Ensemble Pian e Forte

How much time can you bear to spend on one chord, or sequencing between the chords of the tonic and dominant? No, this question is not about minimalism, but about the repertoire for trumpets, timpani and continuo offered at Kilkenny Arts Festival on Friday by the Italian players of Ensemble Pian e Forte.

The sound of four natural trumpets (valveless instruments, with the normal modern modifications to correct their tuning) is distinctive and agreeable, especially in partnership with the incisive sound of timpani (albeit modern), played with hard-headed sticks.

The old instruments don't blare the way a modern instrument can, and, played softly, their sound can take on an intriguing, almost vocal quality.

But the repertoire is that of fanfares and battle-cries, monontonous enough for Ensemble Pian e Forte's programme to require frequent interludes on organ and harpsichord (played by Antonio Frige), with the longest single piece, Monteclair's programmatic ┴ la Guerre coming with its interludes built-in - trumpets and drums do the marches and canons and muskets, the harpsichord depicts, among other things, a concert in the general's tent.

The Italians took a high-risk strategy by starting with the instrumental toccata from Monteverdi's Orfeo, setting a musical level that most of their repertoire simply cannot rival, and they restricted themselves to just a single echo piece, by Fantini, placed in the second half.

For me, the high points of the evening, after the Monteverdi, were Vivaldi's Concerto in G for organ, and a short March by CPE Bach.

One thing the evening made perfectly clear was the extent of the challenge facing anyone wishing to write imaginatively using only the notes available to natural trumpets.

It's a challenge I'm sure some contemporary composers would be more than happy to take on.