Radio 3 in Concert 11.03.2016 - Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Biber

[doversoul1]

Investigating this further, I found this, accommpanied by the comment '...the musicians are all using period instuments... everyone is standing and almost dancing... except for the poor trumpet player... he is sitting down and barely breathing or moving at all... poor guy!'

It sounds as if the trumpeter was taken ill. If that was the case, what would have been the alternative? What is the normal procedure when a soloist is taken ill during a performance?

A few years ago during a live broadcast of St Matthew Passion, the Evangelist (I think it was James Gilchrist) became ill and the performance was suspended. R3 broadcast a recording of the same work.

jean, is the link a youtue video? I had an error message and had to turn off the PC (I was turning it off anyway, so it didn’t matter all that much and it’s back to normal now).

[jean]

The link is a YouTube video - it is NOT of the performance under discussion.

I thought it interesting as an illustration of how a performance considered a success might still put a greater strain on the performer than on his colleagues on more forgiving instruments.

[Richard Tarleton]

I have this performance preserved on my satellite box hard disc - what sort of trumpet is this? It has keys.....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have this performance preserved on my satellite box hard disc - what sort of trumpet is this? It has keys.....

? Not sure - looks vaguely like a D Trumpet:

[teamsaint]

Another example: I once heard at the Dartington Summer School an amateur performance of Bartók's Music for strings, percussion and celesta, which was highly approximate in both ensemble and intonation; after a few minutes I wanted to leave, but after a few more I understood more about where Ligeti's music comes from than from any amount of analysis. There is always something to listen into and learn from, in even the most unpromising musical situation. (At least in theory! I can't always bring myself to this frame of mind.)

Wholeheartedly agree with the bit in bold,, and would add " to enjoy".

I think it helps to take this attitude into a musical situation.

[ardcarp]

Many of the posts in this thread have made me feel (a) very guilty for criticising the poor guy's playing, and (b) very sorry for him. But can you hear a 'but' coming? But many fine high trumpet experts these days can deliver the goods time after time, on natural or valved instruments with little more than the occasional (if any) split note. Back in the 60s (I bet you heard the reminiscence coming too) a university friend of mine was very keen on playing the natural trumpet...a bit of a pioneer in fact. He and two mates did the B minor Mass on natural trumpets in Coventry Cathedral, which was considered pretty daring in those days. I went along to listen, and they were certainly not playing to today's standard of excellence, but (another but) neither were they cringeworthy. I'm sorry to say this, but the B'burg 2 which we heard from Swansea put me in mind of Florence Foster Jenkins' Queen of the Night aria.

If the guy knew that his lip was completely knackered, could he not have 'thrown a sicky'? In fact which is the more professional thing to do...throw a sicky or attempt to play knowing it's going to be a disaster? Singers have to back out from time to time, and I don't see much difference between a singer's larynx giving out and a trumpeter's lip giving out.

[doversoul1]

Many of the posts in this thread have made me feel (a) very guilty for criticising the poor guy's playing, and (b) very sorry for him. But can you hear a 'but' coming? But many fine high trumpet experts these days can deliver the goods time after time, on natural or valved instruments with little more than the occasional (if any) split note. Back in the 60s (I bet you heard the reminiscence coming too) a university friend of mine was very keen on playing the natural trumpet...a bit of a pioneer in fact. He and two mates did the B minor Mass on natural trumpets in Coventry Cathedral, which was considered pretty daring in those days. I went along to listen, and they were certainly not playing to today's standard of excellence, but (another but) neither were they cringeworthy. I'm sorry to say this, but the B'burg 2 which we heard from Swansea put me in mind of Florence Foster Jenkins' Queen of the Night aria.

If the guy knew that his lip was completely knackered, could he not have 'thrown a sicky'? In fact which is the more professional thing to do...throw a sicky or attempt to play knowing it's going to be a disaster? Singers have to back out from time to time, and I don't see much difference between a singer's larynx giving out and a trumpeter's lip giving out.

Have you seen my post 49 about a bus driver ?

[french frank]

Though, of course, we comment in full possession of the facts