Petrouschka Trumpet Solo

Soloist: William Vacchiano.
Trumpet Second: Nathan Prager?
Recording: 26 de Marzo de 1962
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein

[@eileenschwartz7460]

Yes, the second trumpet is Nathan Prager-he was my father.

[@ericdaniel323]

Do you know of any recordings that featured your father? I heard that Bernstein preferred his sound to Vacchiano (whom he said played the trumpet like a baritone horn).

[@eileenschwartz7460]

@@ericdaniel323 I don’t, except I do know that a composer (a member of the orchestra, I believe) wrote a piece featuring the second trumpet with my dad in mind. The title had the words, "timid trumpeter" in it. My dad was known for not wanting to sit in the first chair because of the pressure, even after being offered the position after Harry Glantz left. Glantz was my mother’s cousin, but my parents hadn’t met yet! Yes, Bernstein loved my dad and even set up a modest fund to help my brother and me with our education. I was 7 and my brother was13 when my father died.

[@albertmoore4445]

@@eileenschwartz7460 Frank Kaderabek, retired principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and long-time teacher at Curtis, considered your Dad to be his most helpful teacher when he was in the West Point Band and taking lessons in New York. He often expressed admiration and appreciation of him in my lessons. He is still living in Philly at age 94. If you have not already done so, I am sure he would love to talk with you about your Dad.

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

My father, Ben Jablonsky, a pianist, was a dear friend of your dad.

[@matts9064]

He was a sweet man who was always willing to talk and help out even to his last years. He was beloved and is still missed. He is a legend and judging him on this two minutes is ridiculous.

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

That was crazy fast! The second trumpet is John Ware.

[@bobgreen1236]

It was said of Nat Prager that if you wrote "2nd Trumpet" on top of a flute part he could play it no problem...the guy was PHENOMENAL, he just didn't want to be on the hot seat.......

[@eileenschwartz7460]

That is true! One time a composer (I believe he was actually a member of the orchestra) wrote a piece called The Timid Trumpeter (or something very close to that!) which featured the second trumpet. My father had to play it!

[@eileenschwartz7460]

Oh, and thanks for the kind words about my dad!

[@eileenschwartz7460]

That's true! One of the orchestra members who was also a composer wrote a piece about a timid trumpeter which featured the second trumpet and my dad had to play it! Apparently, as long as it said 2nd trumpet and he could sit in the second chair, he could play it! He just never wanted to sit in the first chair. I was told that when Harry Glantz (my mother's cousin) left the Phil, they asked my father to play first, but he didn't want to! It made him too nervous.

[@normancanter1]

Let's not be to hard on Maestro Vacchiano; he was first trumpet in he NY Philharmonic for many years and taught about 2000 students. He kept a careful list of all of his students. He was legendary for choosing the right mouth piece for each student and for demanding transposition as a basic tool. He stressed the support of the tone as coming from the diaphragm and understood and taught proper vibrato...often neglected. One of his major teachers, at the Institute for Musical Art. which later merged with Juilliard, was Max Schlossberg, although his tone did not as closely resemble Schlossberg's as some of Sclossberg's other students.

[@joekeller8936]

Norman Canter Vachiano will always live to be one of the greatest trumpet players in the world, as well as the leader in the way we educate trumpet today

[@eileenschwartz7460]

Yes, Mr. Vacchiano was a wonderful musician! And he was a very kind man.

[@keithrittel3953]

Typical sloppy brass playing in the old NY Phil. I am proud to say I own only 1 Bernstein recording with them, (Shostakovich 5), not because it is great or definitive, but I wanted to learn the piece and it was the best performance on disc at the time.

[@brassysounds]

With a little help from my friend.......nice!

[@Artariastein]

Mit Unterstützung.... :-)

[@jwhill7]

The tempo is too fast, which is Bernstein's fault. Vacchiano's trumpet playing is no more than okay. There are a few ghost notes and intonation issues. His tone is thin, and he doesn't observe the dynamic changes. Voisin's recording is much better. But I heard Herseth play this, live, in Chicago, 1962 or 1963. At the end of the solo, the whole audience released its breath at one time. It was 20 seconds (or so) of trumpet heaven. Unforgettable.

[@57dogsbody]

Just what I was thinking. I was expecting the best version of this I've ever heard. Vacchiano's rep. is so huge!

[@johndaniel1855]

back in the day, everyone played on Bb, and that makes this harder. mm=116 is the marked tempo, which is often ignored, but Bernstein chose to observe Stravinsky's tempo for this performance. And, well, live TV. I heard Herseth play it live as well, and it did sparkle. I can't imagine any more pressure than doing this on live TV. It was fine, and if you don't think so, go get your own orchestra, your own TV station, broadcast yourself playing it on live TV then we can compare.

[@jwhill7]

You are right about the tempo: Bernstein does take it at 116. But Vacchiano is playing a C trumpet, as you can tell if you follow his fingering. His trumpet may look a bit like a Bb because the tuning slide extends to close to the bell. But I think he is actually playing a C/D combination instrument with the longer C tuning slide mounted. There are several recent KZbin videos of auditions in which the passage is played on a Bb. Evidently some young players, today, find that it goes well on the Bb. I note that, in the video, Nate Prager fills in very smoothly on a Bb. (He was a great player!) I have an audition recording of myself in 1964, and it is better than V's. Even in my 70s I have made a KZbin video that has all the notes and is better in tune than V's, although admittedly slower and a bit unsteady (old man blowing). It's the second item on this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2LFfWWYnq1loaM Okay, feel free to trash it, even though I am an old, old, buddy of David Greenhoe : >) Also, I'll sincerely bet a nickle that you play it better than either Vacchiano or old-man Hill.

[@jwhill7]

Okay, I found my 1963 audition: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baaVgop7l8hsosU

[@johndaniel1855]

yup, it is shaped like a Bb, but he's playing C trumpet fingerings, good eye

[@gregfaris6959]

Who would the bassoonist be here?

[@gregfaris6959]

I'll answer myself: It's Manuel Zegler, principal bassoon from 1953 to 1981, which means just after William Polisi and just before the current Judith LeClair.

[@musiknotes7226]

Mmmm william vacchi..... 😦😦😦😦😦😳😳😳😳

[@FACUNDOTROMPETA]

Me encantó! Como se llama el trompetista?

[@trptgk]

William Vacchiano

[@FACUNDOTROMPETA]

@@trptgk Muchas gracias!!!

[@emusiknote6502]

What was that

[@user-rn1lb8sx2c]

Greatness

[@musiknotes7226]

😳😳😳😳😳

[@musiknotes7226]

👀😦😦😦😦😦

[@musiknotes7226]

😳😳😳😳😳😦😦😦😦

[@jonathanfeil1522]

The dynamic changes are also disregarded by the snare drum. Compare kzbin.info/www/bejne/gminZ4WfrbKXsJY

[@peterburger8921]

He messes up a lot in a solo for a guy who I heard was really harsh on his students. Maybe past prime here.

[@SamuelPlaysBrass]

Definitely past his prime. There's an older recording on KZbin of him playing Brandenburg 2 from when he seems to have been in better form. Mind you, he was squealing it on his big Bb, so it's still a little hard to listen to at times, but still very technically impressive and, for the most part, clean.

[@ericdaniel323]

As demanding as he was of his students, he expected even more from himself. This is live. They can’t all be gems.

[@tomschlueter7034]

They can't all be gems unless it's Bud. @@ericdaniel323

[@xtr77777]

what a ridiculous comment. clearly someone with not much experience here… lol

[@davewilliams9978]

400 guys can play better

[@Stefan-zx3df]

☝🏻 not net

[@matts9064]

You can't...talk is cheap.

[@strumpet2011]

Only Instagram. Ah-ah-ah!!!!

[@ericdaniel323]

This is live music. Sometimes clams happen.

[@michaelrandall9034]

And YOU are not on that list.

[@winrx]

That was awful - he is better remembered as an important pedagogue of the instrument.....

[@chasefreak]

please post a clip of you doing it better LIVE in front of 1,000 people

[@explodingsausage6576]

@@chasefreak Why should he?

[@chasefreak]

@@explodingsausage6576 to prove if he could do a better job

[@explodingsausage6576]

@@chasefreak And how is that relevant to Vacchiano doing a subpar job in this video?

[@chasefreak]

@@explodingsausage6576 well, when some troll lambasts a great player without being able to prove he can do a better a job proves relevance. So many people bash a player's performance and I always say, 'let's hear you do a better job!" the response is usually silence b/c we know they cannot-they're just being trolls.

[@user-be2sd5gp8o]

Может аппарат не впорядке.