Page 88 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

to feel, the way we were miked, the string sound, where everybody was placed,
where the acoustic panelling was – I’d really, really thought about this,’ she says,

exuding a gratifying passion for the process of recording.

‘Pieces like this are like the Haydn Trumpet Concerto – not technically all that

complicated, but very much improved by you bringing more of yourself to it, from
your life experience. I felt that very much with the Copland piece. And having known

it for so long and not recorded it, it felt like a huge moment.’

‘It was a really thrilling, seat-of-the-pants way of working – it was

the only way that I could bring “Rhapsody in Blue” together’

But given her love of the piece, and the diversity of her discography to date, why the
wait? ‘I think the wait was because I’ve been wanting to curate it. I wanted there to

be a context for it, and until now I didn’t have one. I waited for the concept to come
together in my head, and then when it did start falling into place, the momentum took

over.’

Quiet City began life in 1939 as incidental music for an Irwin Shaw play for small
instrumental ensemble, before being expanded by Copland in 1940 into a stand-
alone 10-minute work for trumpet, cor anglais and string orchestra. For the album,

Balsom’s first-class colleagues are the Britten Sinfonia and founder member and
principal oboist Nicholas Daniel. Reflecting on the gorgeous interplay between

trumpet and cor anglais which weaves through the piece, Balsom points to ‘a couple
of very key and beautiful meeting points where we play together as a duet. Very

seldom do they happen – so when they do, it’s very satisfying and very enjoyable
musically. And Nick being such an innate, instinctive musician in terms of how to

phrase, how to balance, it was very inspiring to stand next to him and play together.
When you’re playing with an instrument that is so different and yet so similar in some
of the colours, it really opens your mind in terms of what you can do to blend

together.’