"Kind of Gold"

The content on this page was translated automatically.

Matthias Höfs sees his new CD production as a "musical family reunion" with current and former students of his trumpet class

Strictly speaking, the impetus for this unique album came from a specific gap in the music repertoire: “There are very few works in the entire music repertoire where you can experience this concentrated sound,” says HfMT professor Matthias Höfs. And when one of Germany’s most renowned trumpet virtuosos speaks of a concentrated sound, you really have to think on a grand scale.

Matthias Höfs has brought together current and former students from his trumpet class at the Hamburg University of the Arts. They, along with other colleagues and friends who now play in major German orchestras, turn this album into a sort of musical class reunion. Matthias Höfs captivates listeners with works rarely heard elsewhere, performed in various ensembles: From Janáček’s “Sokol Fanfare” from the Sinfonietta, Strauss’s “Festmusik der Stadt Wien” (featuring 10 trumpets, 7 trombones, 2 tubas, and timpani), to two fanfares by Stravinsky and Japanese composer Itaru Sakai’s “Sinfonia & Caprice.” The centerpiece is Wolf Kerschek’s “The Trumpets Shall Sound” for solo trumpet, nine trumpets, and orchestra—a large-scale work that Kerschek, who actually comes from the worlds of jazz and film music, wrote specifically for Matthias Höfs.

“When do you ever get to play with so many trumpets? You have to come up with something,” says the composer, who also teaches at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama. As a result, his work features a wide variety of influences and approaches to the trumpet as an instrument. From trumpet signals and fanfares in a military context, to echoes of ethereal, divine celestial realms, to the trumpets of the Last Judgment bringing down the walls of Jericho—all serve as conceptual starting points for the composer, who has found the perfect musical partner in Matthias Höfs: “It’s a true symbiosis and the best thing that can happen to a composer. A soloist who has imagination, is curious and open-minded, who wants to break new ground, but also brings his own vision to the table, which he can convey.” It’s no wonder that countless former students feel compelled to participate in this special project. “The beauty of this production is that it brings together the most diverse generations of Matthias Höfs’s trumpet class. We share the same philosophy about making music, and you can really feel that we all come from the same school,” says Andre Schoch of the Berlin Philharmonic.

This colorful musical family reunion organized by Matthias Höfs with current and former students of his trumpet class at the HfMT Hamburg not only highlights how incredibly versatile the trumpet is and how it sounds, but also how formative and unifying life and learning at the conservatory are, as Wolf Kerschek observes: “I hope we do more of this. I think that’s what makes it particularly worthwhile—not just to teach at a conservatory like this, but to truly live there—for teachers, students, and everyone involved.”

“Kind of Gold”
Label: Berlin Classics
LC: LC06203
Distributor: Edel:Kultur
EAN: 885470011295
Release Date: October 12, 2018