Obscurus

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Lucy Humphris’s debut album is a fascinating showpiece of her not inconsiderable technical abilities...Good, clear sound and a fascinating listen overall. — Gramophone Magazine, May 2023

Release Date: 31st Mar 2023
Catalogue No: RCD1105
Label: Rubicon
Length: 58 minutes

In stock

Usually despatched within 1 working day

Janáček: In the Mists

Work length15:11

$4.20

$5.20

$6.40

arr. for Trumpet & Piano by Lucy Humphris
Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

I. Andante

Track length4:39

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II. Molto adagio

Track length3:13

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Andantino

Track length2:22

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

IV. Presto

Track length4:57

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Davies, Peter Maxwell: Litany for a ruined chapel between sheep and shore

Work length11:26

$3.15

$3.90

$4.80

Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

Track length5:37

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II.

Track length3:20

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III.

Track length2:29

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Messiaen: Vocalise étude

Work length3:41

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

Raskovic: Ostria

Work length8:11

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1, P. 109

Work length13:34

$4.20

$5.20

$6.40

arr. for Trumpet & Piano by Lucy Humphris
Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

I. Balleto

Track length2:30

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II. Gagliarda

Track length3:04

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Villanella

Track length4:22

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Passo mezzo e mascherada

Track length3:38

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Takemitsu: Paths, Op. 50

Work length6:29

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Harry Rylance (piano)

About
Reviews
Videos
Explore

About

Obscurus is an exploration of the obscured, in a programme which showcases some of the most incredible trumpet writing of the 20th and 21st century, as well as several reimaginings of older, more mainstream works for other instruments, arranged for trumpet by Lucy Humphris.

In the Mists, written by Janáček is a four-movement piano cycle: an almost impressionist, Debussy-like exploration of the ‘misty’ keys of several flats. At times rhapsodic, and always very evocative, I reimagined it for trumpet.

The incredible Litany for a Ruined Chapel between Sheep and Shore is Peter Maxwell Davies’ homage to a ruined chapel in the Orkney islands and is, one of the most stunning and vocal works for trumpet composed in the 20th century.

Messiaen’s Vocalise-Étude is a piece which works so well on so many instruments – It is such a wonderful, almost nostalgic piece, which feels as though it is trying to express something for which words are unnecessary.

Filippos Raskovic composed Ostria for me in 2018, which Lucy premiered at the International Trumpet Guild conference that year. Raskovic was fascinated by the variety of colours in the sound of the trumpet. The term “Ostria” (Όστρια in Greek) is a naval term for the warm southern wind which brings rain and dust from the Sahara, and this distortion, sometimes almost meditative, sometimes more insistent, is textured and rough, much like those grains of sand brought on the air.

Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances has a fascinating approach to orchestrating these collections of Renaissance lute pieces. This first suite is comprised of a stately Balletto, a minuet-like Gagliarda, a more sombre Villanella, and finishes with a sparkling Passo Mezzo e Mascherada. All dance forms, each movement fits the more typically baroque associations of the ringing piccolo trumpet sound, and Lucy’s arrangement partners this with an active, sometimes almost conversational piano part, weaving in and out with the trumpet.

Paths, by Tōru Takemitsu was written In Memoriam Witold Lutosławski , and allegedly depicts a conversation between the deceased Lutosławski and the then-living Takemitsu. The trumpet takes on both roles: open, sometimes pained and crying for the voice of Takemitsu; and muted, distant and often conciliatory for the voice of Lutosławski, responding from beyond the veil.

All of these works have their own very distinctive voice and presence, whether representing dim shapes shrouded in mist; a usually clear voice distorted and changed by grains of sand; a wordless song; ruins and dances lost to time and memory – or simply the line beyond which we cannot see; that of death.

Reviews

May 2023

Lucy Humphris’s debut album is a fascinating showpiece of her not inconsiderable technical abilities...Good, clear sound and a fascinating listen overall.

Videos

An error occurred.

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.

Obscurus

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue