BACKSTAGE WITH… Trumpeter Alison Balsom
The residency was interrupted by the pandemic, so this concert has been evolving and is quite different from what we previously planned. I did the Barbican’s Sound Unbound with the Britten Sinfonia in 2017; they are such a flexible ensemble and they had incredible jazz specialists in the band. So that really inspired me and we’ve been bouncing around quite leftfield programmes for a while. I wanted to put this American programme together, because I felt the trumpet had so much to say in the American landscape – without me pretending to be a jazz musician, but surrounding myself with some really great jazz musicians!
It features a new arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. How did that come about?
I realised that it’s out of copyright, so we thought it would be good to include it. But we then realised that Ferde Grofé’s orchestration is not out of copyright. So we’ve gone right back to the two-piano version and re-orchestrated the whole thing. Obviously, there’s no way I can just take the solo piano line and play it on the trumpet, because that’s not how the trumpet works, so we’re making a much more integrated trumpet and piano solo part, with orchestral accompaniment. At first, everyone thought it was a bit mad, but the more we talked about it, the more we thought we can really do it.
And pianist Tom Poster and oboist Nicholas Daniel will be on stage with you too…?
Tom is doing Rhapsody in Blue: he has performed it many times and plays it brilliantly. He is also one of my dearest friends. Nick is playing in Copland’s Quiet City, because there’s a beautiful cor anglais part and that will be his wonderful contribution.
This must be one of your first concerts since the pandemic?
My first concert was at the Hollywood Bowl – a nice small gig for a warm up! This, though, will be the first time I’ve played in the UK for quite some time. It feels like a homecoming project, working with the Guildhall again. I’m really excited about it.