The Medieval Manuscript the 'Chronicles of Mann and Sudreys' mentions various locations, including the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and even places as far away as Norway and Brittany.
Russell Gilmour (trumpet) and David Kilgallon (organ) use melodies from these countries and they merge and fuse these ideas together with their own to create unique compositions for trumpet and organ. The idea behind their musical collaboration is to explore traditional music from these countries and to adapt the music, interpret it and explore it. Chronicles' musical format is slightly unusual in that it combines trumpet and organ - not the instruments you may initially associate with folk music - but it is an approach that has sparked a lot of interest.
Their limited edition EP "Prologue" is a sample of things to come, as the production of a full album is underway. The full album will be Chronicles' musical impression of the Isle of Man's influences and rich history - as documented in the Chronicles of Mann.
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writing on music, photography, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
Hommage à Adolphe Nourrit - Les Talens Lyriques - Paris
%PM, %Europe/London %b %2026, %RSince my last concert—a memorised performance of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony with the Aurora Orchestra at Cheltenham Town Hall on Friday 3 July 2026—I have intentionally enjoyed a much quieter work schedule; my son was born on Friday 10 July 2026 and I had eight wonderful weeks off work to spend with him and my wife. In that time I also managed to finish and publish a book, Giuseppe Araldi’s Method for Trumpet with Keys and Valves.
The Araldi method had first come to my attention in December 2022 when I was preparing to play on the album In the Shadows (Erato, 5419787982) with the tenor soloist Michael Spyres and the French period-instrument orchestra Les Talens Lyriques, directed by Christophe Rousset (I was also writing ‘Just’ Natural Trumpet at the time).
It was while researching ‘Meco all’altar di Venere’, and trying to decide which instrument to use for our 2022 recording (I eventually opted to use a keyed trumpet in E♭), that I stumbled upon Giuseppe Araldi’s trumpet method. I had been hoping to find out who played at La Scala during this period and the following text on the title page of Araldi’s trumpet method matched my search terms very closely: Prima Tromba dell’I. R. Teatro alla Scala (‘First Trumpet of the Imperial Royal Theatre La Scala’). This fascinating method indicates that the ‘trumpet without keys’ (i.e. natural trumpet), keyed trumpet, and valved trumpet were all familiar to the first trumpet player at this famous Italian opera house, around the year 1835. My edition of Giuseppe Araldi’s Method for Trumpet with Keys and Valves, which I finished in July 2026, is dedicated to my son, Alfred, who was born just as the Araldi project was completed.
So, it was quite fitting that my return to performing work after my self-enforced (and unfunded, I might add) paternity leave was to play the valved F trumpet (along with natural trumpets in a plethora of keys) with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, who were making a recording of nineteenth-century music by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842), Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848), Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–1787), Fromental Halévy (1799–1862), Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870), and Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868).
Recording took place at the Riffx Studio at La Seine Musicale from 13 to 16 September 2026 (with prior rehearsals from 9–11 September) and it featured the exemplary tenor soloist Kévin Amiel, who served as our modern-day musical representative of Adolphe Nourrit (1802—1839). The idea behind this somewhat autobiographical recording was to record works originally written for, or performed by, this renowned French operatic tenor and professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
In 2021, we recorded a similar album of nineteenth-century music, based on the life of the French soprano Pauline Viardot, which featured the modern-day soprano soloist Marina Viotti.
Nourrit had a fascinating life: he was the Paris Opéra’s leading tenor from 1826 to 1836, and composers valued his input when developing new works. He also wrote the text for Éléazar’s famous aria, ‘Rachel, quand du Seigneur’, in Halévy’s La Juive. He died in tragic circumstances and Frédéric Chopin played the organ at his memorial service in Marseille, as his body was in transit back to Paris from Italy. He was subsequently buried at Montmartre cemetery.
We recorded movements from Auber’s Le Philtre, Cherubini’s Ali Baba, Donizetti’s Poliuto, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Halévy’s La Juive, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Mercadante’s Il Giuramento, and Rossini’s Guillaume Tell—including the famous overture and the rousing tenor aria ‘Asile héréditaire’. It was a particular joy for me (1st trumpet) and William Russell (2nd trumpet) to play valved F trumpets in Donizetti’s Poliuto, which was written in 1838. It was not premiered for ten years, as it was initially banned. Donizetti reworked it into Les Martyrs—a work I had the pleasure of performing and recording with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in 2014.
It was reassuring for me to know that the valved trumpet was a sensible choice for this repertoire, based on the evidence in the Araldi method that I had just finished editing!
I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I stayed in a lovely AirBnB with my wife and my son, on an island in the Seine: Île Saint-Germain. The scenic journey to La Seine Musicale involved crossing the river, and walking along a riverside path to the next island, Île Seguin, and into the Riffx studio at La Seine Musicale.
We travelled back to London one evening ahead of schedule: it was worth changing our plans to get back in time to perform at St. James’ Palace in London (Handel’s Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) from the Coronation Anthems) with the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir under the direction of Christophe Rousset! In fact, the performance featured five directors, namely Christophe Rousset, Sir Mark Elder, Jonathan Sells, Jakob Lehmann, and Mark Padmore.
France, Les Talens Lyriques, Recording, ‘Just’ Natural TrumpetThe Araldi method had first come to my attention in December 2022 when I was preparing to play on the album In the Shadows (Erato, 5419787982) with the tenor soloist Michael Spyres and the French period-instrument orchestra Les Talens Lyriques, directed by Christophe Rousset (I was also writing ‘Just’ Natural Trumpet at the time).
It was while researching ‘Meco all’altar di Venere’, and trying to decide which instrument to use for our 2022 recording (I eventually opted to use a keyed trumpet in E♭), that I stumbled upon Giuseppe Araldi’s trumpet method. I had been hoping to find out who played at La Scala during this period and the following text on the title page of Araldi’s trumpet method matched my search terms very closely: Prima Tromba dell’I. R. Teatro alla Scala (‘First Trumpet of the Imperial Royal Theatre La Scala’). This fascinating method indicates that the ‘trumpet without keys’ (i.e. natural trumpet), keyed trumpet, and valved trumpet were all familiar to the first trumpet player at this famous Italian opera house, around the year 1835. My edition of Giuseppe Araldi’s Method for Trumpet with Keys and Valves, which I finished in July 2026, is dedicated to my son, Alfred, who was born just as the Araldi project was completed.
So, it was quite fitting that my return to performing work after my self-enforced (and unfunded, I might add) paternity leave was to play the valved F trumpet (along with natural trumpets in a plethora of keys) with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, who were making a recording of nineteenth-century music by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842), Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848), Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–1787), Fromental Halévy (1799–1862), Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870), and Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868).
Recording took place at the Riffx Studio at La Seine Musicale from 13 to 16 September 2026 (with prior rehearsals from 9–11 September) and it featured the exemplary tenor soloist Kévin Amiel, who served as our modern-day musical representative of Adolphe Nourrit (1802—1839). The idea behind this somewhat autobiographical recording was to record works originally written for, or performed by, this renowned French operatic tenor and professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
In 2021, we recorded a similar album of nineteenth-century music, based on the life of the French soprano Pauline Viardot, which featured the modern-day soprano soloist Marina Viotti.
Nourrit had a fascinating life: he was the Paris Opéra’s leading tenor from 1826 to 1836, and composers valued his input when developing new works. He also wrote the text for Éléazar’s famous aria, ‘Rachel, quand du Seigneur’, in Halévy’s La Juive. He died in tragic circumstances and Frédéric Chopin played the organ at his memorial service in Marseille, as his body was in transit back to Paris from Italy. He was subsequently buried at Montmartre cemetery.
We recorded movements from Auber’s Le Philtre, Cherubini’s Ali Baba, Donizetti’s Poliuto, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Halévy’s La Juive, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Mercadante’s Il Giuramento, and Rossini’s Guillaume Tell—including the famous overture and the rousing tenor aria ‘Asile héréditaire’. It was a particular joy for me (1st trumpet) and William Russell (2nd trumpet) to play valved F trumpets in Donizetti’s Poliuto, which was written in 1838. It was not premiered for ten years, as it was initially banned. Donizetti reworked it into Les Martyrs—a work I had the pleasure of performing and recording with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in 2014.
It was reassuring for me to know that the valved trumpet was a sensible choice for this repertoire, based on the evidence in the Araldi method that I had just finished editing!
I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I stayed in a lovely AirBnB with my wife and my son, on an island in the Seine: Île Saint-Germain. The scenic journey to La Seine Musicale involved crossing the river, and walking along a riverside path to the next island, Île Seguin, and into the Riffx studio at La Seine Musicale.
We travelled back to London one evening ahead of schedule: it was worth changing our plans to get back in time to perform at St. James’ Palace in London (Handel’s Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) from the Coronation Anthems) with the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir under the direction of Christophe Rousset! In fact, the performance featured five directors, namely Christophe Rousset, Sir Mark Elder, Jonathan Sells, Jakob Lehmann, and Mark Padmore.
