[TPIN] Touvron on Andre

[Ian McKechnie]

OK - some thoughts on the book.

First, it's very short; only 98 pages of biography with a following 151 
pages of discography and 16 pages of photos.

My impression is that it is more of an essay in praise of a teacher 
and friend rather than an objective biography (though of course in 
discussing Andre's playing I am quite prepared to believe that it is 
still objective even when superlatives don't go quite far enough!)  
However, it gives a good picture of where Andre came from (very 
humble beginnings - which seems to find an echo in Touvron's own 
working class origins) and gives a very impressive picture of the 
extraordinary amount of hard work and effort which went into 
developing this unique talent.  The period up to the Munich 
competition where his career took off globally is well covered and 
does show that up until then his success was not at all assured - he 
could have been 'just another' orchestral trumpeter.

A great deal of the work goes into areas which we already know 
quite well from other sources (eg the iTG Journal and Brass Bulletin) 
i.e. that everyone seems to like Andre, and it is justified because he 
is a genuinely nice person; that his staggering technique is 
secondary to his innate musicality; that he is an excellent and 
supportive teacher; that his family is incredibly important to him.

There are a couple of interesting snippets : apparently he massages 
his upper lip with fresh butter at the end of each day, and his only 
ritual before a concert is to take a cup of tea with lemon.  

I do have some doubts that Guy Touvron might not be an ideal 
biographer for his teacher and friend : his extreme enthusiasm for 
his subject is such that one could doubt whether he could be 
properly objective (I do get the distinct feeling that if one were to 
make a disparaging remark about Andre in Touvron's presence, one 
would be asking for a punch on the nose).  I am slightly concerned 
that any areas of difficulty or embarrassment for Andre have been 
glossed over or omitted, and there are several areas which are 
mentioned very briefly but not at all explored : for example

Raymond Andre (Maurice's brother, who appears on a few 
recordings) gets only one passing mention late in the book, but no 
mention in the early section (so we don't know how many siblings 
Maurice has.)  So what happened to him?  Did he go down the 
mines and stay there?  Did he become a musician too?

Lionel Andre (Maurice's son, who also appears on some recordings, 
but who tragically died) is mentioned only in one short paragraph.  I 
can undeerstand that Guy T would not want to dwell on an issue 
which would distress M & Mme Andre, but this seems very short 
treatment for a biography.  Who taught him?  

Nicolas & Beatrice Andre, who figure so prominently in Maurice's 
late works, get very little mention.  I know more about them from the 
programme to the concert I went to in 2003 than I do from this 
biography.  OK, it's not their biography - but I still think it's relevant.

Maurice Andre senior, who clearly started the whole thing off, 
disappears early in the book.  Did he live long enough to see his son 
achieve global fame?  Did he carry on playing himself for many 
years?

There is very little mention of the other trumpeters who must have 
crossed Maurice's path over his long career, and very little of the 
contact with other nations' musicians is entirely complimentary.  For 
example, there is a story about Maurice doing a concert with the 
orchestra in Boston, and because he knew that they don't get paid 
for out-of-season work he donated his large fee to the players.  The 
very next year, he again played with the same orchestra, and asked 
for a copy of the recording of the piece he had played.  They 
demanded $100 for a copy of the tape !  (Apparently Maurice does 
not appreciate the mercenary attitude underlying the music business 
in the USA!)

I would have liked to know more about some of his pupils - Soustrot, 
Touvron,  Bernard, Wibraham even - but no comment is 
forthcoming.  Except for one rather extraordinary statement about 
the Vincent Bach 1 1/2 C mouthpiece :

"Some time later he adopted a Bach 1 1/2 C which became, 
THANKS TO HIM, the standard mouhpiece most widely sold in the 
world"  (my capitals)

Somehow, I think that the success of the 1 1/2C probably predates 
Maurice's use of it !

There is very little mention of the instruments and mouthpieces, 
other than to say that he inspired production of and many 
improvements to the Selmer Bb/A picc, and there is no mention of 
the other instruments he played and the effect on his work (for 
example, I think he sounded better on Selmer, worse on Schilke, 
and then pretty good on Stomvi.  What about Scherzer ?  And why 
do so many of his instruments begin with "S"?  What about 
mouthpieces?  We know he uses a 1 1/2C, but there is no mention 
of what he uses on picc, or Eb.  I, for one, would like to have known 
about this.

Finally, no coverage at all of his diabetes which I know, from 
personal experience, can be a make or break issue for trumpeters.  
How far did it affect him?   Did he have to take any special action as 
a musician?

The discography (prepared by Olivier Delavault - no, I don't know 
who he is either, because the book doesn't say) is fascinating, but 
incomplete.  I have at least two Andre recordings which are not in 
there.  I suspect there are several more!

So, on the whole, a good easy read, with some interesting 
information, but not by a long stretch the definitive biography I was 
hoping for.  Reasonably well written, but not in very literary style 
(more literate than Howard Snell's book, however, if you want a 
comparison).  I can see me reading the discography very carefully 
over the next few months to find hitherto unheard repertoire.

I must say I don't regret buying the book, and I would recommend it 
to any and all of you (your french does not have to be particularly 
good to follow what is going on).  I only wish it had gone into much 
more depth, not about family (which would be intrusive and largely 
irrelevant) but about concert tours, equipment, other players and 
colleagues, the Maurice Andre trumpet competition in Paris, and so 
much more. The difficulty might be that to be truly enthiusiastic about 
Maurice, you need to be a trumpeter, and to find out the useful 
information you need to know him.  Unfortunately, finding someone 
in his inner circle with the enthusiasm, access and properly 
developed biographical skills might be asking too much!





Ian McKechnie
mckechnie at enterprise.net