Founded: 1971 - Munich, Germany

The Bach Trompetensemble München (Bach Trumpet Ensemble of Munich) (= BTEM) was founded by Arnold Mehl IN 1971. As the name suggests, the foremost aim of the group is to give exemplary performances of the trumpet parts in J. S. Bach's music, paying particular attention to phrasing, articulation and dynamics.

The BTEM has appeared at a variety of music festivals: the Flanders Festival in Bruges, the Festival Estival de Paris, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Wurzburg Bach-Tage, the Ansbach Bach Week and the SaIzburg Festival. They have played with a number of well-known conductors, Helmuth Rilling and Wolfgang Gönnenwein among them and have participated in many radio, TV and record productions. In 1984, the BTEM appeared at the following events: the Johann Sebastian Bach Summer Academy in Stuttgart, TV productions of Each cantatas, conducted by Helmuth Rilling, to mark Bach Year 1985 (for ZDF/ORF), and a performance of Bach's B minor Mass (BWV 232) given by the New Bach Society in Kassel. 1985 was particularly busy, with the ensemble appearing in numerous concerts to mark Bach Year, including no fewer than 14 performances of the B minor Mass (BWV 232). They gave concerts at the European Music Festival in Stuttgart, and began regular collaboration with the Munich Bach Orchestra after first cooperating with them at a performance of the B minor Mass (BWV 232) in November 1985. 1987 saw the release of a record on the Ars Musici label featuring the ensemble together with the organist Franz Lehrndorfer. In the same year, the ensemble's appearances in the final concerts of the Ansbach Bach Week, again featuring the

B minor Mass (BWV 232), brought acclaim from audiences and the international press alike. At the 1989 Ansbach Bach Week, the BTEM took part in five concerts: two each with the Bach Week soloists' ensemble and the German Chamber Philharmonia of Frankfurt on modem piccolo trumpets, and a cantata concert with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, playing natural trumpets. In 1990, the BTEM appeared at the 65^th Bach Festival of the New Bach Society in Munich, where they played in concerts given by the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra.

In summer 1992, Bavarian radio and Ars Musici produced the second volume of the "Bach Trumpet Gala" with the BTEM and the organist Hedwig Bilgram. In October of that year, the ensemble gave its first recital in the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus together with the resident organist Michael Schmidt, and the great success of this occasion prompted them to give a 'repeat performance' in the Gewandhaus in December 1993. May 1994 saw Arnold Mehl and his friends invited to a tnunpet gala in the Berlin Schauspielhaus. In co-operation with some of today's outstanding organists, the BTEM has been able to establish recitals of music for trumpet ensemble and organ as a new form of concert that is attracting more and more music-Iovers.

Source: Liner notes to the CD ‘Bach-Trompeten Gal - Vol. 3’ by Arnold Mehl & Bach Trompetensemble München (Ars Musici, 1994)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2003)

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