Wim Van Hasselt & Jorgen Van Rijen - Tintomara (2015) [Hi-Res]

Tintomara, as this CD is called, is a dualistic figure from The Briar Rose Book by the Swedish author Jonas Love Almqvist (1793-1859); in Folke Rabe’s Tintomara it reflects the male and female character of the trumpet and trombone. Folke Rabe: ‘When I was working on this little piece I spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of male and female. The penetrating sound of the trumpet, and its role in military fanfares, are primarily associated with typically male qualities, while the trumpet is really a soprano instrument. Its warm sound and attractive glissandos (sliding notes) perhaps evoke motherly associations, but the range of the trombone corresponds to the male voice. Not to mention the trombone as a metaphor for male sexuality, when Movitz climbs into bed with his instrument! (He is a character in the songs of Carl Michael Bellman, which are set in the taverns of eighteenth-century Stockholm.)’ On this CD programme the performers explore this versatile, ambiguous character, the range of colours, possibilities and even boundaries of the combination of trumpet and trombone, in which the soprano voice of the trumpet forms a wonderful combination with the tenor of the trombone.