The jury consisted of eight persons: Wolfgang Stresemann (West Germany), Maurice André (France), Willi Bauer, first trumpeter of the Munich Radio Orchestra, Günther Bialas (West Germany), Stefan Hadrys (Poland), Petar Karparov (Bulgaria), Georgiy Orvid (Russia), and Julien-François Zbinden (Switzerland).
Contestants were to be judged officially in three categories: technical capability, musicality of performance, and artistic personality. Eight points could be attained in each category. At least 13 points were necessary for a candidate to be admitted to the second round.
Forty trumpeters had signed up; of these, seven did not appear. Seven contestants each came from the United States and France, three from Belgium and Bulgaria, two from Russia, Poland, and West Germany, and one each from Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.
In the first round, each participant was required to play the Haydn trumpet concerto and a choice of the Hindemith sonata, the Honegger Intrada, the Ibert Impromptu, or the Martinů Sonatina—at least three movements, however. The first three rounds were carried through in public, with piano accompaniment, in Studio II of the Bavarian Radio.
Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed by the first round. Only a few performances were heard which could be said to possess true concert maturity. Most of the trumpeters made a nervous, insecure impression, made worse by the dry studio acoustics. Many contestants had to contend with elementary difficulties; and in this respect not even the available cups of water, which were resorted to frequently, could help matters much.
Most contestants played either the Hindemith sonata or the Honegger Intrada as the piece of their choice. Only a few chose the Martinů Sonatina, still fewer the Ibert Impromptu. Most of the participants played the Haydn concerto on an E-flat trumpet (usually a Selmer). B-flat trumpet (nearly always a Selmer, incidentally) was played mostly by contestants from Eastern Europe, who in general were disappointing.
Despite many shaky performances, the jury chose 17 players for the second round, in which the Tomasi concerto was to be played. Here, nervousness diminished, and the performances were thus considerably better. A more rigorous standard was set up, however, and only six contestants graduated to the third round.
Here the first and second movements of the Telemann concerto were to be played, as well as a concerto of the contestant’s choice. All six trumpeters played the Telemann on a Selmer piccolo B-flat trumpet pulled out to A. Nonetheless, the first movement in particular caused considerable difficulty. In addition, the difficulty of changing to the larger trumpet in the second piece (three times Zbinden’s Concertino, opus 6; once Honegger’s Intrada; twice the second and third movements of the Hummel concerto) could often be noticed. Two participants were eliminated in this round; the remaining four were admitted to the final round with orchestra in the (acoustically excellent) Herkulessaal.
The first to play was the 21-year-old Texan, Janis Marshelle Coffmann. Whoever had heard her in the previous stages of the contest could expect a good performance and was not disappointed. She played the three movements of the Haydn concerto (obligatory for the orchestral round) masterfully and with an effervescent personality, using a Schilke E-flat trumpet. The girl trumpeter, who in addition comes from a brass-playing family, earned respect for her musicality and her clear, big tone, which both in pianissimo and fortissimo left hardly anything to be desired.
She was followed by Guy Touvron from France. He is also 21 years old, has been a pupil of André since the age of 16, and is already first trumpeter in the Lyon Opera Orchestra. One could unfortunately hardly help but notice that he tried to copy the style of his teacher, whereby he does not quite possess André’s elegance or—above all—accuracy. But he, too, played very beautifully and seemed to be a contender for a prize. The other two trumpeters, Léon Capouillez from Belgium and James Darling from the United States (who had given the best performance of the Tomasi concerto), could not make such a convincing impression in this round.
That evening the jury’s decision was made known: Guy Michel Touvron and Janis Marshelle Coffmann were to share the second prize.
Personally, I felt Touvron to have been slightly over-rated, for he had not made as convincing an impression as his American competitor in the preceding rounds. In addition, he had constantly received hand signals for crescendo, shortening of long sustained notes, etc., from his teacher, Maurice André, sitting on the jury. In places, André had actually conducted him. Moreover, his competitor displayed a significantly wider dynamic range.
In the final concert, conducted by Dean Dixon, it was once again possible to study the difference in playing between the two prize-winners. Guy Touvron played the Haydn concerto in a very cultivated fashion, but lacking in depth of perception and mastery. After Janis Coffmann’s brilliant performance of the second and third movements of the Hummel concerto, the audience applause seemed never to come to an end. Even the orchestra rose in honor of the American girl who had invaded a man’s territory.
Concluding summary of the contest: there were many talented players, but no new Maurice André.