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GMCD 7103 – In Dulci Jubilo
Paul Plunkett – Trumpets
Rudolf Lutz – Organ
Source: Choir and Organ Issue: December 1995
The idea of reviewing Christmas CDs in August with the temperature in the 80s fills me with a dread of time, and eternity. When one of these CDs promises Christmas carols played on trumpet and organ, a frisson of horror reminds me of the mush that will certainly issue form the loudspeakers in a few weeks’ time as I push my trolley round the supermarket.
Not a bit of it! In In Dulci Jubilo, Paul Plunkett and Rudolf Lutz produce such a variety of timbre, texture and tune that I know I could enjoy this CD at any time to the year.
From the top down, we hear piccolo trumpet (pitched an octave higher than the normal instrument), baroque trumpet (Bach’s clarino with its slightly unpredictable tuning and pitching), the normal B flat trumpet, the wider-bored, smoother toned cornet and the ‘beautiful and neglected’ Flugelhorn (as Vaughan Williams said in notes for his ninth symphony) both from the brass band and even the Alphorn, of Swiss shepherd fame.
All this accompanied by the remarkabaly fine Kuhn organ of St. Laurenz Church in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Indeed, at one point, the organist descends from his bench to play a second Alphorn in duet! The variety of carols arranged and re-arranged on this CD is such that I can guarantee a few gasps of surprise as you listen. I think my favourite is Ding, Dong, merrily on high which comes out sounding like a mediaeval estampie.
Donald James