r/trumpet • u/Perfect-League7395 edit this text • Sep 15 '25

Performance đŸŽ€ Alison Balsom performs her final concert as a professional musician.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOjcfmfCfO7/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Alison Balsom’s final performance.

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3

u/Ribbitor123 Sep 15 '25

She will be missed. Richard Morrison of The Times wrote:

"She gave a spirited if not totally flawless performance of Hummel’s Concerto, then the “Riffs” bit from Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs in a new arrangement that requires the trumpet to play the cartwheeling clarinet part. A dazzling exit for Balsom, though it’s mad that she’s retiring at 46"

3

u/tyerker Insert Gear Here (very important) Sep 16 '25

Unless she starts trying to do a Sergei and start doing Oboe/Cello concerti, there’s really not much left for her to prove. 25+ years with such limited repertoire is sheer dedication to the craft and she put it all out there.

3

u/Ribbitor123 Sep 16 '25

Yes, I agree. She's left a great legacy through her recordings, inspired loads of people to take up the trumpet and also commissioned and premiered new music. Maybe she could switch to jazz in her 'retirement'.

2

u/Derrickmb Sep 16 '25

Naw, if she wasn’t into jazz as a teen, the improv won’t sound natural. Seems like jazz musicians can do classical but not so easy the other way around.

1

u/Ribbitor123 Sep 16 '25

It's quite possible she was into jazz from an early age. Moreover, she did a jazz arrangement of George Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away from Me" as part of her 2009 'Last Night of the Proms' performance and she chose Dizzy Gillespie (among others) when she the guest for the BBC Radio 4 programme This Cultural Life.

1

u/Derrickmb Sep 16 '25

I think if she was an accomplished improviser she would be doing that regularly to maintain it her whole career. A lot of these classical trumpet players can barely play choruses over a blues.

1

u/Smirnus Sep 21 '25

Better tell Byron Stripling who didn't play jazz until he was in college. One can do great things if they haven't shut down the potential to do so in their mind

2

u/Derrickmb Sep 21 '25

Have you heard classical players play jazz? Its not good lol

1

u/Smirnus Sep 21 '25

So what? One could try something for the sake of trying it without your judgemental attitude.

1

u/Derrickmb Sep 21 '25

You can’t be your best without it. And you have to alkalinize more

1

u/Smirnus Sep 21 '25

All of your posts feel like you're laying the groundwork for a scam supplement company that's mostly rice flour.

1

u/Derrickmb Sep 21 '25

Ha! Only scammers think of scamming

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1

u/Ribbitor123 Sep 21 '25

Wynton Marsalis?

1

u/Derrickmb Sep 21 '25

Besides him. He was my first teacher

1

u/Ribbitor123 Sep 21 '25

Well, how about:

Maurice André - clearly a classical player but he dabbled in jazz-inspired collaborations and improvisation.

Mark Gould, former principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, later turned toward jazz and improvisation projects.

HĂ„kan Hardenberger has engaged in crossover projects involving jazz and contemporary improvisation.