- pièces de concours
v. professor i trompet Kristian Steenstrup
The paucity of solo repertoire for trumpet and cornet is well-known. While the natural trumpet experienced a position as a soloist instrument in the Baroque era, only Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel composed concertos for the trumpet in the Classical era, and no significant Romantic composers wrote sonatas or concertos for these instruments, a trend that somewhat persisted into the 20th century.
Some performers have explored the possibilities of adapting transcriptions from other instruments’ repertoire with the technical limitations this exhibits, while the tradition in the context of the concours of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris has produced a rich source of repertoire for the trumpet and cornet.
The concours are end of year exams where the musical and technical skills would be tested through solo performance of a selected work. The works were in the beginning composed by either the professor of trumpet or cornet and later by composers commissioned by the Conservatoire. Some of these works achieved recognition and became part of the established repertoire, but a great deal of them have remained unfamiliar to performers and teachers.
Since the trumpet class was founded in 1835 and until 2000 when the tradition of composing pieces for the exams ended, the Conservatoire has provided 171 works for trumpet and cornet of which only 63 have been recorded. Of the remaining previously unrecorded pieces this volume of recordings have been aiming to revitalize and expand the awareness of the repertoire for the trumpet and cornet accompanied by piano presenting the following pieces: