Andris Nelsons takes up his trumpet again
mainThe Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons will make a rare public appearance on his original instrument, the trumpet, when he goes KLASSIK underground in the Moritzbastei Club Leipzig after the official concert this Saturday.
Among other things, Andris will play duos with the night’s soloist Hakan Hardenberger.
Has he still got the puff? Looks like it.
Sweet!
I’ll leave it to the experts to judge his proficiency, and I don’t know how good he was at his best, but he must be practicing regularly enough to maintain his embouchure. Perhaps the most renowned trumpeter-turned-conductor (most renowned for trumpeting, I mean), Gerard Schwarz, abandoned the trumpet once his podium career took off.
Before that – Saul Caston (Sol Cohen) – Philly’s principal trumpet and ass’t conductor to both Stokie and Ormandy – chaired Curtis brass faculty and conducted the Reading, PA Symphony before becoming MD of the Denver Symphony in ’44. At that point, he no longer played the trumpet.