Both Sides, Now

DR (Danish Radio): CD of the Week April 2012.

Ever since his sensational breakthrough some twenty years ago, Håkan Hardenberger has been breaking new ground for the trumpet, commissioning new works from the world’s foremost composers. On the present disc he shows a different side – one that may surprise those who know him as the intrepid interpreter of fiendishly complicated contemporary scores or the impeccably elegant performer of the classical repertoire such as the trumpet concertos by Haydn and Hummel. Not that Hardenberger is less intrepid or elegant than usual – but now he is finding use for these qualities in a programme of his own favourite songs and film themes, in imaginative arrangements made especially for this recording. Continuing a tradition begun by Chet Baker, Hardenberger’s trumpet-and-strings disc is as smooth as any, with the soloist relishing the opportunity to play the most meltingly beautiful tunes, in the most meltingly tuneful way. It also brings him together with some long-standing musical collaborators of his – the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the pianist Roland Pöntinen, who has made several of the arrangements and who also appears as guest performer in Michel Legrand’s Sans Toi and Kurt Weill’s Speak Low.