It’s a trumpeter’s musical paradox.
Telemann’s “Trumpet Concerto in D Major” is over 300 years old and has been played many times all over the world.
Yet on Dec. 20, when it’s performed by Musica Angelica in Long Beach, the audience will be hearing a brand-new piece of music. Not only that, but the soloist, noted Baroque trumpeter Josh Cohen, will be hearing it for the first time even as he’s playing it.
That’s because as he does with every concert, he’ll be playing ornaments, the 1700s term for improvisations.
“A lot of modern trumpet players don’t get the Baroque style,” Cohen said in a recent phone interview from Washington, D.C., “because they didn’t study rhetoric, the dance moves, the stretches on different parts of the beat in a measure … how note lengths can be different within the same tempo and how to really get a dance-like rhythm going.”
Each time he plays a Baroque piece, Cohen is ornamenting it with elegant details that he creates on the spot, careful to not change the melody. Thus, he and the audience are both hearing it for the first time.
Cohen calls himself a “ringer” and a “master of his instrument” because he has “slowly become one of the people that are called when you have to do hard Baroque trumpet stuff.”
He’s aware that big-name trumpeters have a reputation for being big on ego as well as talent, but he’s careful to keep his confidence from turning into arrogance.
“I’m not going to say I don’t want to be liked as a player,” Cohen said, “but I don’t want to present the attitude that I think I’m better than everybody. I would like what comes out of my horn to speak for me.” He’s spent most of the last 30 years refining the technique of his unusual instrument.
Unlike the modern trumpet, the Baroque version has no valves, so performers must play every note solely with their lips. The double-wrapped style of the instrument resembles a bugle and possesses the ability to produce higher notes if the musician knows what to do.
Cohen’s 1960s style instrument is slightly different from the original 15th century design, as it has tiny finger holes to tune the instrument, allowing a smoother sound that blends with strings and singers more seamlessly. The double tubing also allows for double the overtones and thus a richer tapestry of sounds.
Cohen’s infatuation with Baroque music began when he was 8 years old and listened with his father to a radio program, “The History of Renaissance Instruments” by David Monroe. His parents, both music lovers, met in a music appreciation class.
“I always thought that was the coolest thing, to recreate sounds from history and have people hear what it sounded like back then,” he said.
He took up the trumpet when he was 11 and discovered himself a natural. His drive to be the best led him to study at the New England Conservatory in Boston, then McGill University in Montreal, Canada. At McGill, he fell in love with the Baroque style and learned stage presence from such acclaimed players as oboist Washington McClain and violinist Chantal Remeillard.
In addition to performing with orchestras and at festivals around the world, in 2023, Cohen created his own group, Ensemble Sprezzatura, an Italian term that means the art of making something that is difficult appear effortless.
The group’s debut album, “Altissima: Works for High Baroque Trumpet,” contains 25 pieces that span a century and celebrate the sounds of the “natural” trumpet as well as Baroque violins, cellos, violas and other instruments. Besides being available on CD, the album can be heard on all major streaming music services.
In addition to Cohen, the Musica Angelica concert, titled “A Baroque Christmas in Germany,” will also feature soprano Robin Johansen and music director Martin Haselböck on organ.
“A Baroque Christmas in Germany,” concert by Musica Angelica, Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church of Long Beach, 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach. Patrons are invited to a reception with hors d’oeuvres and beverages before the concert begins at 6 p.m. Note: The repeat concert on Dec. 21 at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles is sold out. Tickets, $43.14 to $85.16, are available at https://www.musicaangelica.org/. Call 562-276-0865 for information.
This feature is produced by the Journalism Arts Initiative, which is underwritten by donations from arts organizations and others interested in supporting excellence in arts journalism.
