Rotary Trumpet

trumpetgeezer · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 9:57 am Post subject:

I played a rotary trumpet yesterday for the first time...WOW...I was blown away. What fun, what a great sound. Can someone who plays these on a regular basis tell me the best brands, etc. Recodings? DVD's?

DizzyChrizzy01 · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 11:26 am Post subject:

A Josef Monke rotary trumpet would be one of the best you can get. They are played in major symphony orchestras in Europe and in the USA. I own a Bb Monke. It has an outstanding intonation, and can be played very softly while having a full and “round” sound. The sound - however - is what European symphony orchestras expect.

Josef Monke is located in Cologne/Germany and is making trumpets for more than 80 years. You may contact Stephan Krahforst, who is the owner now. He is real nice guy and he does a perfect work (he has recently done some work on my Calicchio and it was of outstanding quality).

www.josefmonke.de/englisch/ (have a look at the references!)

As many German symphony orchestras are using rotary trumpets, you will find lots of recordings played with them.

Here’ a quote I found at www.petrouska.com/TrumpetGuide.htm:

“There is increased use of rotary valve trumpets in American orchestras. This has come about in response to the desire for a more authentic and homogeneous sound in the 19th-century Germanic repertoire. While the rotary valve trumpet is less flexible in technical passages, it possesses a darker, more resonant timbre which is ideal in the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Strauss, and others. Also, these instruments have a greater capacity to blend with woodwinds and strings and at the same time produce a larger volume of tone in forte passages.

[…] There are two basic designs of rotary valve trumpet and although they appear similar, they have different proportions and tonal characteristics. One type is made by the Cologne firm of Josef Monke. Several others follow the style of instrument perfected by F.A. Heckel (and later, Windisch) of Dresden. Lechner (Bischofshofen), Canter (Munich), and Yamaha (Hamamatsu) fall into this category. Instruments are built in all of the standard keys.

Leading American players who frequently use rotary valve trumpets are Adolph Herseth (Chicago Symphony) and Charles Schlueter (Boston Symphony). In Europe, Adolf Holler (Vienna Philharmonic), Konradin Groth and Martin Kretzer (Berlin PhiIharmonic) play the instrument exclusively.”

In this forum Adolph “Bud” Herseth is mentioned some times (“Chicago School”), as there is a “Herseth” model Monke trumpet, he might also have played Monke.

Have fun playing rotary!

Chris

Zaphod · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 11:48 am Post subject:

Monkes are great, but also look out for Schagerl. The trumpet section of Berlin Philharmonic recently switched from Monke to Schagerl; once Monke was some kind of "the Mercedes of rotary trumpets", but currently Schagerl is "on top".

oopapada · Regular Member Joined: 22 Jul 2003 Posts: 66

I have a Yamaha 936GS
great intonation and sound,reasonable price than Monke or Schagerl
936 is Monke style(german,thick and larger bore and bell)
937 is Heckel style(vienna,thin and smaller bore and bell)

I heard Schagerl is best Rotary Tp

I like "Hans Gansch:Trompetenkarneval"
he use Schagerl

guenni-trumpet · Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 11:55 am Post subject:

Hi,
Monke is one of the best rotaries you can get (I have one for my own). But there are many other manufacturers in Germany or Austria that build very good instruments with an specific and particular charakter.
If you are looking for a very good rotary trumpet please try the following brands:
- Thein (www.thein-brass.de), very good intonation with an excellent projection, but expensive
- Gerd Dowids (www.dowids.de): superb intonation, clear sound, very free high register (and cheaper than Monke or Thein); Uwe Köller from German Brass has one
- Ricco Kühn (www.ricco-kuehn.de): as good as Dowids, but a warmer and softer touch in the tone (and you get a really excellent trumpet for less money!); M. Kretzer, former principal trumpet of Berlin Philharmonics plays one
- Schagerl (www.schagerl.at): very popular at the moment in the German and Austrian symphony orchestras
There are many others, but I did not play one of them, so I'm not able to make some recommendations
_________________
greetings from Germany
guenni-trumpet
-----------------------------------------
Ricco Kuehn B, C
*Canadian Brass C
*Yamaha Custom D/E flat
*Schilke P5-4
*B&S Challenger II
*Mouthpieces: Bach 1C, Bob Reeves 43 MPC

brass2002 · Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject:

It depends what kind of sound you want and the music requires. In my opinion, one cannot say a certain brand is the best rotary trumpet.
I own both Lechner and Monke and they are fantastic instruments. I prefer to play Mozart and Haydn on Lechner and late romantic symphonies on Monke.
I would love to try Schagerl or Ricco Kuehn
_________________
Pistons:
Stomvi Master Bb, Schilke X1A & B6
Bach/Larson C, German Destino C
Monette 933 C, STC1 C & 149XL
Thein Eb/D/C 4 Valves
Thein Bb/A
Thein G
Larson GFT Eb/D
Rotaries:
Schagerl Bb D1, Schagerl C W 2001
Windisch Bb
Monke D
Scherzer Bb/A

patrick32378 · Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 4:51 pm Post subject:

DVD? Check out Berlin (karajan) doing Strauss' Alpine Symphony!!

Mark Bradley · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 6:12 am Post subject:

Has anybody ever played the Cerveny CTR 701R rotary sold at Brasswind for $799? Is it worth hoot (or toot)? I played the flugel Cerveny Brasswind sells (under $600) and thought it was a very good flugel for the money, but it seemed the rotary valves on the particular instrument I played were not up to professional quality.