This CD is based on a singular find: the Birckholtz trumpet, which is named after its maker, hung unheeded for over 350 years on a memorial in the church in Belitz, Mecklenburg. The trumpet, which is preserved in original condition, was awakened from its long sleep by music-instrument maker Michael Münkwitz, who made replicas of the instrument employing handicraft techniques of the time.

The ensemble, under the direction of the French star trumpeter Jean-François Madeuf, brings to life again the original sound of the Birckholtz trumpet with music that was undoubtedly heard in seventeenth-century Northern German, including works by M. Praetorius, M. Thomsen, D. Speer, J. Pezel, and others, brilliantly complemented by Philip Tarr’s timpani rolls, the gentle timbre of the dulcian, and the timbral diversity of the Belitz organ.