Aaron Azunda Akugbo, Lakeside, Nottingham, 23 November 2023. 4****: William Ruff.

Aaron Azunda Akugbo, Lakeside, Nottingham 23 November, 2023.

4****: William Ruff.

“Virtuosity and variety from two engaging musicians.”

I would hazard a guess that Lakeside hasn’t seen many (any?) solo trumpet recitals in its chamber music history or indeed many soloists who have sported red trainers. Aaron Azunda Akugbo, however, isn’t conventional or predictable, as his highly entertaining and varied programme demonstrated.

He’s one of those musicians who effortlessly manages to endear himself to the audience from the outset. He engages with people with charm and modesty, chatting informally about the music in a delightful Scottish accent. He’s just 25, hails from Edinburgh, cites Louis Armstrong as his biggest musical influence and glides effortlessly from one style of music to another. If you wonder where you may have heard his name before, he’s recently performed at the Proms and been a guest on Jess Gillam’s radio show.

His current tour sees him partnered with Turkish pianist Zeynep Özsuca and together they have devised an enjoyably diverse introduction to what is possible when trumpet and piano come together – and when both musicians are as virtuosic and as versatile as these two are. If the audience had any fears that two hours of trumpet playing would lead to cotton wool being stuffed into ears, Aaron was at pains to stress that this recital would show his instrument in softer, more song-like mood.

The first half of their programme started with Honneger’s Intra, with its arresting opening, dramatic climaxes and sudden contrasts between bright sunlight and mysterious darkness. In the arrangement of three Poulenc songs which followed, the emphasis was on making the trumpet sing as sweetly as the human voice, as well as capturing intense emotion. Then Aaron introduced Peter Maxwell Davies’ Farewell to Stromness as a ‘beautiful wee tune’, and indeed it was, especially in its subtly decorated second half and in the way the piece faded wistfully into the distance. And Aaron still had strength in his lips to perform before the interval Halsey Stevens’ hugely demanding Sonata with its constantly changing time signatures, spiky rhythms, movingly sustained slow movement and brightly ringing finale.

The second half saw more brilliant virtuosity in a set of Scarlatti Variations by Marcel Bitsch followed by a mash-up (Aaron’s term) of My Funny Valentine with the haunting, highly dramatic Legende by George Enescu, the one melting so easily (and indeed movingly) into the other. Then came a suite (devised by Aaron and Zeynep) of three pieces by Florence Price, not only a composer synonymous with musical diversity but also a writer of affecting melodies, her heart-felt songs a real test of any trumpeter’s breath control.

Perhaps the most demanding piece was left till last: the Sonata by Karl Pilss, full of lush, romantic tunes written by the ‘Rachmaninov’ (again Aaron’s phrase) of the trumpet repertoire, a work as startlingly difficult for piano as it is for trumpet. It would have been the perfect way to end the concert – except that an encore was inevitable after such a display of consummate musicianship by both Aaron and Zeynep. A gorgeous arrangement of the spiritual Steal Away did very nicely.

Aaron Azunda Akugbo (trumpet) and Zeynep Özsuca (piano)