.2
Charles Ives : Three Places In New England
Charles Ives : Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting"
William Schuman : New England Triptych (Three Pieces For Orchestrs After William Billings)
Peter Mennin : Symphony No. 5

CD.3
Morton Gould : Spirituals
Morton Gould : Fall River Legend (Ballet Suite)
Samuel Barber : Medea (Ballet Suite)
CD.4
George Whitefield Chadwick : Symphonic Sketches
Edward MacDowell : Suite For Large Orchestra, Op. 42
Johann Friedrich Peter : Sinfonia In G

CD.5
Douglas Moore : Pageant Of P.T. Barnum
John Alden Carpenter : Adventures In A Perambulator    
Bernard Rogers : Once Upon A Time (Five Fairy Tales)
Burrill Phillips : Selections From McGuffey's Reader

Orchestra – Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Conductor – Howard Hanson

BERNSTEIN • SCHUMAN • IVES • RUGGERI • COPLAND • BARBER • COWELL : American Festival (Lukas Foss · Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra ) (1984) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Leonard Bernstein
Overture To "Candide" – 4:27

William Schuman
Newsreel    (7:06)

Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question – 5:39

Roger Ruggeri
If... Then – 3:30

Aaron Copland
Fanfare For The Common Man - 3:52
Variations On A Shaker Melody From The Ballet Appalachian Spring –  3:30

Samuel Barber
Adagio For Strings 9:44

Henry Cowell
Saturday Night At The Firehouse – 5:03

Charles Ives
The Circus Band March - 2:05

Orchestra – Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Conductor – Lukas Foss