| O.J.'s Trumpet Page | Artists and personalities |
Reinhold Friedrich was born in Germany in 1958. He started playing trumpet with his father and brother (they played trombone) at an early age (7 years old). His first teacher was Heinz Burum (5 years) then he studied with Adolph Weresch. In 1979 he went on to Edward Tarr. Here he was introduced to both historical instruments and modern composers like Bernd Alois Zimmermann. After studies with Tarr, he went to Paris and studied with Pierre Thibaud. His last teacher was Carl Gielow.
Friedrich has won several competition (like the Munich Competition in 1986).
He has made a lot of recordings. Here is a discographie
In February 2000, he gave a seminar in Oslo. Here is a report from that event.
Reinhold Friedrich was the third person to make a recording using a copy of the instrument that was used by Weidinger in 1800.
He is accompanied by Wiener Akademie lead by Martin Haselböck. The orchestra uses instrument from the period, like the natural horn.
Friedrich had his first live performance with this instrument in 1993. He then played the Haydn Concerto in the same place as Weidinger had premiered it two centuries earlier.
In 1995 he did the recording on the label Capriccio and here he also recorded the Hummel Concerto and the M. Puccini's Concertone.
It is impressing what Friedrich have done with this recording. He must have worked very hard to master the instrument. One can hear that there are problems with weak notes and also with intonation. If this recording is compared to those played on modern trumpets it is easy to think that it is a player in trouble. This also shows why it was replaced by the valve trumpet.
A funny story about the receptions of the Friedrich CD: A leading expert in classical music though Friedrich was a great player, especially on the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto where he play baroque trumpet (Teldec with Michaela Petri flute and Albrecht Mayer oboe). But he had heard Friedrich on another CD playing Haydn and Hummel "and that was not very impressing!".
For serious trumpet students and players who want to perform Haydn or Hummel, this recording is a must. One can then hear how the instrument that Haydn and Hummel wrote for, sounded. And also understand more about specific things, like the trills in the second movement of the Hummel Concerto (listen to the sound samples).