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Recital/Lecture David Baldwin Arthur A. Molitierno, Reporter While the name Théophile Noel Charlier (1868-1944) may be as commonplace as that of Arban to brass enthusiasts and teachers, it is evidently not important enough to include in such a general musical reference work as The New College Encyclopedia of Music (W.W. Norton, 1976), a work which also lacks any reference to Arban. Baldwin may soon enlarge the recognition of this important trumpeter and composer through his publication of New Book of Etudes—32 Etudes de Perfectionnement, originally published in 1940 but edited by Baldwin in 1999. In addition to this new edition, Baldwin has recorded a two-set CD collection of the entire 32 Etudes de Perfectionnement. Such a task has to be acknowledged as one of the greatest challenges to trumpet playing. As ITG Board member Frank Kaderabek observed in introducing Baldwin, it takes “tremendous courage to record the Charlier etudes.” One must add that it also takes the stamina of three trumpet players. Baldwin himself in his opening remarks about the project indicated that this is a very “humbling experience.” Before performing a selection of the Charlier etudes, Baldwin lectured on a warm-up drill, indicating that one should not need to spend more than fifteen minutes warming up and preparing the embouchure for the day’s playing. He had a member of the audience time his warm-up. Baldwin’s routine begins with a short buzzing on the mouthpiece to get the lips to vibrate as freely as possible. He noted the importance of “thinking about breathing” as he began to play a series of descending and then ascending notes, varying the length and the rhythmic pattern in order to get a feel of the embouchure rather than a particular sound. This is typically followed by some chromatic crescendos and decrescendos. He emphasized the importance of employing slow air and fast air in the warm-up and the importance of using the air stream rather than the lips when playing. Advice on scales and the intervals followed: “The larger the interval, the more air I’m going to put into the note.” After producing a series of intervals, Baldwin then moved on to lip trills, noting that the object is always to keep as loose as possible. A series of long tones followed which swelled from ppp to fff and fff to ppp till no sound was heard, ten seconds for the crescendo and ten seconds for the decrescendo. Baldwin then played a series of glissandos, beginning very slowly and then increasing the speed of the sequences. At the end of warm-up, in this case eleven minutes, Baldwin plays pedal tones as a kind of warm-down. At each stage of the warm-up it is important to rest between exercises and to continually get the feel of the embouchure. In his engaging presentation, Baldwin indicated that all the ideas in his warm-up came to him from Robert Nagel, his teacher at Yale University. The preliminaries over, Baldwin then proceeded to play etude number 3 from the 36 etudes, not to show the difficulty but to show the inherent musical quality of Charlier’s exercises. To this end Baldwin had three composer friends write piano accompaniments for “Etude 3”: Philip Brunelle, Judith Zaimont, and John Jensen. He then played all three versions in succession with only the shortest of breaks. Accompanying him on piano was Garnet Ungar. Baldwin then moved on to explain that Charlier also wrote 32 etudes for valve trombone containing the same sort of demands as the 36 etudes for trumpet. The 32 etudes are listed in the Robert King catalog under euphonium. When Baldwin first discovered the 32 etudes, he transposed them from bass clef for trumpet. Afterwards, he recorded all 32 exercises in three sessions. As part of the recital, he performed “Etude 2.” As an added treat for the audience, a still fresh Baldwin invited Ramon F. Vasquez, professor of trumpet at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, to join him in playing Charlier duets from James Olcott’s recently published The Charlier Companion. The sound of the duet was, as the audience acknowledged by its applause, incredibly rich, especially in the low register. Lastly, Baldwin alone played the lost 37th etude which had been omitted from the original 36. This etude has been published in the June, 2001, ITG Journal (page 35) as part of Rosario Macaluso’s article “A Grand Master: Théo Charlier” (pages 30-36). It would certainly be unfair and indeed inhuman to ask more of a trumpet lecture and recital than what Baldwin presented. His playing is impeccable in all registers and in every phrase. His stamina in playing such a succession of etudes, one ending on a high D after almost 5 minutes of sustained playing, is remarkable. Even more remarkable is the man himself, quiet, humble, an individual devoted to his craft and to making that craft freely available to everyone. That is why a number of young trumpeters came up and asked for his autograph. That is why upon the completion of his final recital etude and after thunderous applause for previous renditions the audience rose to its feet in a most deserved standing ovation. Certainly, this performance has to be one of the most memorable of the 2001 conference. |
Topic
The Music and Life of Theo Charlier
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Charlier’s etudes. Most trumpeters know of the difficulty and importance of the 36 Charlier etudes, published as 36 Études Transcendantes, but few know of the 32 etudes that Baldwin has resurrected for consideration of their technical and musical challenges. The 36 etudes and the recent edition of the 32 etudes were the subjects of Baldwin’s lecture and extensive recital. 