– I must be going, but please, tell me briefly what’s happening in the brass world this year.
– I don’t know where to start, maestro... After an absence of eleven years, Miles Davis came back to the Montreux Jazz Festival. Two concerts, a fee of 100’000 Swiss francs ($ 40’000), a wild success — which he obtained with his back to his admirers — an incredible feat for a 58-year-old trumpet player who has had considerable health problems. Michel Becquet and his Paris Trombone Quartet are up and running thanks to perfectionism and musicality unusual on these instruments. Peter Hirsbrunner delivered sixty tubas, said to be worth their weight in gold all over the world, in just the first six months of the year! All the big instrument makers are perfecting their instruments with technological improvements while craftsmen continue to meet the most exacting demands of our greatest virtuosos. The Second World Brass Congress took place in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Most of the 1500 participants suffered brass indigestion, the menu being incredibly rich (concerts, lectures, exhibitions, discussions etc.) and demanding a superhuman musical appetite. The skill of the trumpeter Doc Severinsen met with universal praise. It is difficult to see why such a musician is not better known in Europe.
Arban did not really seem to be listening. I felt that none of these names meant very much to him. Yet his questioning gaze persisted.
I went on — just to break the silence, which was becoming unbearable.
– The horn player Hermann Baumann and the trumpeter Roger Delmotte (whose talent and teaching skills seem at last to be gaining recognition) are ubiquitous at courses and concerts in Europe. All over the world brass players are busy at seminar, summer school and festivals. They’re crazy, these brass players, the way they work.
Arban suddenly snapped out of his somnolent state.
– They are right! Absolutely right! Keep working while business is good! When I was young, we lived in a state of general indifference. Times were hard.
I refilled his glass, which he was holding delicately between his thumb and forefinger, as the upper middle classes know how to do. He raised his ring finger conspicuously to show a large ring set with an impressive diamond.
– Go on, please.
– In America the principal chairs in the big orchestras are the scene of unbelievable horse trading. They tear each other apart fighting over them. The Budapest competition has enabled young trumpeters from east and west to get the measure of one another. Guy Touvron’s brass quintet is celebrating its tenth anniversary...
I was racking my brains. What else is there to tell you? There are so many things going on everywhere, I could never tell you everything.
Arban raised his glass and tasted the wine like an expert. He blinked, confirming for me that he appreciated it. Suddenly a little of the precious liquid escaped from the left hand corner of his mouth and fell, staining his white shirt front so that it looked as if he had been hit by a burst of machine-gun fire. He stood up uncertainly and walked slowly to the door.
– Excuse me, I don’t feel very well. I think I should go.
– I enjoyed your visit very much, maestro. Will you come again?
– I don’t think so. It was an exceptional, indeed a unique opportunity. Things have really changed and I am afraid that my tutor and my solos will find favour again only if there is a brief reversal of fashion. Thank you for the wine. It tasted perfect. I am happy to hear that the brass world is getting along not too badly. And this Maurice André — isn’t that his name? — what an artist! If you see him, give him my respects and tell him how I admire him!
His face went white. He held out his hand, abnormally cold and hard, then turned his back resolutely and walked out into the night, staggering.
All that was left in the sitting room was a Vosne-Romanée bottle, the year effaced by the moisture. It was empty, as were the two glasses beside it.
Who can make sense of this unlikely story? I wonder!