Page 30 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

2. Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E flat (1796)

“One of Haydn’s greatest works, in my opinion,” Alison begins.

“This piece is just so perfectly formed and it was also very pioneering at
the time. It was written for the incredible trumpeter Anton Weidinger in
the courts of the Esterházy Palace [in Austria]. And it was the first time
anyone had ever heard the trumpet being played diatonically, which
means the notes of the scale, which until this time had not been possible.

“And so every time we play this concerto, we have to remember the
trumpet will have never been heard like this before.”

Read more: Photos of Alison Balsom at Classic FM Live at Royal Albert
Hall

3. Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trumpet Concerto in

E flat (1803)

“Just eight years later, Hummel composed his trumpet concerto. He
developed many of Haydn’s ideas and took them to the next level. The
piece was longer, more technically complex, and [with] even more distant
keys in the middle movement.”