Very interesting interview to Adolph "Bud" Herseth, legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra trumpeter, on the occasion of his retirement. Aired: 14/04/2013 Edited: PBS
What this suggests to this music lover is that there has been the passing of an age during which such artistry reached a zenith of popularity, similar to the age of the big bands of the mid-20th century, the giants of Rock and Country, etc. But this is not to say that a talent equal to Herseth is not out there-it simply will not have the same opportunity to flourish. Times change.
I guess I would say this being from the UK but the London symphony with Maurice Murphy for me takes some beating. John Williams used that orchestra for Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc. That said, Herseth one of the greatest trumpeters who has ever lived.
Sairam Prof. Giuseppe Savazzi head of the WORLDWIDE CIA SAIRAM secret services in India member of Rotary Club of New York District 7230 blessing to all of you from India 🇮🇳 Music Director and Founder of the Sathya Sai Universal Symphony Orchestra in Putthaparty Founder and music Director of the Rotary Youth International Orchestra with Lufthansa Sponsor since 1990. in šāʾ Allāh إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ Sairam 🙏🇮🇳❤️🙏
To hold down the principal trumpet position of ANY professional symphony orchestra for 50 years is absolutely staggering. To do so with one of the finest orchestras in the world is off the scale. If you hadn't heard him tell the story himself you'd find it hard to believe anyone could audition for a principal trumpet position and not actually be aware of it.
Most audience members do not realize how perilous it is to be principal in an orchestra like the CSO. Bud is legendary for heroic efforts in pursuit of perfection.
Well said. I was watching a TH-cam of a major European orchestra performing The Planets with my grandchildren, and as the first chairs performed solos, I told the young people to watch how the person sitting in the second chair might me younger, might be older, but they were usually reading the score during the solo and were usually itching to perform that solo. For Bud to maintain that position that long at Chicago? Wow.
It is for every Trumpet player. Ive been Principal in several Orchestras as an amateur and its perilous in every level. it was for me on my level like it is for an Pro on his level
After grad school, I was playing euphonium in John Paynter's North Shore band in Wilmette when one of the trombone players asked if I would be interested in playing in a brass ensemble on Easter Sunday at a church in the western suburbs. I said I'd be happy to, and he said that it should be "ok," even though it was not a regular ensemble. When I arrived, imagine my surprise when Bud Herseth, the perennial principal trumpet in the CSO, sat down in the group! For this economics major from Michigan, it was your basic once in a lifetime event. I don't think I have ever sat up that straight in the almost 50 years since! Oh, and the gig was indeed "ok"...
I met this man at Luther College in the summer of 2005, his warmth and his ability as a trumpeter gave me the desire to follow in his footsteps. I went to his alma mater, Luther College as a trumpet music performance major and although I changed my major and my professional path I will always be thankful for him, his music, and the impact he had on my life. Rest in piece
He defined the sound of the brass section, no question. Listen to the album "The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli", with Chicago, Philly and Cleveland musicians and you hear Herseth's absolute brilliance
Yes, I didn't mean to discount the incredible work of Jacobs on tuba or any of the other fine musicians there. The Chicago brass sound really was something special
you know that score card the producer put on the back of the gabrieli album so the listener could identify who is playing on which cuts? you don't need it.
@@triangularplanet2424 right. but in a cso interview about jacobs, gene pokorny told the story of jake being asked when the orchestra acquired its nonpareil sound and answering, "the day bud herseth came to work."
That fabulous soaring vib, always perfectly judged on a line, is a sound you just don't forget as a brass player. I'm sure every brass player reading this and knowing Bud's artistry can hear it as they read this.
There are a lot of stories about Bud and his “band.” Bud is one of handful of players that is always in any knowledgeable trumpet players list of best players. His sound has and will influence players for as long as we continue to blow on the brass tube.
Bud Herseth was such a wonderful trumpet player and gentleman! I would say Bud has influenced more orchestral trumpet players than any other musician in the world! His sound shaped the CSO brass section. Bud had such an ability to soar out over the orchestra, unlike any other. He was also such a wonderful human being and kind man. He is certainly missed but that great trumpet sound will live on.
I heard a story about Fritz Reiner making Herseth repeat a passage (opening solo in Mahler 5?) several times and addressing him as "Mr. Trumpet." Finally Herseth had enough and repeated the passage several times, taking it up to a higher key each time. When he stopped, he said, "My name is Adolph Herseth, and I can do this all day." Is this a myth, and if it is true, can someone fill in the details?
There was a true story something like that the Herseth himself would tell. He said Reiner liked to test the musicians. I forget the orchestral piece, but the trumpet goes "dit dit dah DAHHHHH" very quickly where the first three notes are C and the last is a jump up to high C and held. Reiner came up with excuses to have Herseth repeat the passage over and over and Herseth never missed. Herseth said everybody knew what Reiner was doing. And that after six or seven times he says Reiner said, "Can we do that again?" And Herseth says, "I looked at my watch and said I'm here until 12:30." Herseth said Reiner then left him alone.
@@smctrout4423 No. Not that. The orchestra plays for quite a while and then the flutes have a sort of fluttering line that gets softer and softer and softer and suddenly the trumpet comes in big and bold with those four notes.
Can somebody give me any information on the guy doing the interview? Herseth refers to him as a fellow trumpet player. All of his questions revealed a knowledge of the trumpet and music in general that most people wouldn't expect from a general assignment reporter.
His name is Phil Ponce, it shows it at the beginning of the clip. I can't find any information about whether he had any career as a trumpeter, but he is/was a journalist.
Yes Phil Ponce; he did this kind of journalism on WTTW Chicago for a long time. The great thing about Solti and his time with the CSO was the fame his recordings, tours, and relationship with the media brought to the group. This really endeared the orchestra to an otherwise embittered local news media. I doubt Ricardo Muti, or anyone, can have the same relationship anymore. The landscape is more indifferent.
This interview is so “cringe”, as they say, but at least it shows the humanity of the man, if not highlighting his greatest career accomplishments. It’s impossible to measure the impact that he had on the entire brass (not just the trumpet) community with his sound and musicianship. One of the most remarkable things to me was his relative lack (by today’s social media standards) of ego. Of course, he was a massive star in the brass world at the time, but he spent the entire interview talking about the people around him that shaped his personal and musical life, instead of himself. How times have changed 180 degrees from the people that we now make “famous”.
I love Herseth's playing, but can somebody explain to me this mythologizing of him? He was a great player but he wasn't THAT much better than other people around in his era like Bernard Adelstein and Gilbert Johnson and many modern players certainly had as big (or bigger) a sound as him and could sing on the instrument as well as him--Schlueter, Kaderabek, Mike Sachs, Ryan Anthony, Tom Stevens, Manny Laureno, Tom Rolfs, Vosburgh, Andy Balio, Phil Collins, etc. But it is always he who is singled out as the greatest. I guess I don't hear much of a qualitative difference between him and others mentioned.
Two things I think.1: His longevity, he really did play at a very high level for a very long time. 2: He was a big character and took no shit from any conductor. People love that kind of thing, and those stories get exaggerated in the telling.
It was his Influence, sound, and approach to playing which was very different from those that came before him. Bud learned a great deal from George Mager in Boston and took that approach and ran with it. If you listen to most orchestral recordings prior to Bud the approach is night and day. Very different concept of sound. Bud also helped with the inclusion of the C Trumpet as a popular instrument in American orchestral playing, which now every orchestra in the country uses almost exclusively. Without Bud we very well may not have ever heard of many of the names you mentioned as well as many other trumpet players outside of the orchestral world. He was very much so copied but can never be duplicated. Many people picked up the trumpet and/or started getting Into classical music because of this man. May he rest in peace.
It's an interesting and fair question. There are lots of cases in the arts where one person seems to stand out in their generation in terms of fame and influence, even as many of their colleagues and contemporaries were just as able and gifted. I think in Herseth's case, it's two things: his longevity as a great player, and a certain "super-human" quality to his playing, especially in his prime. The latter quality really did define the CSO brass section (and by extension, the orchestra) in a way that Johnson, Adelstein, and others did not and do not for their orchestras. Gilbert Johnson's way with a lyrical solo was unforgettable, but it would be hard to say that Johnson's playing DEFINED the sound of the Philly Orchestra in the way that Herseth's clarion and powerful style seemed to signify the very personality of the CSO for so long. These were all magnificent players, and playing a game of "Who was the greatest" is ultimately a matter of personal taste. For me, it was Herseth's centrality to the CSO style that made him stand out.
Oh my goodness, its beyond flattering to be included on such a list, Mr Triangular Planet. However, I could add a few thoughts here. Herseth was indeed a trailblazer who blended the best characteristics from both of his idols, the lyrical finesse of George Mager and the powerhouse balls of Harry Glantz. He told me in lessons that whenever he was struggling with something during his "green" years of CSO tenure, he whipped out an NBC Symphony record with Toscanini so he could get the sound of Harry Glantz back in his ear. As he said, during WWII, he played big band for the US Navy, which required a relatively new level of athleticism of the lead trumpet, previously unknown in music making. Because Bud brought all those elements together in to one player so effectively, he became an incredible model for everyone else that you named that allowed us to emulate and build upon that example. The other thing that made Bud develop was the other players around him like Jacobs, Farkas, Geyer, Friedman, and Crissafulli, who's ringing and singing approach reinforced one another. Great players around us on stage bring us up. The other players in that generation you mentioned didn't really have the same team support around them, IMHO. So, he, like Maurice Andre, was the first to play at such a previously unimagined level, allowing everyone else a head start on their own progress.
He does seem so much of a gentleman here but I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was. I had heard that the real reason that he quit teaching was because he didn't want to "pick up poor habits from his students".
Going by what many of fellow musicians and conductors who knew him have said over the years. There is no other musician more dedicated to his instrument, the music, and the orchestra than Mr. Herself was. He could be outspoken, strong willed, and didn't suffer fools. He was dedicated to excellence and expected those around him to play their very best at all times, which rubbed a few of his fellow musicians the wrong way, those that had a more casual attitude toward preparation for of a piece and practice. It is said he never turned down a fellow musician who came to him for help. Many times a trumpeter from another orchestra would fly in for a day or two to go to Mr. Herseth's Oak Park home for some coaching, he said he never charged a dime, it was the duty of older musicians to pass on to the next generation. Arrogant? Perhaps. While he did appreciate the adoration by his fans, he was never about himself, he lived and breathed for the orchestra and music. He was a huge influence on the sound of not only the high brass section, but also on the whole CSO orchestra. He is not the only one of course, there were and are many names within the orchestra that have led and pushed their colleagues to excel. Bud Herseth once said that tradition in the CSO goes back to the days of Frederick Stock.
@@frankkolton1780 "I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was" I'm reminded of the prima donna singer. If you're going to be in the spotlight, you're going to have to want it. I think it comes with the territory.
Many of the Greatest Musicians do not like teaching poor students, and will not do so even though they might be able to make a lot of money doing so. "Arrogant and Condescending" could just as easily be "Dignified and Direct".
Sadly, people jump to conclusions and open their mouths when they have no idea of the facts. Phil Ponce, the interviewer, knows very well who Fritz Reiner was and I would bet a money he knows quite a bit about Bach Strads. Mr. Ponce is extremely intelligent, he has a law degree from the University of Michigan and a journalist degree from Loyola, many awards, and a wide array of personal interests, playing trumpet is one of them. He asks questions not to show off his intelligence, but ones he believes the audience would be interested to know.
Loaded Bass Charlie Geyer Master class given at Kentucky. You can find it on TH-cam. Geyer shared the unvarnished truth about how the orchestra worked and how brutal it was to players. Sadly, Geyer did not have good things to share about Mr Herseth. The video is long and in 3 parts. Go to part 3 where Charlie shares what he experienced and saw.
George V in conversation had nothing but the highest respects for Bud. Vince retired because his playing was deteriorating. I'm not saying Charlie is lying but he's the only person I know from that era of the orchestra who has stories like that. Even Will Scarlett has given praise.
Some One at this point it really doesn't matter because it's hear say. I've talked to a few people who was very close to bud and didn't experience that. Now he very well could have been hot headed in the 40s when he got the job but the bud of our generation is a true hero no matter what people say. They respect the fact that he's the best orchestral trumpet player ever. It's a little disappointing that Charlie would even taint bud like that. Did he tell the students when he forgot his shoes at a concert etc. One person experience shouldn't taint his whole legacy.
Bud will be remembered in 100 years as the leader of perhaps the finest brass section in the history of the symphony orchestra.
Yup. No doubt. It will never happen again.
I've heard them and many other orchestras of great repute. No doubt. EPIC.
It'll never happen again.
What this suggests to this music lover is that there has been the passing of an age during which such artistry reached a zenith of popularity, similar to the age of the big bands of the mid-20th century, the giants of Rock and Country, etc. But this is not to say that a talent equal to Herseth is not out there-it simply will not have the same opportunity to flourish. Times change.
No probably about it. Just plainly the best.
I guess I would say this being from the UK but the London symphony with Maurice Murphy for me takes some beating. John Williams used that orchestra for Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc.
That said, Herseth one of the greatest trumpeters who has ever lived.
Sairam
Prof. Giuseppe Savazzi head of the WORLDWIDE CIA SAIRAM secret services in India member of Rotary Club of New York District 7230 blessing to all of you from India 🇮🇳
Music Director and Founder of the Sathya Sai Universal Symphony Orchestra in Putthaparty
Founder and music Director of the Rotary Youth International Orchestra with Lufthansa Sponsor since 1990. in šāʾ Allāh إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ Sairam 🙏🇮🇳❤️🙏
To hold down the principal trumpet position of ANY professional symphony orchestra for 50 years is absolutely staggering. To do so with one of the finest orchestras in the world is off the scale. If you hadn't heard him tell the story himself you'd find it hard to believe anyone could audition for a principal trumpet position and not actually be aware of it.
Most audience members do not realize how perilous it is to be principal in an orchestra like the CSO. Bud is legendary for heroic efforts in pursuit of perfection.
Well said. I was watching a TH-cam of a major European orchestra performing The Planets with my grandchildren, and as the first chairs performed solos, I told the young people to watch how the person sitting in the second chair might me younger, might be older, but they were usually reading the score during the solo and were usually itching to perform that solo.
For Bud to maintain that position that long at Chicago? Wow.
It is for every Trumpet player. Ive been Principal in several Orchestras as an amateur and its perilous in every level. it was for me on my level like it is for an Pro on his level
After grad school, I was playing euphonium in John Paynter's North Shore band in Wilmette when one of the trombone players asked if I would be interested in playing in a brass ensemble on Easter Sunday at a church in the western suburbs. I said I'd be happy to, and he said that it should be "ok," even though it was not a regular ensemble. When I arrived, imagine my surprise when Bud Herseth, the perennial principal trumpet in the CSO, sat down in the group! For this economics major from Michigan, it was your basic once in a lifetime event. I don't think I have ever sat up that straight in the almost 50 years since! Oh, and the gig was indeed "ok"...
I met this man at Luther College in the summer of 2005, his warmth and his ability as a trumpeter gave me the desire to follow in his footsteps. I went to his alma mater, Luther College as a trumpet music performance major and although I changed my major and my professional path I will always be thankful for him, his music, and the impact he had on my life. Rest in piece
What an amazing man. Truly a great in every sense of the word.
He defined the sound of the brass section, no question. Listen to the album "The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli", with Chicago, Philly and Cleveland musicians and you hear Herseth's absolute brilliance
Actually, by all accounts of people who were in the orchestra, Jacobs and Herseth together defined the sound of the brass section.
Yes, I didn't mean to discount the incredible work of Jacobs on tuba or any of the other fine musicians there. The Chicago brass sound really was something special
you know that score card the producer put on the back of the gabrieli album so the listener could identify who is playing on which cuts? you don't need it.
@@triangularplanet2424 right. but in a cso interview about jacobs, gene pokorny told the story of jake being asked when the orchestra acquired its nonpareil sound and answering, "the day bud herseth came to work."
That album, in my view, made brass history. I nearly wore my copy out. What greatness.
He is so loved what an honor and amazingly fulfilling Buds life was
Bud was a very nice guy. I met him several times at Schilke's on Wabash in Chicago.
That fabulous soaring vib, always perfectly judged on a line, is a sound you just don't forget as a brass player. I'm sure every brass player reading this and knowing Bud's artistry can hear it as they read this.
There are a lot of stories about Bud and his “band.” Bud is one of handful of players that is always in any knowledgeable trumpet players list of best players. His sound has and will influence players for as long as we continue to blow on the brass tube.
Bud Herseth was such a wonderful trumpet player and gentleman! I would say Bud has influenced more orchestral trumpet players than any other musician in the world! His sound shaped the CSO brass section. Bud had such an ability to soar out over the orchestra, unlike any other. He was also such a wonderful human being and kind man. He is certainly missed but that great trumpet sound will live on.
He was also a tyrant and played childish games with his section.
@@triangularplanet2424 if a man is this good at orchestral trumpet, hes allowed to
@@nottommy1002 Nope, that's not how it works. Bud was a great player, no question, but also a bastard who treated lots of folks like garbage.
The Greatest! Thank you Mr, Herseth. 👍🏾🎺❤️
The greatest principal trumpeter ever. No debate.
No debate? What qualities of his playing place his performance beyond debate?
Maurice Murphy of the LSO is up there definitely
Thx Bud. I will always cherish and miss our intermission pipe/cigarettes breaks in front of orchestra hall during rehearsals.
Bud. Always untouchable
Legend! !Best sound ever!!
I love how when Bud is playing with Doc he is using a C trumpet, but it doesn't sound like it at all. Just a big, fat sound like a B flat.
Tells you how the Bach Strad has the iconic orchestral sound... whether Bb or C.
Unique artist and unique MAN
Very cool!
Legend
The best there ever was
Great musician...great man! RSP
Correction: RIP
7:04 - 7:15 - Classic!
"Never practice; Always perform." Adolf "Bud" Herseth
Wrong sorry… it was Maurice Andre whom said that.
@@bd1845 Thank you. It’s a good one.
@@bd1845 Adolph Herseth said it many, many times.
nice
6:14 WHY is the interviewer so surprised and confused that Herseth was influenced by singers?
I've always wondered who this Mahler trumpeter is.
He's a respectable trumpet player.
@@billbryant1288 if you trying to say that herseth is the goat... he is not
@@billbryant1288 idk know man that haydn concerto was pretty bad
@@swaglord5909 lmao i was thinking it didnt sound so great, but thats probably the recording quality
Yeah, you must be one badass to critique this man. Of course I am not falling for it.
GFY!
The CSO was his first and only job.
I heard a story about Fritz Reiner making Herseth repeat a passage (opening solo in Mahler 5?) several times and addressing him as "Mr. Trumpet." Finally Herseth had enough and repeated the passage several times, taking it up to a higher key each time. When he stopped, he said, "My name is Adolph Herseth, and I can do this all day." Is this a myth, and if it is true, can someone fill in the details?
There was a true story something like that the Herseth himself would tell. He said Reiner liked to test the musicians. I forget the orchestral piece, but the trumpet goes "dit dit dah DAHHHHH" very quickly where the first three notes are C and the last is a jump up to high C and held. Reiner came up with excuses to have Herseth repeat the passage over and over and Herseth never missed. Herseth said everybody knew what Reiner was doing. And that after six or seven times he says Reiner said, "Can we do that again?" And Herseth says, "I looked at my watch and said I'm here until 12:30." Herseth said Reiner then left him alone.
@@trainliker100 could be a trumpet excerpt from "Also Sprach Zarathustra."
@@smctrout4423 No. Not that. The orchestra plays for quite a while and then the flutes have a sort of fluttering line that gets softer and softer and softer and suddenly the trumpet comes in big and bold with those four notes.
@@trainliker100 it is for sure ' zarathustra'. The high C octave appears in the middle of the piece after around 20 min.
@@hectorberlioz1449 You are correct. I was wrong when I said, "No. Not that." You are correct. Thanks for confirming it.
Can somebody give me any information on the guy doing the interview? Herseth refers to him as a fellow trumpet player. All of his questions revealed a knowledge of the trumpet and music in general that most people wouldn't expect from a general assignment reporter.
i think he is Ryan Anthony
His name is Phil Ponce, it shows it at the beginning of the clip. I can't find any information about whether he had any career as a trumpeter, but he is/was a journalist.
Donovan Klutho he played trumpet on the side more as an interest
Yes Phil Ponce; he did this kind of journalism on WTTW Chicago for a long time. The great thing about Solti and his time with the CSO was the fame his recordings, tours, and relationship with the media brought to the group. This really endeared the orchestra to an otherwise embittered local news media. I doubt Ricardo Muti, or anyone, can have the same relationship anymore. The landscape is more indifferent.
Radg oklease
This interview is so “cringe”, as they say, but at least it shows the humanity of the man, if not highlighting his greatest career accomplishments. It’s impossible to measure the impact that he had on the entire brass (not just the trumpet) community with his sound and musicianship. One of the most remarkable things to me was his relative lack (by today’s social media standards) of ego. Of course, he was a massive star in the brass world at the time, but he spent the entire interview talking about the people around him that shaped his personal and musical life, instead of himself. How times have changed 180 degrees from the people that we now make “famous”.
Ranbdy
I love Herseth's playing, but can somebody explain to me this mythologizing of him? He was a great player but he wasn't THAT much better than other people around in his era like Bernard Adelstein and Gilbert Johnson and many modern players certainly had as big (or bigger) a sound as him and could sing on the instrument as well as him--Schlueter, Kaderabek, Mike Sachs, Ryan Anthony, Tom Stevens, Manny Laureno, Tom Rolfs, Vosburgh, Andy Balio, Phil Collins, etc. But it is always he who is singled out as the greatest. I guess I don't hear much of a qualitative difference between him and others mentioned.
Two things I think.1: His longevity, he really did play at a very high level for a very long time. 2: He was a big character and took no shit from any conductor. People love that kind of thing, and those stories get exaggerated in the telling.
It was his Influence, sound, and approach to playing which was very different from those that came before him. Bud learned a great deal from George Mager in Boston and took that approach and ran with it. If you listen to most orchestral recordings prior to Bud the approach is night and day. Very different concept of sound. Bud also helped with the inclusion of the C Trumpet as a popular instrument in American orchestral playing, which now every orchestra in the country uses almost exclusively. Without Bud we very well may not have ever heard of many of the names you mentioned as well as many other trumpet players outside of the orchestral world. He was very much so copied but can never be duplicated. Many people picked up the trumpet and/or started getting Into classical music because of this man. May he rest in peace.
It's an interesting and fair question. There are lots of cases in the arts where one person seems to stand out in their generation in terms of fame and influence, even as many of their colleagues and contemporaries were just as able and gifted. I think in Herseth's case, it's two things: his longevity as a great player, and a certain "super-human" quality to his playing, especially in his prime. The latter quality really did define the CSO brass section (and by extension, the orchestra) in a way that Johnson, Adelstein, and others did not and do not for their orchestras. Gilbert Johnson's way with a lyrical solo was unforgettable, but it would be hard to say that Johnson's playing DEFINED the sound of the Philly Orchestra in the way that Herseth's clarion and powerful style seemed to signify the very personality of the CSO for so long. These were all magnificent players, and playing a game of "Who was the greatest" is ultimately a matter of personal taste. For me, it was Herseth's centrality to the CSO style that made him stand out.
Oh my goodness, its beyond flattering to be included on such a list, Mr Triangular Planet. However, I could add a few thoughts here. Herseth was indeed a trailblazer who blended the best characteristics from both of his idols, the lyrical finesse of George Mager and the powerhouse balls of Harry Glantz. He told me in lessons that whenever he was struggling with something during his "green" years of CSO tenure, he whipped out an NBC Symphony record with Toscanini so he could get the sound of Harry Glantz back in his ear. As he said, during WWII, he played big band for the US Navy, which required a relatively new level of athleticism of the lead trumpet, previously unknown in music making. Because Bud brought all those elements together in to one player so effectively, he became an incredible model for everyone else that you named that allowed us to emulate and build upon that example. The other thing that made Bud develop was the other players around him like Jacobs, Farkas, Geyer, Friedman, and Crissafulli, who's ringing and singing approach reinforced one another. Great players around us on stage bring us up. The other players in that generation you mentioned didn't really have the same team support around them, IMHO. So, he, like Maurice Andre, was the first to play at such a previously unimagined level, allowing everyone else a head start on their own progress.
You have no idea what you're saying
He does seem so much of a gentleman here but I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was. I had heard that the real reason that he quit teaching was because he didn't want to "pick up poor habits from his students".
Going by what many of fellow musicians and conductors who knew him have said over the years. There is no other musician more dedicated to his instrument, the music, and the orchestra than Mr. Herself was. He could be outspoken, strong willed, and didn't suffer fools. He was dedicated to excellence and expected those around him to play their very best at all times, which rubbed a few of his fellow musicians the wrong way, those that had a more casual attitude toward preparation for of a piece and practice.
It is said he never turned down a fellow musician who came to him for help. Many times a trumpeter from another orchestra would fly in for a day or two to go to Mr. Herseth's Oak Park home for some coaching, he said he never charged a dime, it was the duty of older musicians to pass on to the next generation.
Arrogant? Perhaps. While he did appreciate the adoration by his fans, he was never about himself, he lived and breathed for the orchestra and music. He was a huge influence on the sound of not only the high brass section, but also on the whole CSO orchestra. He is not the only one of course, there were and are many names within the orchestra that have led and pushed their colleagues to excel. Bud Herseth once said that tradition in the CSO goes back to the days of Frederick Stock.
@@frankkolton1780
"I had heard stories over the years of how arrogant and condescending he was"
I'm reminded of the prima donna singer. If you're going to be in the spotlight, you're going to have to want it. I think it comes with the territory.
Many of the Greatest Musicians do not like teaching poor students, and will not do so even though they might be able to make a lot of money doing so. "Arrogant and Condescending" could just as easily be "Dignified and Direct".
Sadly, the interviewer has no idea, when he do not know Fritz Reiner and the Bach strads.
Sadly, people jump to conclusions and open their mouths when they have no idea of the facts. Phil Ponce, the interviewer, knows very well who Fritz Reiner was and I would bet a money he knows quite a bit about Bach Strads. Mr. Ponce is extremely intelligent, he has a law degree from the University of Michigan and a journalist degree from Loyola, many awards, and a wide array of personal interests, playing trumpet is one of them. He asks questions not to show off his intelligence, but ones he believes the audience would be interested to know.
@@frankkolton1780 my godness, such a hatred.
It was quite clear that he knew his stuff, but was trying to lay things out for an audience that might no know.
@@SamIAm-kz4hg laughing
Are you a moron? You, duwir.
Great great player.. not a nice man
On what accounts? Everyone I know and the CSO guys think opposite especially John and Chris. So where are you basing this on?
Loaded Bass Charlie Geyer Master class given at Kentucky. You can find it on TH-cam. Geyer shared the unvarnished truth about how the orchestra worked and how brutal it was to players. Sadly, Geyer did not have good things to share about Mr Herseth. The video is long and in 3 parts. Go to part 3 where Charlie shares what he experienced and saw.
George V in conversation had nothing but the highest respects for Bud. Vince retired because his playing was deteriorating. I'm not saying Charlie is lying but he's the only person I know from that era of the orchestra who has stories like that. Even Will Scarlett has given praise.
He said Kaderabek didn't go to Vince's memorial because he knew Bud would be there and he hated Bud. That says a lot, if true.
Some One at this point it really doesn't matter because it's hear say. I've talked to a few people who was very close to bud and didn't experience that. Now he very well could have been hot headed in the 40s when he got the job but the bud of our generation is a true hero no matter what people say. They respect the fact that he's the best orchestral trumpet player ever. It's a little disappointing that Charlie would even taint bud like that. Did he tell the students when he forgot his shoes at a concert etc. One person experience shouldn't taint his whole legacy.