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RE: Beethoven: Symphony #1 - Part 4 of 5 - Masters and Anti-Masters

Hi Newey - I would like, as a professional brass player, to make a comment on something you posted, to clear up a misunderstanding that many audiophiles still have.

You wrote: "Toscanini gives the trumpet a touch of emphasis in the development climax [which Furtwangler doesn't do] giving it more urgency; very nice."

What you are writing of here has absolutely nothing to to with either Toscanini or Furtwangler. Too many people still attribute WAY too much of what they hear to the influence of the conductor, and not the musicians themselves. What you are hearing here is simply the difference between not only the trumpet players in question, but the actual instruments they are using. In Vienna, they use to this day simpler, rotary valve trumpets, that have a much warmer and darker tone than most more modern instruments (same with the horns, by the way). The American players in the NBC Symphony, on the other hand, are using much brighter instruments - hence the difference you hear, which you do perceive correctly - you have merely attributed it to the conductor instead of to the players. Neither set of players is playing any louder than the other here - what you are hearing is the difference in the timbre of their trumpets, and their own personal sounds - which conductors almost NEVER mess with in any significant way, particularly in orchestras of that caliber. It is quite possible that neither conductor ever said a word to the trumpet section in the making of these recordings - the trumpets have just about the easiest parts in that particular symphony, and both those orchestras know how to play Beethoven, it is needless to say.

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