CHRISTIAN JOST (b.1963) : Pietà (In Memoriam Chet Baker), TOSHIO HOSOKAWA : (b.1955) : Im Nebel, BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN (1918–70) : Nobody Knows de Trouble I See. Simon Höfele, trumpet; BBC Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Paterson and Ilan Volkov, conductors.

Description: One of the most versatile trumpeters in the classical world, Simon Höfele, releases a new album “Nobody Knows” together with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Geoffrey Paterson and Ilan Volkov. On his 4th album on Berlin Classics, he plays the trumpet concertos by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Christian Jost, and Toshio Hosokawa, spanning an arc from the 20th to the 21st century. Jost's eloquent and compelling idiom - richly romantic yet sometimes brutally dissonant and unafraid of pungently modern gestures as required - is well suited to the protests, mourning and grotesqueries of his work's subject - a somber requiem for jazz great Chet Baker. Pietà evokes gritty, desolate urban landscapes, enthralling, toxic drug-fueled hallucinations and an atmosphere of loneliness and lament, though it also contains a kind of internal Dies irae in a furious central passage. As befits a concerto in memory of a trumpet player, the soloist is given the daunting task of holding center stage throughout, and is required to transition seamlessly between ethereal delicacy, luminous melodiousness and declamatory ardor. Bernd Alois Zimmermann named his Concerto for trumpet and orchestra after the well-known spiritual ‘Nobody knows’. The work is a statement against racial hatred and discrimination, but from a purely musical aspect it is also incredibly stirring with its combination of different musical styles. For example the frequently quoted spiritual melody serves as a pentatonic cantus firmus in a chorale prelude, and the orchestra is augmented by a jazz formation with percussion, guitar, piano and Hammond organ. The twelve-tone concerto is loosened up with the interjected off-beats, swing elements and jazzy solo interludes to create one of the most rewarding unions between jazz and classical music. Höfele proves once again that the trumpet can do more than just "shine". “These three works are really important to me. I have played all three before, and I was always fascinated by their darkness.”, he explains his choice of repertoire. “This is heavy, almost depressive music, and that applies to all three of these works. This is heavy music in two respects: loaded with gloom, and also not at all easy to play. This is a definitive political message to “Nobody Knows de Trouble I see”, which makes it even more fascinating." Simon Höfele, trumpet; BBC Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Paterson and Ilan Volkov, conductors.