**Arias for Soprano, Trumpet and Organ. / Pater Damian Stachowicz (1658–1699), “Veni, veni Consolator”; Alessandro Melani (1639–1703), “Allarmi, pensieri”; Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725), “Vaga Cintia adorata” (from Endimione e Cintia), plus seven additional arias; Henry Purcell (1658–1695), “Sound the trumpet,” “Sound Fame thy brazen trumpet” (from Dioclesian); Aldrovandini (1673–1708), “De torrente.” / Marie-Noëlle de Callataÿ, soprano; Alain Roelant, trumpet; Jan van Landeghem, organ. / Brilliant (originally Pavane ADW 7223). Recorded August 1990, St. Joseph’s Church, Saint-Niklaas. CD, 48:03.**
The soprano-trumpet-organ combination has always struck me as one of those Baroque conceits that sounds better on paper than in performance—all that brilliant D major jubilation can grow tiresome rather quickly. So I approached this reissue with some wariness, particularly given its vintage. The recording dates from 1990, captured in a Belgian church I don’t know, featuring performers who were then establishing themselves as Trio AllArmi.
What changes one’s mind is the sheer corporate accomplishment. These three musicians didn’t simply gather in a studio to knock off a program; they’d clearly worked this repertoire together over time, and it shows in ways both subtle and obvious. Van Landeghem’s organ registrations are a model of discretion—he resists the temptation to deploy those Belgian pedal reeds that can overwhelm everything in their path, instead creating a foundation that supports without smothering. His solo lines emerge with clarity; he’s a genuine partner, not mere continuo.
Roelant’s trumpet work is equally impressive. The natural trumpet demands not just technical command but also a kind of aristocratic restraint, and he possesses both. His tone in the upper register maintains its bloom without turning shrill—no mean feat in these relentlessly high-lying parts. Listen to his work in Scarlatti’s “Si suoni la tromba” and you hear a player who understands that Baroque trumpet writing is as much about rhetoric as pyrotechnics.
But the revelation here is Marie-Noëlle de Callataÿ. She commands one of those bright, focused high soprano voices—minimal vibrato, considerable body—that the period instrument world has taught us to value. Her technical aplomb throughout this punishing program is remarkable. These arias sit viciously high; Scarlatti in particular seems to have delighted in writing for stratospheric sopranos who could trade phrases with trumpet at altitude. Callataÿ navigates this terrain with what appears to be ease, though one knows better.
The disc’s greatest liability is its very concept. D major, more D major, jubilant affect, brilliant figuration—the sameness threatens. That the Purcell pieces are in C major actually helps differentiate them—a telling admission. The closing Scarlatti group, seven arias presumably from various sources, contains splendid music, but served consecutively they begin to blur. Some solo organ interludes, as in the earlier trumpet-and-organ disc these forces made (Pavane 7281), might have provided necessary contrast.
Where Callataÿ does get a chance to show more expressive range—the middle section of “Mio tesoro per te moro“—she seizes it. Here the voice warms, the line broadens, and one hears a genuine artist rather than merely a brilliant technician. Her Italian is good, her English acceptable (though “war” and “far” don’t quite rhyme the way she thinks they do). Word clarity in the upper register remains a challenge, but she manages better than most.
The recorded sound holds up well enough. The church acoustic provides bloom without excessive reverberation; the balances seem carefully judged. One hears the trumpet’s natural resonances, the organ’s particular timbral character, the soprano’s placement in the space.
What we have, finally, is a document of a working ensemble that had genuinely assimilated this repertoire. The great names in this specialized corner of the discography—and there are some—often assemble for a single recording session. The corporate character audible here comes from something different: performers who’ve lived with this music together, worked out its challenges together, perhaps even performed it in public together. That shows.
The disc leaves one curious about what happened next. Callataÿ clearly possessed the vocal equipment and musical intelligence for a substantial career; one hopes she found it, though these forces don’t seem to have recorded together again. As a calling card for soprano-trumpet-organ repertoire, though, this holds up remarkably well—better, certainly, than one might expect from a thirty-year-old recording of what could easily become a monotonous specialty program. The sheer accomplishment carries the day.
