His most loyal fans are trombone teachers and students, but
Christian Lindberg deserves a much wider following, not only for his extraordinary technical gifts, but also for his refined and deeply felt interpretations of music from many periods. Classical Concertos is an excursion into charming eighteenth century works by Michael Haydn, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, and Leopold Mozart -- second-tier composers, admittedly, but competent craftsmen who turned out admirable works for their day. Always eager to expand his instrument's repertoire,
Lindberg treats these concertos as pure gold and infuses them with his appealing charisma and energy. Ably supported by
Richard Tognetti and the
Australian Chamber Orchestra,
Lindberg plays smoothly and with a warm alto tone, which in many places could be mistaken for the round timbres of the horn. Anyone who loves Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous horn concertos -- particularly
Lindberg's 1999 performances of them on the "hornbone" -- will enjoy these trombone concertos almost as much. This 2004 BIS disc also includes two bonus tracks:
Lindberg's own composition for flute and orchestra, Dreams of Arkandia, and Mats Larsson Gothe's Prelude and Dance for wind ensemble, both conducted by
Lindberg. The sound is bright and clear on the Classical works, but a little less focused on the two contemporary pieces.