Quiet City Alison Balsom

• Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990):
• 1Copland: Quiet City09:53
• Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990):
• 2Bernstein: On the Town, Act 1: Lonely Town. Pas de deux03:03
• George Gershwin (1898 - 1937):
• 3Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue16:07
• Charles Ives (1874 - 1954):
• 4Ives: The Unanswered Question06:31
• Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 - 1999):
• 5Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: II. (a) Adagio07:05
• 6Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: II. (b) Moderato07:17
• Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950):
• 7Weill: My Ship04:10
• Total Runtime54:06

Info for Quiet City

Explosive melting pot: "Even as a teenager, I fell in love with Copland's Quiet City," recalls Alison Balsom. The piece suggests the silence of a sleeping city. The sound of a lonely clarinet emerges, then the notes of a trumpet flare up. The British trumpeter now dedicates her album Quiet City to this work, which she has long loved.

On it, the classical musician, who loves discovery, explores with her instrument a repertoire that is still quite new to her: the musical world of the USA at the beginning of the 20th century, when African influences merged with European classical and traditional folk music. A melting pot from which jazz and blues sprang. On the album, Alison Balsom combines six very different jazz compositions with each other, two masterpieces in themselves, Copland's Quiet City and Charles Ivesʼ The Unanswered Question, with four vibrant milestones of jazz music, including George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Alison Balsom interprets the longing, blossoming theme of the Rhapsody, with which a clarinet opens the work, on her trumpet. She also arranged Leonhard Bernstein's On the Town for her instrument, while for other classics the musician reverted to arrangements for jazz legend Miles Davis and his improvisations.

The world-class trumpeter was thrilled by her artistic partners, the Britten Sinfonia under Scott Stroman: "I knew it was a celebrated ensemble in the classical music scene - but the musicians:inside amazed me with their flexibility and unbiased musicality!"

“This album has been an utter joy to make […] The concept of this project began decades ago, when I decided that Copland’s Quiet City was a work that everyone needed to hear – especially so as Copland reveals the scene so brilliantly via the solo trumpet and cor. There is a true melancholy in this work that only a certain type of trumpet playing can achieve, and across the collection on the album I’ve tried to show that through the unique lens of the trumpet, the wonderful bridge and mutual respect between the classical composers and arrangers, and the jazz greats can be seen. For many of us, the sentiment behind Quiet City is pertinent at the moment, as we emerge from the loneliness of the pandemic and into another chapter of darkness in today’s turbulent world […].” (Alison Balsom)

"As an entity it creates a varied album in every kind of mood. It will delight anyone, not only the trumpet expert, who admires Balsom’s eclecticism and musical brilliance...Balsom’s virtuosity is spellbinding throughout." (The Guardian)

Alison Balsom, trumpet
Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais
Britten Sinfonia
Scott Stroman, conductor

Alison Balsom
has cemented an international reputation as one of classical music’s great ambassadors. She has been honoured with numerous awards by Classic FM, Gramophone and Echo Klassik and in 2009 she became the first ever Briton to be crowned “Female Artist of the Year” at the Classical BRITs. In September 2009 Alison headlined classical music’s most celebrated concert – The Last Night of the BBC Proms – which reached its biggest ever global audience of an estimated 150 million.

Recent and upcoming highlights include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Alison also looks forward to embarking on major international tours with I Musici di Roma, the Scottish Ensemble and Alison’s own Balsom Ensemble in 10/11 and beyond.

While represented by the Young Concert Artists Trust, Alison caught the ear of EMI Classics with whom she records exclusively. Her internationally celebrated Bach Trumpet and Organ disc of 2005 was quickly followed by the Caprice album which won her further critical acclaim. Her third album, featuring the great pillars of the trumpet repertoire, the concertos of Haydn and Hummel, firmly established her as the world's leading trumpeter. Her eagerly awaited follow up album which was released in autumn 2010 to great critical acclaim includes a selection of Italian Baroque Concertos

Under the auspices of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, Alison performed at the Wigmore Hall and with all of the BBC orchestras.

Alison studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music, the Paris Conservatoire, and with Håkan Hardenberger. She was previously a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Alison was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition in 1998 and received the Feeling Musique Prize for quality of sound in the 4th Maurice André International Trumpet Competition. She is Visiting Professor of Trumpet to the Guildhall School of Music. Alison performs a wide range of recital and concerto repertoire, from Albinoni to Zimmermann and performs on both modern and baroque trumpets.

Booklet for Quiet City