Standards Simon Höfele, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Duncan Ward

• Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 - 1837): Trumpet Concerto in E Major, S.49:
• 1Trumpet Concerto in E Major, S.49: I. Allegro con spirito09:26
• 2Trumpet Concerto in E Major, S.49: II. Andante04:25
• 3Trumpet Concerto in E Major, S.49: III. Rondo. Allegro03:44
• Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major, Hob. VIIe:1:
• 4Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major, Hob. VIIe:1: I. Allegro06:28
• 5Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major, Hob. VIIe:1: II. Andante03:08
• 6Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major, Hob. VIIe:1: III. Finale Allegro04:29
• Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990):
• 7Quiet City09:39
• Alexander Arutiunian (1920 - 2012):
• 8Trumpet Concerto in A-Flat Major (Andante maestoso)01:21
• 9Trumpet Concerto in A-Flat Major (Allegro energico)06:59
• 10Trumpet Concerto in A-Flat Major (Meno mosso)04:44
• 11Trumpet Concerto in A-Flat Major (Tempo I. Allegro energico)03:52
• Total Runtime58:15

Info for Standards

“Try something new” is Simon Höfele’s motto. Inquisitive, intrepid and full of passion for his instrument, on his new album “Standards” he turns to the trumpet in all its many facets, sweeping his audience along with him with his audacious and clever programmes and thrilling playing. As a “Rising Star” of the European Concert Hall Organisation and one of Konzerthaus Dortmund’s “young wild things”, Simon Höfele has centred his debut album on the Berlin Classics label around the key repertoire for trumpet and the quintessence of his time as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

“A quite primeval Love of Music”

He began playing the trumpet when he was seven, in a family full of woodwind musicians: his father a bassoonist, his mother playing the piccolo flute, one uncle an oboist and the other a clarinettist. A little toy trumpet hanging on the wall was the key to his ambition: “I blew into it and just knew I wanted to play the trumpet.” Since then much time has elapsed, yet in the scale of things maybe not so much time; at just 25 years of age, Simon Höfele is one of a young generation of musicians whose hallmark is one of experimenting and pushing the seemingly fixed boundaries of established genres. He has a weakness for analogue photography, is involved in encouraging new young musicians, and enjoys playing jazz as much as classical music. From 2017 to 2019 he was New Generation Artist with BBC Radio 3. Accompanied by two BBC orchestras, he is releasing an album which may serve as a memento of that period in time. At the same time, it is interesting that an artist who made a name for himself recently playing contemporary music by the likes of Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth and Toshio Hosokawa, as well as performing Miles Davis’s “Sketches of Spain”, has now turned to the classic repertoire for his instrument. “I simply wanted to do it because these works are as close to my heart as all the others,” Höfele explains. “I never thought ‘Oh no, not Haydn again.’ What’s going on inside me in these recordings is the pure and simple love of music.”

Haydn, Hummel, Copland, Arutyunyan

The album’s programme ranges through works from Joseph Haydn via Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Aaron Copland to Alexander Arutyunyan. It spans 150 years, from 1800 to 1950, and covers three continents. Each of the works shines a light on a different facet of the trumpet: brilliant flourishes in the Hummel and Haydn, long, string-like lines and the most finely nuanced levels of volume in the Copland, and light-as-a-feather through to powerful virtuosity in the Arutyunyan. All of the works have been recorded countless times before, and yet Simon Höfele brings an entirely individual new aspect to each of them. “But if I believe that some people might like my recordings and get pleasure out of them, then that is good enough for me.” His interpretation will sound like no other “not for the sake of making it sound different,” he says, “but because I simply feel the music differently.” Accompanying him for the Hummel and Haydn is the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra of Glasgow under the baton of Duncan Ward, and in the Copland and Arutyunyan the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Cardiff.

Simon Höfele, trumpet
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Duncan Ward, conductor

Simon Höfele
25, is one of the most exciting trumpeters of the up-and-coming generation. He is BBC Radio3 new generation artist, Rising Star of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) 2019-20, nominated by Philharmonie Cologne, Konzerthaus Dortmund and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and “Junger Wilder” at Konzerthaus Dortmund.

He has already made his solo debut with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, SWR Symphonieorchester, MDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen also at Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zürich, Konzerthaus Wien, Bozar Brussels, Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Prinzregententheater and Gasteig München and important festivals such as Cheltenham Music Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, MiTo in Milano and Torino, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Rheingau Musik Festival and many others.

In addition to well-known trumpet repertoire ranging from Telemann, Tartini, Haydn, Hummel and Mozart to Jolivet, Arutjunjan and Zimmermann, Simon Höfele also frequently performs contemporary music. He gave the first performance of Pintscher’s double concerto for two trumpets and orchestra (“Chute d’étoiles”, 2012) and premiered works of Mark Simpson, Kaan Bulak, Nina Šenk a.o.

Simon Höfele also plays chamber music of every variety with great enthusiasm. His partners include the pianists Frank Dupree, Eriko Takezawa and Kärt Ruubel.

Alongside his musical projects, Simon Höfele is also active in cultural politics, and has founded the association “Kunstverlust”, for which he, as a photographer, portrays people who work to support art and prevent its destruction.

This album contains no booklet.