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Special Event: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Trumpet Section Jon Burgess, Reporter Equals One Section”, began their session with an excerpt from Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz. Principal Trumpet Susan Slaughter explained that in her thirty-two year tenure (and Gary Smith’s thirty-five year tenure) they have had five different music directors. With every new music director changes of styles, timbres, repertoire and recordings took place. The underlying message throughout the session was as Susan Slaughter put it, “the name of the game is flexibility.” Being a member of an orchestra trumpet section requires that every member be flexible and able to adapt to the demands of each new music director. Gary Smith gave a brief history of the individual demands and personalities of each of the five music directors he has experienced in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra beginning with De Carvallo in 1966 up through the current music director, Hans Vonk. The trumpet section demonstrated how they might have played the Symphony Fantastique excerpt under De Cavallo as compared to how they played it for Leonard Slatkin.
Thomas Drake, Assistant Principal trumpet, discussed how the personalities of the music directors come through in the music. Using excerpts from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring the trumpet section demonstrated how Leonard Slatkin liked the top voice to lead and be prominent. They then played the same excerpt demonstrating how the current music director, Hans Vonk liked more prominence in the inner voice to bring out the more dissonant voicing in the second and third trumpets. Their demonstration showed clearly how a seemingly subtle change can facilitate a dramatic difference for the listener. Tage Larsen, newly appointed second trumpet, spoke about the “flexibility’ required in the audition process and some of the challenges of being second trumpet. Prokofiev’s Symphony #5 and Cinderella (both pieces that were on the audition) to demonstrate the extreme range demands required of the second trumpet and how the players must be able to adapt to the different tempi and musical interpretations of the conductor. Thomas Drake discussed the demands of contemporary works for orchestra. Excerpts from Vox Clamantis by Petr Eben and John Harbison’s Concerto for Double Brass Choir and Orchestra were performed. Both of these works require Additional excerpts from Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, Mahler’s Second Symphony, and Shostakovich’s Symphony #4 were performed. The Mahler excerpts were used to show the difficulty in playing softly and in tune. Tage Larsen talked about how they discovered that if he played the third of the chord stronger it made it easier for the section to tune and feel secure. The Shostakovich excerpt was used to demonstate endurance and range demands on the trumpet section. Comments were made by the section players on how to pace yourself by understanding the whole work well enough so you know where you can back off and be strong when you need to be prominent. The session was well prepared and presented some valuable information in addition to some wonderful section playing by all members of the St. Louis Trumpet Section. Maria Speziale and Amy Gilreath were added to the section to perform on the Rite of Spring excerpt and the excerpts from Mahler’s Second Symphony. |
Trumpet Prelude
(click here for review) Kansas State University Trumpet Ensemble Salute.................................................................... Leslie Bassett Early Morning on the Big Blue* ................................ Jay Gilbert Intrepid*...................................................... Bryan Schroeder Gary Mortenson, Director Members Aaron Allison, William Beave, Sharon Boyer, Scott Brown, Lori Isaacs, Jon Kohrs, Sandi Lohman, Ryan Peters, Jamie Rogers, Brian Roland, Bryan Schroeder, Philip Ward |
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members of the trumpet section to play on opposite sides of the stage, which brings up the added problem of trying to play together. Susan Slaughter mentioned how important it is in this situation to play with the conductor and not what you hear. This led to a discussion of the use of smaller trumpets in orchestra performance. Susan Slaughter and Thomas Drake both mentioned that they use the E-flat, and in the case of the Harbison, a piccolo to aid in security and accuracy in their performance. Susan Slaughter related that often there are very few rehearsals for new works and that it is necessary to find “short-cuts” in preparing for performance. She emphasized the importance of developing the ability to transpose on any trumpet.