Karneval i Venedig
78 rpm Philips P 55 028 H
Today I listen to another sort of trumpet playing than the jazz trumpet I usually digest at all hours. It’s like it was an altogether different instrument. I know a couple of jazzmen that took lessons from Knud Hovald, and they had to start all over again and learn the non-pressure method. I’m not totally convinced that this is the best and only way to play. To my friend, the top classical trumpet player Håkan Hardenberger, who played for him at a young age, he said something like; “You play ok, but you need to drink some more beer.” Hovald was Danish, from the country where they make “the best beer in the world—probably.” I’m not more competent than to say that his playing is impressive.
But my best memory of the piece is when an Italian brass band visited my hometown and a young cornet player played it with all the variations only a meter or two from my seat.