Jimi Michiel

Matt,

This is a great point. I still am not enchanted by many of the recordings I have of the NYP since Phil Smith got his principal gig, if this performance was done while he was still under review for tenure, it might explain his incredibly conservative approach to phrasing, articulation and dynamics.

-Jimi

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Pedal C

I really like Sommerhalder's recording that you linked to. I'd have to listen again to hear the slurring thing you mentioned, but what I like about his is how he uses the dynamics to give the phrases clear direction. I have to admit that I don't hear as much of that in Phil Smith's video, but these are subtle things and this recording probably went from TV to VHS to some sort of computer file to YouTube and it sounds to me like a lot of the nuance go lost in the many translations. I mentioned in EC's orchestra sound thread that I was amazed when I heard Phil Smith LIVE for the first time. His sound was much more live and vibrant than I expected, given some recordings I've heard.

I also have to say that I kind of like Rafael Mendez's version of the ending, although it takes away the natural-trumpet-esque fourths. All the retired principale players must have liked that when it premired!

Is there an explanation for that first whole note Eb? Other than to make the audiance think you came in early.

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"The oboe's A is to make sure we still play it 1 and 2" - Bud Herseth

"One way or another, every patient stops bleeding." - Scrubs

HoosierDaddy

Jimi

When you smoke crack be sure to keep the pipe away from your chops!

Huggy Bear

What's up my peeps? Huggy's here to make some sense of all this.

This kid (Phil) has some mad skillz, yo! Fo' Shizzle!!! We can all have different musical tastes....I like TSOP and ICP and the like.....Michael Sachs like Rush, Led Zeppelin and Hansen.....Mr. McCandless has even been know to have someone "whake him up, before he go, goes"....but you can't say this fly trumpet pimp is not a GREAT musician. I've heard people say this same sort of thing abotu Maurice Andre. Crazy! While it's true that "Pimp Daddy" Smith doens't play with the sort of sea sick phrasing that you might hear from a group like Synergy Brass, I'd argue that he takes more of a long view of shape and phrase. There's a famous violinist that's been accused of similar attribute of technical brilliance and musical abyss.....his name was Heifitz....ummm, that brotha' was pretty good!!! At least that's what my band director tells me.

Love you guys....

Huggy

tatakata

"low brass baby"

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Jhorn229h

Have you ever heard the NY Phil live? Recordings are not the best way to cast judgement, but one recording that you should check out is Mahler 5 with Mehta. Have you been listening to the weekly online broadcasts? I know of a good ear doctor to clean out all the wax before you listen.....

J

tombrown1

Okay, I'll bite. Haydn was played with energy and passion. It shouldn't be played as a historical artifact - accurately and politely.

Phil clearly takes the safe way out with this recording. Zero passion - very few chances. This is why fiddle players make fun of us for playing solos - because this is what ends up coming out. You would never hear a violinist playing Haydn this way. They would get kicked out of their first lesson. But for trumpet players this is somehow acceptable - and apparently considered by many to be the pinnacle of our art!

As for Phil in general - we all know he has good days and bad days (remember that famous wedding recording). His good days can be awe-inspiring.

As for challenging Jimi to play his version and all the other garbage - seriously? That stuff is way off point.

mazzrick

Ok,

First of all, we're dealing with matters of subjectivity here. We can go into the whole beauty is in the eye of beholder and so on but there's no need. If someone holds an opinion about a recording or performance, they have every right to think that, no matter who they are. And crack pipes have nothing to do with it. Anyone with an ear (trumpeter, musician, or tone-deaf-stockbroker) has a valid opinion because it is theirs. If you don't obey your instincts and opinions, you have no business being in a subjective field. This is what makes music different from engineering and mathematics.

I'm sure we've all had lessons or talks with someone who we respect where we have differing opinions about something or where we think that what they're telling us is dead wrong. (i.e. Pierre Boulez has the greatest ears in the world, but he can't tune a major chord properly because he hears in equal-tempered pitch not well-tempered pitch) If you don't trust your own instinct, you become a replica and a mechanical device and loose all intrinsic value all together. I think this goes into how you end up teaching yourself. If everyone listened to their teachers for everything, we'd all sound and play the same and then life would really suck.

Shouldn't we all be thinking more critically of everyone's playing, especially our own. Instead of saying, "man that Phil Smith sure can play," you could say both one thing you liked and one thing you didn't like about his Haydn recording and we could actually discuss something and gain something. I bet he would have at least one comment for his playing at all points in time. That's probably how he got to the level he's at.

I'm sick of this, "you don't have a job, you can't have an opinion" crap. If you hear a piece of musc, you're a valid f-ing New York Times critic in my book. If you liked this recording, why? and you can't say cause it's Phil. I'm not saying you can't like it but you can't say we have to.

Matt

Tiscione

His sound is incredibly unique to my ears so, yes, I think I could identify him on a recording.

Tiscione

Who said that?