Bernardo Silva and Trompas Lusas
The beginning
Trompas Lusas is a Portuguese horn quartet, founded in 2010, based in the Porto area in the North of Portugal. The project was born out of a friendship of some years. We went to the same school, Artave, playing together regularly in Philharmonic bands, and later in orchestras. For years we thought about forming a horn quartet. We had great pleasure playing chamber music, and we could do that with friends. In 2010 we had our first concert, the Schumann Konzertstück for 4 horns, in Spain with the Orquestra Sinfonica da Cidade de Pontevedra. This fantastic work was a huge challenge for a group that was just starting out, but the rehearsals that followed and the result of the concert gave us the motivation it continue with the project. Five years later, in 2015 we played the Konzertstück again in a few more orchestras.
About my Colleagues
My colleagues in the Trompas Lusas are freelance musicians who collaborate on a regular basis with various Portuguese orchestras. One of these is the Orquestra Sinfonico do Porto, of which I have been a member since 2000. They are also active teachers, teaching in some of the principal schools in this region of the country. Bruno Rafael teaches at the Guimaraes Academy of Music, the University of Minho, and the Escola Profissional de Musica in Viana do Castelo; he is also a member of the Orquestra de Guimaraes. We have been colleagues for 23 years. Besides our passion for the horn, we share a passion for football (soccer), and for the same club: Sporting Clube de Portugal! Nuno Costa teaches at the Conservatory in Vale do Sousa, the Escola Profissional de Musica and Academy of Espinho, and is a member of the Orquestra de Guimaraes. He is multi-talented, as he plays both low horn and high horn equally well; he is also responsible for maintaining a balanced budget of the group’s accounts! Hugo Sousa teaches at the Vila Real Regional Conservatory, the Music Academy Sociedade Vizense, and the Vila Verde Music Academy. He is the youngest member of the Trompas Lusas. As a young person he studied with me, and is without a doubt one of the most talented students I have had the opportunity to work with. A great low horn specialist, he is a very secure musician. Aside from music, he has a passion for radical sports, especially downhill mountain biking!
Musical Inspirations
There are various excellent groups that have inspired various generations of horn players, like: the American Horn Quartet (AHQ), the Budapest Festival Horn Quartet, Leipzig Horn Quartet, Berlin Philharmonic Horn Quartet, and the Deutsche Naturhorn Solisten. But, like most horn players of my generation, my first great reference in horn quartets was the AHQ. In 1992 I was 13 years old and had started serious study of the horn, when some older colleagues let me listen to the AHQ’s first CD. I was amazed at the virtuosity and technical cohesion of the group, the sonorous equilibrium, and the fantastic repertoire. Every new CD by the AHQ was anticipated with great enthusiasm. I think that the work that the AHQ developed remains as a reference for anyone who wants to have success in a horn quartet. On one hand they introduced fantastic works that were unknown to a larger public, and on the other hand enlarged the repertoire with excellent new compositions and exciting arrangements. In this field the role of Kerry Turner is tremendous.
There are also horn players who are international references and are very important for us, like Hermann Baumann, Radovan Vlatkovic, Ab Koster, Nury Guarnaschelli, and Javier Bonet. They have a lot of experience and are fantastic pedagogues. Many times they have given us advice and helped us try to be a better group.
Project Objectives
The Trompas Lusas have two big objectives to develop:
- Regular concert activity, performing original works for horn quartet and expanding the repertoire with new compositions.
- Pedagogic activities promoting the horn and encouraging study of the instrument. Since we are teachers as well as active horn players, the pedagogical aspect was always important.
Projects
- Introduce new original repertoire
The Trompas Lusas have presented concerts regularly in Portugal and abroad. The group has played in Portugal, Spain, England, Germany, and Finland.
The original repertoire for 4 horns is very diverse in style and has been a real discovery for us and for the public in general. The themes for our concerts have been varied, normally based on original works for horn quartet. Every year we add a new program to our repertoire using a different country as the theme. We compile repertoire from composers from that country; in this way we can bring the music and sounds of these countries in a more complete way. So far we have presented programs dedicated to Portugal, Germany, and Russia. Next year we will present a program dedicated to “British Music for Horn Quartet” with original works by James W. Langley, Frank Cordell, and Andrew Downes, and some arrangements of works by William Byrd and Henry Purcell, among others. The group gives special attention to executing works with natural horns. Though we don’t consider ourselves specialists, we think it diversifies the concerts and sonority of the group. It is interesting for the public to get to know the instrument that is the ancestor to the modern horn, and have an opportunity to appreciate the rich and always vibrant sonority of the natural horn.
- Make new commissions
We also have a commitment to expand the repertoire of original compositions for this formation. For this reason the Trompas Lusas have commissioned works from various composers. We have already premiered many works by Portuguese composers as well as composers from the U.S. and Brazil. The reaction of the public to the new works has been very good. We are very satisfied with the results - they are quality works that have given us challenges and are indisputable additions to the already existing original works for horn quartet. In order to make these new compositions more accessible to other groups and students in general, we created, in collaboration with AVA Editions, the “Trompas Lusas Collection”. At this time works are available from Kerry Turner, Sergio Azevedo and Liduino Pitombeira, compositions that are recorded on our CD “The Eternal City”.
- Collaborations with other artists
A horn quartet is very versatile and can perform with other artists. There are many possibilities, from adding more hornists and making an ensemble to playing with a horn soloist, with organ, with percussion, with tuba, with a choir, with electronics, etc. The possibilities are many and surprising. I am referring to original repertoire. They are possibilities that any horn quartet should take advantage of and enjoy. It is important to diversify and always try to innovate and surprise the public, as well as to give a different sonority and dimension to the group. In Trompas Lusas we aim to do this regularly through concerts with organ, tuba, percussion, and horn ensembles. In 2012 we commissioned a work for horn soloist and horn quartet from the Portuguese composer Eurico Carrapatoso, from this arose the work “Voo aos Ventos”, which was premiered the same year at the International Music Festival in Espinho, Portugal, with Radovan Vlatkovic as the soloist. In 2014 we presented this work at the 46th IHS Symposium in London with Ab Koster as soloist.
- Recordings
The Trompas Lusas have released 2 Cds, “Trompas Lusas” in 2012 and “The Eternal City” in 2016. Both of the recordings are indicative of the work that the Trompas Lusas has produced. We strive to make a mixture of works by well known composers of horn quartets and chamber works with winds , new works that were dedicated to us, and works by lesser known composers that we think are interesting and an excellent addition to the traditional horn quartet repertoire.
The title of our new CD, “The Eternal City,” has to do with the work that opens the CD. A trip to Rome in 2013, the eternal city, served as inspiration for Kerry Turner for the composition of this small work, a kind of fanfare. The work resulted from a commission. We thought it would be a great challenge to have a work by Kerry Turner written for us. We play this regularly in our concerts as an opening piece. To conclude the CD “The Eternal City” we added as a Bonus Track an arrangement by Martin Yates of the celebrated theme by George Gershwin “I Got Rhythm”, for quartet; a relaxed way to end the CD.
- Trompas Lusas Festival and Master Classes
In addition to concerts the quartet has organized master classes and organized its own festival, the Trompas Lusas Festival, which has been held three times. In addition to the participation of young horn players from all over the country, this festival has included world-renowned horn players such as Hermann Baumann, Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Javier Bonet, Abel Pereira, Jonathan Luxton, and Søren Hermansson. This past October we combined the presentation of our new CD with one more event dedicated to the horn: the "Day of the Horn” on which we promoted various activities, from presentations to expositions of our materials. The Portuguese horn school has evolved in a fantastic way in the last few decades, and these types of activities are fundamental. We want to contribute so that young Portuguese horn players and fans of the horn in general have the opportunity to hear, learn, and get to know the best. Organizing these types of activities requires a lot of effort, but it is worth it.
- Partnerships with Duerk Horns and Romera Brass
The Trompas Lusas have developed partnerships with well-known makers of equipment. It is very important for us to have the possibility to work with master fabricators; we get to know the products the materials used, and how things are made. With the help of our practical knowledge, we can get material with more personal characteristics. For these reasons we have developed partnerships with horn maker Dietmar Dürk (Dürk Horns) and Mouthpiece and mute maker Toni Romera (Romera Brass). This type of close relationship is reassuring for Trompas Lusas, and gives us confidence to be able to concentrate completely on our performances.
Upcoming activities
In the upcoming months, we will continue to promote our new CD, doing various presentations. The next presentation is scheduled for the 2nd of December in Madrid, at the I Congresso Internacional de Trompa de Madrid [First International Horn Congress in Madrid].
J. BERNARDO SILVA
Graduated from the Escola Superior of Lisbon, studying with Jonathan Luxton, with additional studies with Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic and Javier Bonet. He participated in master classes with Hermann Baumann, Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic, Bruno Schneider, Javier Bonet, Stefan Dohr, Froydis Ree Wekre, Philip Myers, Fergus McWilliam, Hervé Joulain, Will Sanders, Jasper de Waal, Zdenek Tylsar, among others. He has been soloist of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música since 2000. He is currently horn professor at the Espinho Professional Music School and the University of Aveiro. He was awarded the First Prize in the Philip Farkas Competition organized by the International Horn Society in Lahti, Finland in 2002. He has presented himself in several countries across Europe, as a solo performer, chamber musician and orchestral player. He performed as a guest artist in the 36th and 46th Symposium of International Horn Society, in Valencia and London respectively. He has been a very active chamber music musician, is a founding member of the horn quartet Trompas Lusas.
www.jbernardosilva.com
Trompas Lusas website: http://www.trompaslusas.com/
Trompas Lusas YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xvROqjPsPYs-EajTjQcsg
Translation: Rebecca Holsinger
Bernardo Silva and Trompas Lusas
O INÍCIO
As Trompas Lusas são um quarteto de trompas português, fundado no ano de 2010, e que está radicado na zona do Porto, norte de Portugal. O projecto nasceu de uma relação de amizade de vários anos. Fizemos a nossa formação inicial na mesma escola, Artave, e fomos convivendo regularmente tocando inicialmente em Bandas Filármonicas, e mais tarde colaborando em várias orquestras. Durante anos tivemos em mente o projecto de criar um quarteto de trompas, pelo grande prazer em fazermos música de câmara e podermos fazê-lo entre amigos. Em 2010 aconteceu o nosso primeiro concerto, surgiu a oportunidade de apresentarmos o Konzerstück para 4 trompas de Robert Schumann. Foi em Espanha, com a Orquestra Sinfónica da Cidade de Pontevedra. Esta fantástica obra foi um enorme desafio para um grupo que estava a começar, mas os sucessivos ensaios e o resultado do concerto deu-nos a motivação necessária para continuar com o projecto. Passados 5 anos, em 2015 voltaríamos a interpretar o Konzertstück de Robert Schumann em mais um par de concertos.
SOBRE OS MEUS COLEGAS
Os meus colegas das Trompas Lusas são músicos freelance, colaborando de forma regular com várias orquestras portuguesas. Uma dessas orquestras é a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, orquestra da qual sou membro efectivo desde 2000. São também professores bastante activos, lecionando em algumas das principais escolas desta zona do país.
Bruno Rafael leciona na Academia de Música de Guimarães, Universidade do Minho e Escola Profissional de Música de Viana do Castelo. É membro da Orquestra de Guimarães. Somos colegas há 23 anos e para além da paixão pela trompa, partilhamos a paixão pelo futebol e pelo mesmo clube Sporting Clube de Portugal!!
Nuno Costa leciona no Conservatório do Vale do Sousa, Escola Profissional de Música e Academia de Espinho. É membro da Orquestra de Guimarães. Muito prestável e polivalente, tanto toca trompa grave como aguda, sendo também o responsável por manter as contas do grupo equilibradas!!
Hugo Sousa leciona no Conservatório Regional de Vila Real, Academia de Música Sociedade Vizelense e Academia de Música de Vila Verde. É o membro mais jovem das Trompas Lusas, em jovem chegou a ser meu aluno e sem dúvida um dos alunos mais talentosos com quem tive oportunidade de trabalhar. Grande especialista de trompa grave, é um músico muito seguro. Fora da música é um apaixonado por desportos radicais, em especial downhill mountain biking!
Meet Your Makers: Shohei Yonekura
僕の２大モチベーション
先日、金管楽器の修理からパーツ製作までを専門とする工房、HMGをオープンさせて独立すると公言したら、思わぬお誘いがあった。独立や楽器製造のテーマについて書いてみませんか？とありがたい声をかけていただき、寄稿する事になったが、さて、どうしたものだろう？と、悩んでしまい、考えた結果、なぜ楽器製作を学び、独立に至ったかという根本について書いてみようと思った。
確か２００５年か２００６年だと思うけど、僕とヨハネス（ヘルムート・フィンケ社のマイスター、僕は当時フィンケで働いていた）は夜のアウトバーンを走っていた。僕は助手席に座っていた。何かの帰り道だったと思うが、コンサートだったのかメッセだったのかよく覚えていない。交通量は少なく、田舎を走る真っ暗なアウトバーンは森を抜け畑を過ぎてまた森の中を通る。こんな所で車が壊れて止まったらさぞ心細いだろうなと思うような広大な闇の中をビームで貫いて行く。
仕事の事、職業訓練校の事、ドイツ語の事、日本の事。一通り話終えて短い沈黙の後、僕は何気無く聞いてみた。
『ところで僕はなぜ雇ってもらえたの？』
今考えてみたら、おかしな質問で、聞かれた方も答えに困ったかもしれない。しかし、白状すると僕はこの時、ある答えを期待していた。それは、『ショーヘイは才能があって試用期間中に高いポテンシャルを示したからさ』、と。
しかし実際に帰ってきた答えはこうだった。『ショーヘイはモチベーションを示したからさ。それに君は良い人間だ。』
僕は、『はあ、モチベーション。人がいいから雇われたのか。』といまいち不に落ちず、どちらかと言うとがっかりした。こんな会話をした事はその後しばらく忘れていた。
それはたった１０年程前の事だが、感覚としてはもっと遥か昔の事のように思う。
この１０年は充実していたということなんだろうか。仕事もプライベートもわくわく刺激的で、新しいことがドンドン起こってとても楽しかったし、また同時に、悩み苦しみ、つらい思いもしてきたと思う。一言で言うと一喜一憂の日々だった。有頂天になって喜んだと思えば次の日はどん底の気分だったり。そんなことをしていると疲れるけど、いつしか僕はそんな風に生きるようになっていた。リスクを恐れて守りに入るより、リスクを理解し、準備したうえで、やってみる。野球で言えば、フルカウントだったら振りにいく。見逃し三振より空振り三振のほうがずっとましだ。うまくいけばいいが、失敗したら目も当てられない。念の為、断っておくと、お預かりしたお客様の楽器ではリスクは冒しません。細心の注意を払いますのでご安心ください
Obras para trompa de Ricardo Matosinhos
Desde cedo me interessei pela composição, tendo começado a esboçar pequenas composições aos 14 anos de idade, durante a formação comum a todos os músicos. Dediquei-me, entretanto, ao estudo aprofundado da trompa e só mais tarde, assim que comecei a leccionar, é que a semente da composição que havia sido lançada durante os seus primeiros anos de formação, começou a florescer com composições pedagógicas para trompa, motivadas pelo défice de repertório que encontrei em algumas áreas.
Nas minhas composições podem encontrar-se influências do jazz e da música do mundo, com sonoridades por vezes próximas a Arkady Shilkloper, um trompista cujo trabalho admiro muito. O facto de ter tido algumas aulas com o saxofonista de jazz Mário Santos também veio a influenciar em muito o meu estilo composicional. Nas minhas obras pedagógicas está igualmente presente a minha experiência enquanto professor, onde diariamente observo as dificuldades que os alunos apresentam, procurando construir desafios para que estes as vençam ou pelo menos comecem a domesticar este instrumento feroz, que é a trompa.
A primeira área que abordei foram os estudos, elementos essenciais à formação de qualquer trompista, com os quais é possível solidificar o trabalho técnico e interpretativo. Como o próprio nome indica os estudos são para estudar, contudo, os alunos tendem a desvalorizar a sua importância em detrimento das peças. Pensei, então, numa forma de incentivar os alunos, usando diferentes tipos de sonoridades para tornar o trabalho mais apelativo, já que o estudo tem de ser diário, pelo menos que seja feito com muita diversão à mistura! Algo transversal à minha escrita pedagógica é a ideia de que não conseguimos evoluir, se tudo for demasiado fácil ou demasiado difícil. Assim é necessário encontrar um equilíbrio que propicie a evolução para que, se uma obra for difícil ou mesmo muito difícil num determinado aspecto, terá de ser fácil ou mesmo muito fácil noutros. Muitas das minhas obras mais avançadas parecem muito difíceis numa primeira abordagem, mas na prática há sempre alguns elementos que as fazem soar mais difíceis do que realmente são.
Jonathan Luxton - the Gulbenkian Orchestra and ESML
Jonathan Luxton with João Gaspar
by Jonathon Luxton
João Gaspar and his horn quartet were organizing a horn workshop. He wanted me to do an interview talking about my 30 years in the Gulbenkian Orchestra, teaching for 26 years in the Escola da Música Lisboa (ESML), and my life in Portugal. It was filmed and recorded, and an article came out in a Portuguese magazine. I'm not sure how my Portuguese was as I was suffering a little from jet lag (I’d just returned from China, on my last big Gulbenkian tour).
After the general introductions, the interview started with João asking me why I'd come to Portugal to play for Gulbenkian. I explained that I had seen an ad in the Saturday Telegraph and had auditioned in London. I was not the first choice - that accolade went to Andy Antcliffe, now in the BBC. He didn't take the job, so they rang me. After some negotiating and doing 3 weeks here and there with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, I decided it was the job I wanted. The Orchestra was at that point only a chamber orchestra. Over the next 5 or 6 years, they started to play an ever-larger repertoire. I insisted on having 4 horns. They accepted, but we never got the 5th horn, even though our repertoire needed one.
Then we spoke about teaching and the legacy I was leaving in Portugal. I was honest and said that when I first came to Portugal, the general horn playing level was not what it is now. There were some good players, but they were few and far between. I'm a firm believer that beginners need the best teacher. It's quite easy to motivate students at University level, and if they arrive with their technique sorted out it makes teaching them easy. In my first few years, I taught at various Professional Schools (6th-12th grade) before starting at the ESML. Quite a lot of my ex-pupils were at this workshop. Paulo Guerreiro, (principal in OSP; also playing the Sao Carlos Opera), said that Bohdan Sebastik and myself were responsible for players such as Abel Pereira, Jose Bernardo Silva, Filipe Abreu and Paulo (and of course others). These wonderful players go on to teach, thus raising the level. The younger students take inspiration from their peers, and so the cycle goes on. I congratulated Paulo on taking over my position at the ESML and continuing to produce wonderful players like Ana Beatriz Menezes.
Pedagogy Column: Rodolfo Epelde
La analogía como método pedagógico en la enseñanza de la trompa
En mis casi treinta años como trompista profesional, y más de veinte como profesor, a menudo he necesitado crearme modelos acerca de diversos aspectos relacionados con la interpretación, tanto para mis propias necesidades como para ayudar a mis alumnos.
Dado que la forma en que se produce el sonido en los instrumentos de metal no es tan evidente a simple vista como en los instrumentos de cuerda, teclado, o incluso de viento madera, me ha sido muy útil crear analogías entre éstos y la trompa en diversos aspectos (producción del sonido, ampliación de la tesitura, articulación, etc.) para entender y explicar su funcionamiento. Creo que el haber realizado estudios de ingeniería me ha llevado a tratar de encontrar soluciones racionales a diferentes problemas, aunque tengo que decir que mis métodos han sido siempre empíricos y nunca científicos, es decir, que mis observaciones no han sido realizadas con aparatos de laboratorio, sino que proceden de mis propias sensaciones y las de mis alumnos.
Producción del sonido:
Cualquier alumno conoce (o se le puede mostrar fácilmente) el funcionamiento básico de un piano y un violoncello: en el primero los martillos, accionados por las teclas, golpean unas cuerdas mantenidas a la tensión necesaria por un bastidor metálico y unas clavijas que las sujetan contra el puente, y en el segundo prácticamente todo es similar pero, en lugar de martillos, tenemos las cerdas de un arco que, al rozar con las cuerdas mantenidas a la tensión justa, nos dan una vibración de la frecuencia buscada. Todo ello amplificado, en ambos casos, por una caja de resonancia.
Interview of the month: Abel Pereira
Kristina Mascher-Turner: When I think of Portugal, I think immediately of the sea, the long maritime tradition, the beautiful coastline, fresh seafood, the salty air…Your family roots are steeped in this tradition. Can you tell us what it was like spending so much of your childhood on the ocean?
Abel Pereira: Yes, that is true. My childhood playground was the beach. Not a day went by that I didn’t spend time there. In the summer we would go surfing all day long, even at night, and on winter evenings we would make fire pits in the sand waiting for our moms to come get us, sometimes waving wooden spoons if it was too late! I used to play with my friends jumping from boat to boat, imagining we were in pirate battles. Sometimes I would even skip school to go out on the water with my friends in small sailing boats that had been abandoned by the coast. We had no idea how dangerous that was, but for us, those were the biggest adventures!!! Usually on weekends if the weather were good I would go out on the water with my dad, helping the fishermen on the sea front. That was one of my favorite activities.
KMT: What was your first encounter with the horn? Was there a distinct moment when you knew you wanted to spend your life playing?
AP: Well, when I was about 11(?) our neighbors experienced a tragic incident and my dad, concerned for my safety, no longer wanted me to spend weekends on the boat with him. Instead I started playing the horn with my town’s marching band. I fell in love with the horn right from the beginning, especially after listening to Hermann Baumann’s sound, but at first I thought it would be something I did just for fun. At that time I couldn't imagine myself doing anything that wasn’t connected to the ocean. At the age of 14 though, after discovering the beauty of Brahms, Strauss and Mahler, my heart felt very divided between the sea life and the music world. I thought I had two options, either work on the boat during the week and play my horn on weekends or play my horn professionally and have some fun on weekends with the boat. Obviously I chose the second option.
KMT: You’ve studied both in Portugal and in Germany. Is there a significant difference in the horn playing traditions between the two countries?
AP: Yes, there is a big difference between these two countries. Germany has a 300-year-old tradition of horn playing during which they have created their own style. It’s a country full of great orchestras and amazing players. Through the years some of the orchestra’s horn sections may have developed more individually but the core of the style remains very strong. In Portugal the situation is very different. There is no strong tradition yet but rather a mix of styles. There are few orchestras in the country and most are not more than forty years old. When these orchestras were created there were not enough professional musicians to fill the spots so they had to import some musicians. Now there are some very good musicians and teachers but many of them come from different places like the US, France, Czech Republic and England, and with them they bring their own playing traditions!
