Gil Johnson
WWise72606
<A HREF="http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/obituaries/4039780.htm">The
Miami Herald | 09/10/2002 | Gilbert D. Johnson, noted trumpet player</A>
Wilmer
Dr. Trumpet
wwise...@aol.com (WWise72606) wrote:
This is a very sad day. The only trumpet recording my little home town library
owned when I was growing up was the first chair encore, on which Mr. Johnson
plays the Riisager Concertino. I really enjoyed that record, had it checked out
most of the time from the library. Later, I found it in an old record store and
bought it, but lost it to a roommate who took off with a bunch of my stuff one
time. Wish I had it back.
Rest in peace, Mr. Johnson. You were a great one!
AL
David A. Roth
"WWise72606" <wwise...@aol.com> wrote:
This is indeed sad news. I saw Gil Johnson perform with the old Miami Phil
as trumpet soloist. He played the Purcell Sonata, and it was a stunning
performance. This was shortly after he took the job at the University of
Miami School of Music.
David A. Roth
da...@roth-music.com
NJ/NYC
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Beeper02
I was profoundly saddened to hear of the passing of Gilbert Johnson. I
had the privilege of studying with him for 4 years in Philadelphia and
of listening to him play, almost every week, with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, and he had an enormous influence in my young life. He was
a superb player with, at least in his early years, the most beautiful
sound I've ever heard come out of a trumpet. Absolutely pure,
singing, musical. When he first was in the orchestra he played a
Martin C which I suppose he was paid to play. After several years he
switched to the Bach and said he never much cared for the Martin. I
believe he played a 1 ź C with a 2 rim. He had very thin lips, and
when he would play during a lesson, if he was tongueing, the
mouthpiece would bounce on his lips, he used so little pressure. I've
seen him doing Bach's Magnificat or the Christmas Oratorio on a Bach G
piccolo where he'd turn bright red - unusual for him - during a very
long, high phrase rather than break it up with a breath. Playing an
instrument known for power, he was a master of its delicacy, with an
impeccably beautiful pianissimo attack. No one ever played the solo
in American In Paris better than him. It was said that when he played
in the New Orleans Phil he used to do jazz gigs around town and that
was why. In all the years I heard him play, I only heard him mess up
once and it was a doozy - the solo octave slur G-g -g - e - C-c at the
beginning of the Strauss Domestic Symphony. I guess he was nervous
since he hit the wrong first note and every other note came out wrong
after that. I was shaking.
As a teacher, we all worshipped him. I even combed my hair the way he
did - he was quite a handsome man. He could be very strict. I
remember one student was having a particularly rough lesson when
Johnson grabbed his trumpet, pulled out the tuning slide, looked into
the leadpipe, said "this horn is filthy" and sent him home. I doubt
that trumpet was ever dirty again. He always talked about the
"airstream" supporting the notes, particularly with slurs and leaps.
I don't think he ever talked about embouchure. If he took you on, he
assumed you could play. He wanted to make you play better. One thing
that has always stuck with me was a lesson where he told me to hold
the last note of a phrase a bit longer. I did as he asked. No, he
said, not really longer, just a feel of being longer. After the
lesson, I thought to myself, who would ever notice such a subtle
difference. And then I realized that if you did all those tiny little
things all time, you got to be Gilbert Johnson and everybody else
played second trumpet.
May he rest in peace. I hope he can find an angel to play duets with
who can match his sound.
Jack Sholder
Giles Farnaby
Shawn Hines
past year. He was a great teacher, a great musician, and a great friend.
May he Rest in Peace.
in article 917e2aaf.02091...@posting.google.com, Beeper02 at
jsho...@charter.net wrote on 9/13/02 02:34:
Walter Roth
in the Concerto grosso,
and Gil Johnson gives the concerto in D the joyous 'Sound of Glory' that is
prevalent
in the church works of the Baroque. "
This is from the RCA recording "First chair soloists of the Philadelphia
Orchestra" where Gil
is performing the Telemann for 3 Trumpets with Seymor Rosenfeld and Donald
McComas, and
and a Telemann concerto for Violin and trumpet.
Walter Roth