Posted by Erik on February 14, 2001 at 22:00:54:
We are currently preparing An American in Paris in orchestra, and there is somewhat of a battle going on between the director and the first trumpet. The director wants to swing the trumpet solos, but the trumpeter doesn't. So in an effort to try to ease this tension, I am venturing for some opinions: do you prefer the trumpet solos swung or not? Also, the I have only heard two recordings (NYPhil/Bernstein, CSO/Levine) of this piece, and as I recall, both trumpets swing the solos. Are there any where this isn't the case (that are worth examining)? Thanks guys, and good luck to Mr. Denney.
Erik
P.S. FWIW, I don't particularly care for the tuba solo interpretation in the CSO version (I assume this is Porkony). He does something different on each series of notes without forming a coherent sort of interpretation. Perhaps more interesting to someone who's played and/or heard it 100's of times, but it just doesn't seem to work. Like I said, just my $0.02 . . .