An interview with Ludwig Güttler

As part of our look at brass music in the G.D.R. we publish below extracts from an interview given by the eminent trumpeter Ludwig Güttler during the 27th G.D.R. International Music Seminar in Weimar in July 1987.

Question: What in general do you intend to pass on to your course participants and what are the main topics for discussion this year?

Ludwig Güttler: For many outstanding young players the only point in a course like this is what it can do for them. Others come because they have a problem or think they have a problem. Despite these varied expectations some generalisations are possible, especially as on previous courses I have been able to make the following observation.

Whether in practising, whether in setting themselves musical goals, whether in perceiving their performance at a competition or wherever, I always notice — with increasing regret, I must say — people basing their music on factors which are of secondary importance. In other words the challenge of performing a work is seen primarily — and in extreme cases only — from the point of view of feasibility. Questions of content, expression and style and also basic questions of musical communication from person to person, of emotion and excitement — these generally receive insufficient attention. So my task here is to act as a corrective, not by instruction but by example. With the brass players I meet here the problem is generally more acute than for example with woodwind or string players. The concentration on a certain repertoire in the orchestra gives many brass players the idea that the virtues required for performing the high Romantics constitute in themselves the whole spectrum of musical activity. It is this impoverishment and this basic error that I am trying to counter.

Question: What consequences does this have for young trumpeters, their standards and their training?

L. G.: There are plenty of musicians, thinking and working responsibly, who can be heard everywhere in the media. The unending flood of good educational material provides every opportunity for improving one’s playing. Many works not previously accessible are now available in practical editions. And young trumpeters can train in symposiums, courses and congresses in a way which provides an ideal basis for further improvement. In the narrower field of college training this means that the young players must be trained with these standards in mind. This entails widening the scope of musical training: study of the literature, physiological monitoring and training in basic functions, orchestral excerpts, solos, ensembles, chamber music, brass ensembles, natural trumpet, corno da caccia, ear-training specific to the instrument (which must be preceded by general ear-training), modern playing techniques and orchestral playing.

And the oft repeated question of how long to practise is not nearly as important as the question of what to practise and how to practise it correctly.