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.
I heard a story about Fritz Reiner making Herseth repeat a passage (opening solo in Mahler 5?) several times and addressing him as "Mr. Trumpet." Finally Herseth had enough and repeated the passage several times, taking it up to a higher key each time. When he stopped, he said, "My name is Adolph Herseth, and I can do this all day." Is this a myth, and if it is true, can someone fill in the details?
There was a true story something like that the Herseth himself would tell. He said Reiner liked to test the musicians. I forget the orchestral piece, but the trumpet goes "dit dit dah DAHHHHH" very quickly where the first three notes are C and the last is a jump up to high C and held. Reiner came up with excuses to have Herseth repeat the passage over and over and Herseth never missed. Herseth said everybody knew what Reiner was doing. And that after six or seven times he says Reiner said, "Can we do that again?" And Herseth says, "I looked at my watch and said I'm here until 12:30." Herseth said Reiner then left him alone.
@@smctrout4423 No. Not that. The orchestra plays for quite a while and then the flutes have a sort of fluttering line that gets softer and softer and softer and suddenly the trumpet comes in big and bold with those four notes.
That fabulous soaring vib, always perfectly judged on a line, is a sound you just don't forget as a brass player. I'm sure every brass player reading this and knowing Bud's artistry can hear it as they read this.
Most audience members do not realize how perilous it is to be principal in an orchestra like the CSO. Bud is legendary for heroic efforts in pursuit of perfection.
Well said. I was watching a RU-vid of a major European orchestra performing The Planets with my grandchildren, and as the first chairs performed solos, I told the young people to watch how the person sitting in the second chair might me younger, might be older, but they were usually reading the score during the solo and were usually itching to perform that solo. For Bud to maintain that position that long at Chicago? Wow.
It is for every Trumpet player. Ive been Principal in several Orchestras as an amateur and its perilous in every level. it was for me on my level like it is for an Pro on his level
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).
@@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.
@@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.
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.
I met this man at Luther College in the summer of 2005, his warmth and his ability as a trumpeter gave me the desire to follow in his footsteps. I went to his alma mater, Luther College as a trumpet music performance major and although I changed my major and my professional path I will always be thankful for him, his music, and the impact he had on my life. Rest in piece
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.
100 YARS ! Adolph Sylvester „Bud“ Herseth war ein US-amerikanischer Trompeter. Nach der Schule studierte er Mathematik am Luther College, anschließend leistete er Kriegsdienst an der pazifischen Front. Geboren: 25. Juli 1921, Lake Park, Minnesota, Vereinigte StaatenVerstorben: 13. April 2013, Oak Park, Illinois, Vereinigte Staaten -------TODAY BUD WOULD BE COMPLETING 100 YEARS---- TOCAR BEM E´SORTE, E QUANTO MAIS SE ESTUDA; MAS SORTE TEMOS ! ! PALAVRAS DO MESTRE BUD ! -----Herseth's studio -::------ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-K4WiO5wwKig.html
Definitely past his prime. There's an older recording on RU-vid 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.
This interview is so “cringe”, as they say, but at least it shows the humanity of the man, if not highlighting his greatest career accomplishments. It’s impossible to measure the impact that he had on the entire brass (not just the trumpet) community with his sound and musicianship. One of the most remarkable things to me was his relative lack (by today’s social media standards) of ego. Of course, he was a massive star in the brass world at the time, but he spent the entire interview talking about the people around him that shaped his personal and musical life, instead of himself. How times have changed 180 degrees from the people that we now make “famous”.
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.......
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!
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.
@@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.
After grad school, I was playing euphonium in John Paynter's North Shore band in Wilmette when one of the trombone players asked if I would be interested in playing in a brass ensemble on Easter Sunday at a church in the western suburbs. I said I'd be happy to, and he said that it should be "ok," even though it was not a regular ensemble. When I arrived, imagine my surprise when Bud Herseth, the perennial principal trumpet in the CSO, sat down in the group! For this economics major from Michigan, it was your basic once in a lifetime event. I don't think I have ever sat up that straight in the almost 50 years since! Oh, and the gig was indeed "ok"...
There are a lot of stories about Bud and his “band.” Bud is one of handful of players that is always in any knowledgeable trumpet players list of best players. His sound has and will influence players for as long as we continue to blow on the brass tube.
Sadly, people jump to conclusions and open their mouths when they have no idea of the facts. Phil Ponce, the interviewer, knows very well who Fritz Reiner was and I would bet a money he knows quite a bit about Bach Strads. Mr. Ponce is extremely intelligent, he has a law degree from the University of Michigan and a journalist degree from Loyola, many awards, and a wide array of personal interests, playing trumpet is one of them. He asks questions not to show off his intelligence, but ones he believes the audience would be interested to know.
To hold down the principal trumpet position of ANY professional symphony orchestra for 50 years is absolutely staggering. To do so with one of the finest orchestras in the world is off the scale. If you hadn't heard him tell the story himself you'd find it hard to believe anyone could audition for a principal trumpet position and not actually be aware of it.
He does seem so much of a gentleman here but I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was. I had heard that the real reason that he quit teaching was because he didn't want to "pick up poor habits from his students".
Going by what many of fellow musicians and conductors who knew him have said over the years. There is no other musician more dedicated to his instrument, the music, and the orchestra than Mr. Herself was. He could be outspoken, strong willed, and didn't suffer fools. He was dedicated to excellence and expected those around him to play their very best at all times, which rubbed a few of his fellow musicians the wrong way, those that had a more casual attitude toward preparation for of a piece and practice. It is said he never turned down a fellow musician who came to him for help. Many times a trumpeter from another orchestra would fly in for a day or two to go to Mr. Herseth's Oak Park home for some coaching, he said he never charged a dime, it was the duty of older musicians to pass on to the next generation. Arrogant? Perhaps. While he did appreciate the adoration by his fans, he was never about himself, he lived and breathed for the orchestra and music. He was a huge influence on the sound of not only the high brass section, but also on the whole CSO orchestra. He is not the only one of course, there were and are many names within the orchestra that have led and pushed their colleagues to excel. Bud Herseth once said that tradition in the CSO goes back to the days of Frederick Stock.
@@frankkolton1780 "I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was" I'm reminded of the prima donna singer. If you're going to be in the spotlight, you're going to have to want it. I think it comes with the territory.
Many of the Greatest Musicians do not like teaching poor students, and will not do so even though they might be able to make a lot of money doing so. "Arrogant and Condescending" could just as easily be "Dignified and Direct".
What this suggests to this music lover is that there has been the passing of an age during which such artistry reached a zenith of popularity, similar to the age of the big bands of the mid-20th century, the giants of Rock and Country, etc. But this is not to say that a talent equal to Herseth is not out there-it simply will not have the same opportunity to flourish. Times change.
I guess I would say this being from the UK but the London symphony with Maurice Murphy for me takes some beating. John Williams used that orchestra for Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc. That said, Herseth one of the greatest trumpeters who has ever lived.
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