476 9163
TRUMPET MAGIC
A TRIBUTE TO
RAFAEL MÉNDEZ
GEOFFREY PAYNE
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Jean-Louis Forestier
TRUMPET MAGIC
RAFAEL MÉNDEZ 1906-1981
2
1
JENŐ HUBAY 1858-1937 arr. Méndez
Hejre Kati
3’24
2
GIACOMO PUCCINI 1858-1924 arr. Méndez
Musetta’s Waltz from La bohème
3’15
3
GIUSEPPE VERDI 1813-1901 arr. Méndez
Caro nome from Rigoletto
3’09
4
BEDŘICH SMETANA 1824-1884 arr. Méndez
Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride
3’47
5
LÉO DELIBES 1836-1891 arr. Méndez
Bell Song from Lakmé
4’03
6
7
GEORGES BIZET 1838-1875 arr. Méndez
Habanera from Carmen
Danse bohème from Carmen
3’56
3’56
8
GIOACHINO ROSSINI 1792-1868 arr. Méndez
Una voce poco fa from The Barber of Seville
5’21
9
VITTORIO MONTI 1868-1922 arr. Méndez
Czárdás
4’07
0
PABLO DE SARASATE 1844-1908 arr. Méndez
Zigeunerweisen
6’02
3
!
@
£
RAFAEL MÉNDEZ
Canto moro (Moorish Song)
3’21
Intermezzo
3’24
Plegaria taurina (The Bullfighter’s Prayer) 3’54
$
FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847
arr. Méndez/Charles Koff
Violin Concerto
3’32
%
RAFAEL CALLEJA 1874-1938
and TOMÁS BARRERA 1870-1938
arr. Méndez/Koff
Farewell, My Granada
4’14
^
BERNARDINO MONTERDE
arr. Méndez/Koff
La Virgen de la Macarena
3’24
Total Playing Time
64’06
Geoffrey Payne trumpet
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Jean-Louis Forestier conductor
began playing trumpet at age five. Rafael
immediately fell in love with the instrument and
began to focus all of his time and attention on it.
Because of Rafael’s frail physical build, his
father, Maximino, who enrolled nearly all of his
fifteen children in the “family orchestra”,
attempted to limit his son’s practice – to no
avail. Rafael loved the instrument too much to
put it away. Punished by his parents for
practising to excess, Rafael found a way around
the prohibition: whenever his parents left to go
to the market, Rafael paid half of his allowance
to one of his younger brothers to stand at the
corner of the block and warn him with a whistle
when “Mama Nena” or “Papa Mino”
approached. But once Maximino became aware
that Rafael could play the trumpet without any ill
effects on his health, he completely supported
the boy in his efforts, as did the rest of the
family. Despite the family’s moral support, they
could not afford to purchase a decent
instrument. He frequently had to reattach the
trumpet’s braces, since the beeswax that held
them melted in Mexico’s intense summer heat,
which caused the instrument to fall apart.
During concerts, Rafael stood behind the double
bass to avoid the heat from the lights.
With a star on the “Walk of Fame” on
Hollywood Boulevard, Rafael Méndez endures
as a legend of the trumpet world. His technique,
sound, style, stage presence and charisma
made him more famous than any other classical
trumpeter of his time.
Often billed as the “Heifetz of the trumpet”,
Méndez undertook his career as a soloist with
the goal of making the trumpet a concert solo
instrument equal to the violin and piano. To this
end, he composed many of his own works and
arranged famous violin solos and opera arias,
often creating for the same solo a variety of
accompaniments to match the instrumentation
of the group with which he would perform. It
was not unusual for him to have up to five
different arrangements of his most often
performed solos; and in these compositions he
blended beautiful lyrical lines with dazzling
technical displays. But despite their difficulty,
Méndez believed that anyone who was willing
to spend some diligent time in the practice
room could perform his music.
Other than Méndez’s own recordings, this CD
by Geoffrey Payne is the first recording consisting
entirely of Méndez’s music with orchestral
accompaniment. Interestingly enough, Méndez
himself never recorded Plegaria taurina, one of
the three original compositions on this CD.
By 1916, Pancho Villa and other Mexican
revolutionary troops had reached the peak of
their power, looting and killing throughout
Mexico. The troops swarmed down on small
towns and stole money, grain, cattle and
Born on 26 March 1906 and raised from humble
beginnings in Jiquilpan, Mexico, Rafael Méndez
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5
anything else they desired. Maximino set up his
family orchestra and performed for Villa and his
men when they arrived at Jiquilpan. They
impressed Villa, who demanded that Maximino
and the children accompany him as his personal
orchestra. They travelled with Villa for three
months, performing under a flag of truce
between battles, until Maximino received
permission from Villa to return to Jiquilpan with
all his children except Rafael, who had become
Villa’s favourite. Villa kept the lad as his
trumpeter for some time longer, but Rafael
eventually wanted to leave Villa to perform with
the Mexico City Police Band – Villa’s enemy!
When Rafael approached Villa with this idea,
Villa had other plans. Villa looked at young
Rafael. “If you want to leave us, you are a
traitor,” he said. “And do you know what we do
to traitors? We call the firing squad.” Pancho
Villa was only joking, but the boy did not
understand. He watched Villa summon a firing
squad while he marched across an open area to
a wall. He heard the soldiers click the bolts of
their rifles. Then Villa turned to Rafael. “Do you
still want to join the Mexico City Police Band?”
he asked. The lad stammered, “Well, sir...
Maybe not that much.” Villa began laughing, and
all the men in the firing squad began to laugh,
too. It was a great joke on the little trumpet
player. After travelling with Villa six months,
Rafael returned home. The bandit chief sent
along three bodyguards to make sure no harm
came to him.
By 1926, Rafael realised that he had the potential
to accomplish great things as a performer, if only
he had the opportunity to perform for larger and
more knowledgeable audiences. Maximino, too,
knew that his son would be able to make a
better life for himself. Because Rafael had heard
and liked Dixieland and other forms of American
jazz, and he “wanted to be where the action
was,” he decided to move to the United States.
Méndez persuaded a local landowner to lend him
enough money for the move, convincing the man
that he had the talent to fare well in the United
States and the honesty to repay the debt after
he succeeded.
Young Rafael moved to Gary, Indiana and
worked in the steel mills for four months. He
soon decided to move to Flint, Michigan where
there were more musical opportunities.
After a few months in Flint, he spent a Sunday
afternoon in a park listening to one of the factory
bands give a concert. Rafael spoke little English
at this point, but on a whim he walked to the
bandstand and pointed to a trumpet, asking to
play with the band. Everyone in the band
laughed at him, and to play a joke, the band
members had him sit in on one of the pieces.
They pulled up a difficult circus march, and
Rafael, knowing the work very well from his
past performances with Mexican circus bands,
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easily performed it. The owner of the plant had
attended the concert, and afterwards asked
Méndez if he had enjoyed performing in the
band. When Rafael answered that he did, the
owner told Rafael to meet him at his office the
following morning. At that meeting, the owner
presented Méndez with a trumpet and asked
him to play in the company band full-time.
Rafael never worked in the factory again.
While in Flint, Méndez heard constantly about
the many job prospects in Detroit, and after a
short time he decided to try his luck there. He
borrowed the money and moved to Detroit, but
since he had only lived in the United States a
short time, few people knew of Rafael and his
talent. The Depression had come into full swing,
and he had difficulty finding a job. The cold
weather forced Rafael to sell his trumpet to buy
a coat, and play his guitar in speakeasys for
money to buy food the next day.
Theater across the street and happened to hear
Rafael. Coincidentally, he needed another
One Saturday afternoon, shortly after moving
there, Rafael found himself standing outside a
music store looking at the new trumpets in the
window. An ambitious salesman attempted to
sell Rafael a horn. Méndez barely had enough
money to live on, much less enough to buy a
new trumpet, so he answered in his best
English, “I can play it, but I can’t buy it.” The
salesman, still hopeful of a sale, asked him to
play. At the same moment, a local bandleader
named Russ Morgan exited from the Capitol
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and a fistula developed. He continued to play,
but the infection worsened, which resulted in
great frustration, pain, and impaired performance
ability. After six operations he still could not
perform. He took lessons with Louis Maggio,
Herbert Clarke, Walter Smith and Max
Schlossberg, but none could help him; and after
months of effort, Méndez returned to Mexico to
study with his father. Maximino used a “return
to the basics” approach, and one year later
Rafael was able to perform once again.
trumpeter, so he walked over to Rafael and
asked him if he could read music, which of
course Rafael could; so Morgan auditioned him
on the spot, offered him the job, and lent him
the money to get back his trumpet. The
following Monday morning, Méndez arrived at
his first rehearsal with the Capitol Theater
Orchestra and signed a contract as solo trumpet,
for $125 per week. During this and other jobs in
the theatres, Méndez learned English by
listening to the actors, piecing together what
they had said, and putting it to use in casual
conversations.
In 1930 Rafael married Ann Amor Rodriguez
Fernandez. Their twin sons were born in 1937.
After short stints living in New York and again in
Detroit, the family moved to Los Angeles so
Rafael could join the radio network orchestra of
KHJ of the Mutual Broadcasting System. It was
during these radio shows – with the Al Pierce
Camel Show and the Carl Hoff Orchestra – that
Méndez gained a national audience. By 1939,
Rafael was hired to perform Second Trumpet
with the famed MGM Studio Orchestra, but in
1941 Manny Klein was drafted into military
service and Méndez replaced him as
Principal Trumpet.
Rafael’s career as a musician in Detroit
flourished until 1932, when, while playing with
the Fox Theater Orchestra, he sustained a major
lip injury. The orchestra at the Fox Theater
performed on a rising pit. Méndez’s seat was by
the only doorway, so he always entered the pit
last. He usually warmed up in the rehearsal
room until everyone left, and then took his seat
in the pit. One day, a tardy bass player opened a
swinging door and hit Rafael’s trumpet while he
was warming up, which caused a laceration
completely through the lip. Despite the cut,
Méndez finished the show; and he continued to
perform for days after the accident, which
caused him to form bad habits in his trumpet
playing, and prevented the wound from healing.
Because of the unavailability of antibiotics and
useful therapy, the laceration became infected,
During his career, Méndez built a reputation for
himself in the US music and movie soundtrack
business. He performed with David Rose’s
orchestra on Hollywood radio and recorded the
trumpet parts of the background music for
movies at MGM and other studios, including
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Holiday in Mexico (1946), Fiesta (1947) and
Luxury Liner (1948), and recorded featured solos
in movies such as Flying Down to Rio (1933),
The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951) and Hondo
(1953) with Dean Martin. He also recorded some
movie shorts for Walt Disney such as The
Matador and For Whom the Bulls Toil. All in all,
he recorded for at least ten movies, and made
appearances in many as well.
and arrangements with Carl Fischer. Amor and
Rafael became very close friends with Cambern
and his wife, Mae, who played the harp in all of
Rafael’s recordings. Caroll eventually replaced
Carlos Gastell as Rafael’s manager. In fact, it
was Caroll Cambern who eventually convinced
Rafael to become a concert soloist.
Throughout Méndez’s years with MGM, the
personal relationships between Rafael and his
fellow musicians had been very good; but due to
differing concepts of tone and vibrato, the
trumpet section had had problems for some time.
Méndez’s sound did not match the style desired
by the conductor; and after a ten-year alliance,
MGM fired Rafael, replacing him with his close
friend Uan Rasey in September of 1949. The
sudden turn of events devastated Méndez. His
son Robert recalled the event: “I still remember
sitting in the living room as my dad discussed the
events that led up to the firing and we all shared
in his keen sense of disappointment.”
His MGM contract, a typical Hollywood
musician’s contract, stated that he must provide
500 hours per year of service to the studio, but
after the initial 500 hours he could work outside
the studio as much as he desired. The work at
MGM included a substantial amount of nighttime recording work. The studio also featured its
up-and-coming stars at Hollywood Bowl
concerts, accompanied by studio musicians.
Méndez appeared in a concert also featuring
Xavier Cugat, Eleanor Powell, Jane Powell and
Mario Lanza; a representative for Decca Records
who was at the show signed Méndez to a
contract for twelve albums. He began recording
his albums for Decca in the late 1940s.
After leaving MGM Studios, Méndez continued
to appear on numerous television and radio
programs as a guest artist. He performed on
shows such as Kraft Music Hall and the Loretta
Young, Red Skelton, Art Linkletter, Dinah Shore
and Pinky Lee Shows, and later in his career
with Radio Belgrano (Argentina, 1957), Ed
Sullivan (1960), and the Stan Kenton Show
(1970). Many times he appeared as a soloist, but
often he performed a trumpet trio with his twin
Around 1945, Rafael met Caroll Cambern, who
represented the music publisher Carl Fischer.
Fischer signed him to a contract for his
arrangements and compositions, to record the
Arban articulation exercises, and to write a book,
Prelude to Brass Playing, about how to play the
trumpet. Méndez published most of his solos
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throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. A typical
program consisted of the usual Western-style
singing act by Rogers and Evans, with
appearances by various acrobatic and singing
groups. Although sometimes not listed in the
audience’s programs, possibly due to either lack
of space or simply an oversight, Méndez acted
as Music Director, appeared as a guest artist,
and wrote much of the music for the show.
sons, who had become quite accomplished
trumpeters. He booked a tour in at least one
new country every year to supplement his sons’
educational experiences. The Méndez family
toured Europe regularly, beginning in June 1954.
They spent summers in Italy, France, Spain,
Sweden, Denmark, England, France, Mexico and
Canada, and performed regularly. In the
summers of 1954 and 1955, Robert, Rafael Jr
and Rafael Sr performed ninety concerts in
ninety days.
instrument of the classical concert hall.
Geoffrey Payne
Del Lyren
Professor of Trumpet
Bemidji State University, USA
Geoffrey Payne played the cornet before he
swapped to the trumpet at age 12. He gained
his Performer’s Diploma as a scholarship
student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
In 1976 he joined the ABC Training Orchestra
and was appointed to the trumpet section of the
Sydney Symphony. Three years later he joined
the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, where he
has been Principal Trumpet since 1986.
Méndez inspired students and community
members through hundreds of concerts every
year – an immense contribution to the trumpet
world. Many students, after hearing a Méndez
performance, pursued careers in music; others
simply considered his performance an
unforgettable experience. His impact on modern
trumpeters is immeasurable, and many of the
world’s greatest trumpeters name Rafael
Méndez as their greatest influence. By soloing
with hundreds of bands and orchestras every
year, Méndez was able to raise the performance
level of trumpeters by inspiring them to achieve,
through dedicated practice, as much as possible
on the instrument.
A highlight of Rafael’s career came in 1956
when he made a 16mm audio-visual
presentation for Mills Picture Corporation. The
film belonged to part of a series entitled
Concerts on Film, in which many of the most
famous musicians of the era made
presentations for their specific instruments.
Other musicians who recorded performances in
the series included Jascha Heifetz, Gregor
Piatigorsky, Artur Rubinstein, Andrés Segovia,
Marian Anderson and Pablo Casals. The films,
available for purchase from Mills Picture
Corporation, enhanced educational settings such
as high school bands, public libraries and
universities, by making it possible for students
to witness many of the great musicians of the
20th century.
As a soloist he has performed with the
Melbourne, Adelaide, West Australian and
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras and the
Sydney Symphony. He regularly performs with
Hiroyuki Iwaki’s Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa
in Japan. His recordings include a double CD
with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
entitled Great Trumpet Concertos.
Jean-Louis Forestier
Born in France, Jean-Louis Forestier studied
conducting at the Ecole Normale de Musique in
Paris with Pierre Dervaux and later at the
Accademia Chighiana in Siena with Franco
Ferrara. He has also studied and worked closely
with composer/conductor Pierre Boulez.
Late in his career, Méndez was plagued by
severe asthma. By the early 1970s,
complications with his health caused him to
drastically reduce his concert appearances
before retiring in 1975. Méndez passed away on
15 September 1981, but not before achieving
his goal of making the trumpet an accepted
Perhaps the appearances that brought Méndez
the most recognition in the US were his live
shows with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
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Prior to this Jean-Louis Forestier studied
percussion at the National Conservatorium of
Versailles with Sylvio Gualda before taking up an
appointment as Principal Percussionist and
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Timpanist with the Orchestre National de l’Opera
de Paris (1981-1990). He performed widely as a
percussion soloist and premiered a number of
significant contemporary compositions.
Tate and Marcello Viotti.
Oleg Caetani is the MSO’s Chief Conductor and
Artistic Director. In 2006 he also takes up the
position of Music Director at London’s English
National Opera.
In addition to his extensive symphonic and opera
repertoire, Jean-Louis Forestier has collaborated
with many contemporary composers for both
concerts and CD recordings, including works by
Berio, Boulez, Xenakis, Ohana, Bayer, Dusapin
and Cavana. He is currently developing an
artistic collaboration between the Tasmanian
Conservatorium of Music and IHOS Opera.
During the seven-year tenure of Markus Stenz
as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director (19982004) the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra took
an even more prominent position on the world
stage. The Orchestra has received international
recognition in overseas tours to the USA,
Canada, Japan, Korea, Europe, China and
St Petersburg, Russia.
Recent recordings include works by Jolivet,
Milhaud and Poulenc with percussionist Thomas
O’Kelly and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa,
and Reinhart Wagner’s score for Pascal Thomas’
film Mon petit doigt m’a dit, with the Orchestra
Camerata de Bourgogne.
Each year the Orchestra performs to more than
230,000 people in Melbourne and regional
Victoria, at events ranging from the annual
series of Sidney Myer Free Concerts in the
Sidney Myer Music Bowl to the series of Classic
Kids concerts for young children. The MSO
reaches an even larger audience across Australia
through its regular concert broadcasts on ABC
Classic FM. Some performances are presented
on ABC TV and the documentary To Russia with
Love, about the Orchestra’s recent St
Petersburg tour, was one of the flagship
programs in ABC TV’s new Sunday Afternoon
series in 2005.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
With a reputation for excellence, versatility and
innovation developed over almost 100 years the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is renowned
for its performances of the great symphonic
masterworks with leading international soloists
and conductors including Igor Stravinsky, Mariss
Jansons, Jennifer Larmore, Bryn Terfel, Maxim
Vengerov, guitarist John Williams, Osmo Vänskä,
Paavo Järvi, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Donald
Runnicles, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Barbara
Bonney, Steven Isserlis, Simone Young, Jeffrey
soundtracks including those for such major
motion pictures as Babe, IQ, Hotel Sorrento,
Six Degrees of Separation, Babe II – Pig in the
City and The Dish. The MSO has also recorded
music for a number of computer and consolebased games.
Rafael Méndez Library
This recording would not have been possible
without the generous assistance of the Rafael
Méndez Library. Located in the School of Music
at Arizona State University, the Library is
directed by Regent’s Professor David Hickman.
The Library was established for the purpose of
providing precise and complete information
about Méndez’s life and music. It holds
numerous musical instruments and over 300
manuscripts and nearly 700 sets of parts of
Méndez’s compositions and arrangements.
Catalogues of photos, concert programs, news
clippings, correspondence and manuscripts are
available online. The Rafael Méndez Library
was founded through the generous support of
Dr Rafael G. Méndez Jr, Dr Robert Méndez and
the Méndez family.
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Pty Ltd is a
wholly-owned subsidiary company of the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and a member of the
Symphony Australia network. The Orchestra is
funded principally by the Australia Council, the
Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory
body, and is generously supported by the Victorian
Government through Arts Victoria, Department of
Premier and Cabinet. The Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra is also funded by the City of Melbourne,
its Principal Partner, Emirates, and individual and
corporate sponsors and donors.
mendezlibrary.asu.edu
Recent recordings include major CD releases on
the ABC Classics label. In addition, members of
the Orchestra have featured on numerous film
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Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan
Recording Producers Stephen Snelleman,
Virginia Read
Editors Stephen Snelleman, Thomas Grubb
Recording Engineer Jim Atkins
Mastering Virginia Read
Editorial and Production Manager Natalie Shea
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Geoffrey Payne Photographs Lucia Rossi
For the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Oleg Caetani
Conductor Laureate Hiroyuki Iwaki
Chairman Elizabeth Proust
Managing Director Trevor Green
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra thanks
Dr Rafael G. Méndez Jr, Dr Robert Méndez and
Prof. David Hickman.
Recorded 3-5 March 2003 and 5-7 April 2004 in the Iwaki
Auditorium of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s
Southbank Centre, Melbourne.
2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in
Australia by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of
the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public
performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is
prohibited.
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