Michel Becquet
B.S.: So what do you play as a soloist?
M.B.: I try to show what the instrument can do, with a classical piece first and then a modern piece. For example, I combine the Albrechtsberger concerto with the “Ballade” by Frank Martin. For people who don’t know the trombone, that selection enables them to discover it.
B.S.: Do you use the alto trombone for classical concertos originally written for it?
M.B.: No, I don’t like the alto. It’s an instrument which is very good for playing certain parts in sacred music, for example, in the symphony orchestra. It gives better resistance and the sound blends with the chorus voices. For solo playing the alto trombone is too stiff, it doesn’t let you trill easily and the intonation is suspect. You gain nothing in speed and you lose quality. You have to play the instrument so that people like it and appreciate it and for me, at least, the tenor is better for that.
B.S.: What instrument do you use?
M.B.: I play the new Courtois model (300 Prestige) which we developed recently with Millière. It’s a light instrument with a removable bell. This enables you to use bells of different metals, which are of very good quality because they’re hand hammered. We had to talk the makers into abandoning their machines to get professional instruments. So we’ve made progress in France thanks to the metal. French trombonists play quite bright and existing instruments don’t help this aspect of the sound. We have difficulty getting satisfactory results using other markers’ instruments, which are too dull for our taste. So we had to develop this model.
B.S.: Is this instrument intended for solo playing?
M.B.: No, not at all. People criticise me for it but the bell is interchangeable; it can be adapted for solo or orchestral playing. The problem is that musicians don’t practise their instrument regularly and so cannot have a precise idea of an instrument. Many orchestral trombone players never practise seriously until they have to play something like the “Boléro”.
B.S.: And yet the time to practise is when there isn’t much to do in the orchestra. When the “Boléro” comes along, it’s too late.
M.B.: So these players can’t say this instrument doesn’t suit them. I really think the nickel silver bell has a future in the orchestra.
Michel Becquet
B.S.: What is your experience in the orchestra?
M.B.: I was solo trombone at the Suisse Romande from 1972 to 1975. In June 1975 I went to the Paris Opéra. I have to admit that the orchestra is not my ideal way of making music. It isn’t in my temperament or my habits. I like to do things the way I want and I don’t like having to do them the way the conductor wants. For me it’s that first of all, and then teaching.
B.S.: Could you tell us a bit about the Lyon Conservatoire?
M.B.: The Lyon Conservatoire is parallel to the one in Paris and tries to be an alternative for many people who can’t get in in Paris. Two trombone teachers work side by side: I handle the concertos and chamber music and my assistant Alain Manfrin takes them for more technical things — sight-reading, orchestral excerpts and alto trombone. We each teach twelve hours a week. I prefer that students have a B♭/F trombone from the start and we study the difficult concertos in the third and fourth years. I have made a list of repertoire works and we finish by working on pieces like Tomasi, Martin and Constant with classical concertos which need education as well as advanced technique.
N.S.: Do you use a particular tutor?
M.B.: You can’t use the same tutor with everybody. You have to adapt the exercises to suit the person in front of you. Every pupil has his own problems and that’s where I try to start. I train musicians to be as complete as possible. Even without special resources they can be well trained for the job. The problem at the Conservatoire is that there are too many applicants for the entry competition. Just a few years ago there were 20 to 25 applicants. Today there are 50! It’s hard to listen to every one attentively to select them. I try to find the ones who can be good orchestral trombone, not just soloists.
B.S.: Do you also deal with the bass trombone?
M.B.: No, that’s a different instrument in my opinion, just as different as the tuba. You need a specialist to teach it properly.
B.S.: Is modern music part of your programme?
M.B.: It will come at the end of the study programme (four years). I prefer that the students go through everything else and have a good standard before starting on pieces like that. The list of works I was telling you about also includes pieces in all styles.
B.S.: Doesn’t this list consist almost entirely of pieces by French composers?
M.B.: The list is only a suggestion. Obviously pieces can be added to it.
B.S.: Do you teach abroad too?
M.B.: Yes, and I think that’s very important for me. We meet a lot of people who come looking for us, to learn French music. You have to remember that in France our speciality is solo playing. So we have to show them our way of looking at things.
B.S.: But, at the same time, are French orchestras not of this same high standard?
M.B.: That’s because of the system of recruitment. At the competition you have to look for people who will fit best into the section. The solo trombone has to impose his style of playing so as to establish homogeneity. We are too individualistic and that’s also true of the other instruments.
B.S.: Can you tell us some of your plans?
M.B.: Apart from concerts, I’m planning a record. It will contain extracts from pieces taken from public concerts. I want to show the evolution of the trombone repertoire in a real concert-hall atmosphere.
B.S.: Michel Becquet, thank you and good luck!
Discography
- Two LPs with Maurice André and the Paris Brass Octet (Erato)
- An album based on original music by Janko Nilovic with the Paris Trombone Ensemble (Crystal Records S223)
- Two albums with the Paris Trombone Quartet (Pluriel Records)
- Janko Nilovic: Concerto for trombone and string orchestra; Georges Delerue: “Madrigal” for trombone sextet; J. Michel Defay: “Fluctuation” for solo trombone, 6 trombones and 2 percussion (Symphony Land)
- Leopold Mozart: “Serenade in D” for trumpet, trombone and orchestra (Schwann-Musica Mundi 2005)