Performer’s notes

Matilda Lloyd

How did this project start?

The starting point was the set of variations on the aria ‘Casta Diva’ at the back of the Arban book – that’s like the trumpet bible. It got me thinking about that very bel canto, coloratura, virtuosic but melodic, lyrical and highly expressive music, and how well suited the trumpet is to that. It’s a side of the instrument I don’t think is explored enough, and I think you can really express a huge amount through the trumpet, as you can with the voice.

Did you take different approaches for each aria?

I wanted to remain faithful to them, particularly the bel canto ones; I wanted to stay quite close to how a singer would sing them. So I looked at the texts, the meanings and the diction. I also thought about the different voice ranges as well; we’ve got some tenor arias in there, like the Mercadante, which I played on a bigger C trumpet and with a little bit more gumption, presence and thinking of those amazing tenors of the time. I actually used four different trumpets across the whole album, from the dark flugelhorn sound to the bright and sparkly D flat trumpet.

Do you have a favourite piece?

I think probably Rossini’s ‘Ah! quel giorno ognor rammento’ from Semiramide, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. It was Rossini’s final Italian opera, before he moved to Paris and wrote William Tell, and I think it has quite a lot of precursors to that. In the middle there’s a section where the horns are speeding up and you can really hear that’s the direction he’s going in. It’s fun and full of joy, but also graceful and elegant.