Ib GLINDEMANN (1934-2019)
Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1962) [15:53]
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (2017) [17:17]
Medley (2020) [12:23]
Per Morten Bye (trumpet)
Robert Holmsted (trombone)
Odense Symphony Orchestra/Giordano Bellincampi
Rec. 2019, Odense, Denmark
DACAPO 6.220665 SACD [45:35]
Ib Glindemann—now there’s a name that won’t ring many bells outside Scandinavia, though perhaps it should. The Danish composer, who died in 2019, spent much of his career in the commercial trenches: big band arrangements, television scores, the sort of work that pays the rent but rarely earns you a place in the canon. This Dacapo release makes a case—tentative, sometimes persuasive—that Glindemann deserves a hearing on more serious terms.
The Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra dates from 1962, and it sounds it. Not in a bad way, exactly. The piece wears its influences openly: Shostakovich’s motoric drive, a dash of Bernstein’s Broadway swagger, the chromatic slipperiness that was currency in mid-century modernism. Per Morten Bye navigates the solo part with impressive command, though the writing itself rarely asks him to really dig deep—lots of flashy passagework in the outer movements, a lyrical slow movement that meanders rather than develops. The orchestration shows professional competence without much personality. I kept waiting for something to surprise me.
The Concerto for Trombone, written fifty-five years later, presents a different animal entirely. Here Glindemann sounds liberated from proving anything, willing to embrace melody without apology. Robert Holmsted gets more interesting material to work with: long-breathed phrases that actually go somewhere, a scherzo section with genuine wit. The slow movement—marked Adagio semplice—achieves moments of real beauty, the trombone’s dark amber tone floating over string textures that shimmer and shift. Bellincampi draws playing of considerable refinement from the Odense forces here, particularly in the tender wind solos that punctuate the soloist’s ruminations.
But then there’s the Medley.
What to make of this? Twelve minutes of Glindemann’s own hits, arranged for symphony orchestra—television themes, popular songs, jazz numbers all stitched together in a suite that feels more like a variety show than a concert piece. It’s expertly done, no question. The orchestrations gleam with professional polish, and the Odense players clearly relish the chance to swing. But why include this on a disc presumably meant to establish Glindemann’s credentials as a serious composer? The juxtaposition undercuts the argument the concertos are trying to make.
The engineering captures everything in vivid detail—perhaps too much so in the Medley, where the SACD’s clarity exposes the music’s essential slightness. During the trumpet concerto, you can hear Bye’s breath control, the slight edge in his upper register that adds character to an otherwise sanitized reading.
Bellincampi conducts with intelligence and evident sympathy for this music, shaping phrases with care, maintaining momentum even when Glindemann’s invention flags. The Odense Symphony plays well throughout, though one senses they’re giving us the A-team treatment for a composer who might not quite merit it. That’s uncharitable, perhaps. But honesty compels.
The real question: does this disc reveal an unjustly neglected voice, or merely a competent craftsman whose commercial instincts sometimes elevated, sometimes compromised his concert ambitions? The trombone concerto suggests the former. The rest… well. Glindemann wrote with facility and occasional inspiration, but facility isn’t the same as necessity. These are pleasant works, skillfully performed and recorded. Whether they’re essential is another matter entirely.
