CITATIONS - Quotes

Gathered by 

LEONTSKY

"Instrumental music is an evanescent art,
a castle of sand. It requires ceaseless construction,
development, maintenance, repair."

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"I think that music will drive Men to get closer to eachother."

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" One day, my father who was an amateur trumpet player, gave me an old cornet and then all began ;
I followed him to dancing balls, in the places where he was playing. He taught me music a different way by playing a rumba,
a paso double, some litter easy music. I quickly progressed."

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"My own success is the result of 60% of work and 40% gift. 
Even if you work harder than anyone and correctly, it will be useless unless you 're not gifted."

Coll. Jean Pirot

"We often complicate things. I told myself that a mouthpiece was only a little piece of iron.
The thinner the rim is, the more it will cut the lips. On the contrary, the larger it is, the more resting it will be."

"My greatest musical pleasure has been when i was
playing Bach with Karl Richter (...)" MA

Maurice André & Karl Richter 

It is my opinion that, as all trumpet players are united together all around the world,
they will bring the trumpet to the same level as the violin or the piano."

 Two giants : Maurice André & Adolf Scherbaum 

“I am being followed by many, but I had a single predecessor, Adolf Scherbaum, to whom I owe it all. 

It was his playing that set the standard and shaped my style."

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"I've been asked all around the world, by the greatest conductors...It's a dream."

"When you play an Andante, people have to cry..."

As counterpoint of this last thought, I would place this one, from Jascha Heifetz : "You cannot turn blood out of a turnip"

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"My harshest critic is myself."

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"The key of all is daily practice. This is the basis."

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"Many young trumpeters have a long way to go...They do not have this warmness I put in when I was playing a phrase".

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A great physical resistance is necessary when playing the trumpet. As  Maurice said to me : 

"I built myself when working in the mine, 14 years old, when I was moving 17 tons of coal per day." 

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Jacques Chancel : - Maurice ANDRE, do you like contemporary music ?

Maurice ANDRE : - Not at all ! It is a noise that reminds me too much about the Mine.

Wood carved - by Maurice Andre
(phot. Stephen Chenette)

End of 2008 - Maurice in his beloved wood worshop

 "Wood carving is like a respiration to me (...) Sculpture is my refuge."

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"In my life I met many celebrities, great artists, political men...

I remember none as I remember some of my friends from the mine."

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"I’m simply an interpreter, the genius, he is elsewhere."

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It's not the applause that counts most in a concert, it's what happens while you're playing.

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" With the trumpet, everything lays inside, the processus is entirely an inner one. "

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"The violin and the piano are kids compared to the trumpet. The trumpet is born 6000 y. before Christ and
i therefore would like people to have more respect for this instrument."

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"Life is going so fast, it is necessary to enjoy pleasures and joys" (about musicians who say
they have no free time).

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"When i don't play concerts i work about 6 hours per day. When i play concert, 1/2 hour."

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"Musicians are very kind but they are children, big children."

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"Usually people teach the trumpet with exercises & high range playing...I do it in a different way, i want
colours, i want the trumpet beeing an expressive instrument as the violin is. You can do a lot of things
with a trumpet,get different colours : from smoothness to agressivity...and also tenderness."

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"I had a very complex life but an happy one."

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To a gifted pupil : "God  - i  do believe in God - gave you everything that a human being can ask for : a gift...
so, show a lot of respect for this gift."

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About the lips vibration :

(Collected by JP Mathez).

Coll.Jean Pirot

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RADIO RECORDINGS

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Maurice André, the blow of emotion

Essay

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Maurice André's popularity is not only due to his interpretive genius, it is also due to his deep generosity.
This son of a mining worker never forgot his origins. He left school at 14 and climbed until the first place of his art, to be the very first 
trumpet player in the world. He is therefore not only an example for young trumpet players, he's an example for the Youth. 
As he told : " I tried to help people I liked."

Beyond the music's lesson, Maurice André gives us a life's lesson.

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To Maurice ANDRE...
by french artist James CARRETA

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Carnegie Hall - 10th of December 1977, baroque concert 

with organist Alfred Mitterhofer : BOHM, BACH, HANDEL.

(Many thanks to Sharon for this rare document)

Listen  to the F major sonata (R20) from Vivaldi, originally written for violin.
The sonata has been transcribed by Jean Thilde. All Maurice's mastery is to be found here.