Casta Diva - Operatic Arias transcribed for trumpet
CHSA 5321 (Chandos Records, SACD)
Multi-channel/Stereo
FIRST RELEASE (28 April 2023)
Playing time: 63'43"
Tracks: 14
Booklet pages: 42
℗ 2023 Chandos Records Ltd
© 2023 Chandos Records Ltd
Main country of recording: United Kingdom
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Casta Diva - Operatic Arias transcribed for trumpet published on 17 May 2023
Matilda Lloyd, trumpet
Britten Sinfonia
Marcus Barcham Stevens, leader
Rumon Gamba, conductor
Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), revised 2021 by William Foster (born 1994):
Zaira (1831)
1 Liete voci!
2 Ah sì, questo di mia vita
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) revised 2021 by William Foster:
3 Oh! mie fedeli ... Ma la sola, ohim&egrav;! son io (Beatrice di Tenda, 1833)
Jean-Baptiste Arban (1825-1889) arranged 2022 by William Foster:
4 Variations on a Cavatina from Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda (c 1864)
Vincenzo Bellini:
5 Oh! quante volte (I Capuleti e I Montecchi, 1830)
Jean-Baptiste Arban, arranged 1994 by Mikhail Nakariakov (born 1944):
6 Variations on Bellini's 'Norma' (Casta Diva) (c 1864)
Luigi Ricci (1805-1859), arranged 2021 by William Foster:
7 Tarantella Napoletana (La festa di Piedigrotta, 1852)
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), arranged 2022 by William Foster:
8 Ah! quel giorno ognor rammento (Semiramide, 1823)
Pauline Viardot (1821-1910), arranged by William Foster:
9 Havanaise (Six Mélodies et une Havanaise variée à 2 voix)
10 Chanson de la pluie (Le Dernier Sorcier, 1867)
Gioachino Rossini, arranged 2021 by William Foster:
11 Prélude, thème et variations (1857)
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848):
12 Una furtiva lagrima (L'elisir d'amore, 1832)
Gaetano Donizetti, revised 2021 by William Foster:
Don Pasquale (1843)
13 Prelude to Act II
14 Quel guardo il cavaliere
Matilda Lloyd is a young instrumentalist with exceptional poise and musicality. She studied music at the University of Cambridge, Royal Academy of Music, and with Håkan Hardenberger at Musikhogskolan i Malmo. She has since captivated audiences and critics alike with her artistry, communication, and, in the words of Saarbrucker Zeitung (March 2020), 'flawless sound and virtuosic technique', with which she brings a unique flair to every performance. She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Final in 2014, and in 2016 made her debut at the BBC Proms. Casta Diva is Matilda’s debut album on Chandos, about which she writes: 'Every trumpet player has studied the ultimate technique book, by Jean-Baptiste Arban - a monumental tome affectionately known as The Trumpet Bible. At the end of the book are sets of theme and variations – my favourite, the Variations on Bellini's Norma, became the point of departure for this album inspired by nineteenth-century Italian opera, as it uses the aria Casta Diva, from Bellini's 1831 opera, as its theme. The album explores the voice of the trumpet in that golden age of opera, highlighting works by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. I hope that the album showcases the beauty, musicality and technical brilliance of the instrument, and that you find as much enjoyment in listening to, as we did in arranging and recording, these fantastic pieces of music!'
Recorded 3-5 August 2022 at the Church of St Augustine, Kilburn, London, UK.