David Summer – Home Studio Recordings

All Recordings © Copyright 2002 by David Summer

The audio on this page are excerpts from recordings made by David using his home recording studio. David is the author of several articles on home recording that have been published in Recording Magazine, Electronic Musician and other music publications. These include Recording Brass Instruments and Recording the Flute.

 Classical Pieces

These classical recordings are representative of the type of music David plays for church services on the trumpet and flute.

Trumpet Voluntary by Clarke -Trumpet and Organ

Trumpet Voluntary (originally Prince of Denmark’s March) was written around 1699 by the English baroque composer Jeremiah Clarke. Clarke was the first organist of the then newly rebuilt St. Paul’s Cathedral. The piece was, for many years, incorrectly attributed to Jeremiah Clarke’s contemporary Henry Purcell. Trumpet Voluntary is very popular as a ceremonial processional.

David has performed Trumpet Voluntary many times as a wedding processional as well as a processional for Confirmation and First Communion ceremonies and at graduation ceremonies. He has also recorded several play along versions of Trumpet Voluntary that he makes available to his private trumpet students.

Trumpet Voluntary was played during the 1985 wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in St Paul’s Cathedral. The BBC often broadcasted the piece during World War II, especially when broadcasting to occupied Denmark and it is currently used as the march of the Nobel Prize laureates at the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm. An excerpt from the Trumpet Voluntary, performed by trumpeter David Mason, can be heard in the Beatles song It’s All Too Much from the Yellow Submarine album.

 Water Music by Handel -Trumpet and Organ

Alla Hornpipe is a movement, in 3/2 meter, from the Water Music by George Frideric Handel. The Water Music premiered in the summer of 1717 when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. The entire Water Music composition opens with a French overture and includes minuets, bourrées and hornpipes. It is divided into three suites. The Alla Hornpipe is from the Suite in D major.

The Alla Hornpipe, from Handel’s Water Music is often used as a wedding recessional or as a postlude to a service. It’s also used frequently for television and radio commercials, including commercials for the privatization of the UK water companies in the late 1980s. The Music for the Royal Fireworks , which was also written by Handel for outdoor performance, is often paired with the Water Music on recordings.

David has also recorded several play along versions of Alla Hornpipe, from Handel’s Water Music that he makes available to his private trumpet students.

Largo from Sonata in F by Telemann -Flute and Organ

Vivace from Sonata in F by Telemann -Flute and Organ

Composer Georg Philipp Telemann is considered by music historians to be a link between late Baroque and the Classical musical period. He was an incredibly prolific composer, writing more music than his contemporary composers Bach and Handel combined.

Telemann’s works for flute include 11 Concertos, 3 Double Concertos, 12 Fantasias for unaccompanied flute, numerous flute sonatas and the famous Suite in A Minor for flute and strings.  This Sonata in F for Flute by Telemann is especially well suited as a flute prelude to a church service.

David has recorded play along versions of all three movements of Telemann’s Sonata in F for Flute that he makes available to his private flute students.

David has played these pieces, and many more, for hundreds of church services with trumpet and flute throughout MA, NH and RI. You may also be interested in David Summer’s live in performance classical recordings as well as his notes and samples of hymn tune descants for trumpet and flute.

David also has posted a separate page on Air de Trompette by Telemann, including sheet music, performance notes, a full recording and play along accompaniment.

Christmas Tunes

Here are excerpts from tunes that were arranged, performed and recorded by David for that most wonderful time of the year.

First Noel

The First Noel is a traditional English Christmas carol. In creating this arrangement, David has changed some of the traditional chords in order to suit his descending string part.

This recording was produced using over 25 recorded tracks including flute, trumpets and keyboards. The flute and the trumpet tracks were all recorded using two different microphones at the same time, a condenser mic (a Neumann TLM 103) and a ribbon mic (a Royer R-122), with the tracks panned left and right on mixdown.

For more creative flute recording techniques, see David’s article on Recording the Flute, published in Recording Magazine.

Joy to the World

Joy to the World is a popular Christmas carol with a melody believed to have been written by GF Handel. For this recording, approximately 40 tracks were used. The reason there are so many is that all the brass parts, trumpets and trombones, were overdubbed (double-tracked) in order to give a fuller overall brass sound.

For more information on recording brass instruments, see David’s article on Recording Brass Instruments, published in Electronic Musician Magazine.

If you’re a flutist, try David’s Selected Duets for Flute Podcast.

If you’re a trumpet player, try David’s Selected Duets for Trumpet Podcast.