The legendary Mexican/American trumpeter, composer, arranger, actor and teacher Rafael Mendez (1906-1981) was famous for his tone, range, technique and unparalleled double tonguing. He was also the first trumpeter in history to record the 'Moto Perpetuo', Op. 11.
Written by the Italian virtuoso violinist, violist, guitarist and composer Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), the 'Moto Perpetuo' remains as one of the most challenging musical pieces ever composed.
Recorded in the album 'The Trumpet Magic of Rafael Mendez' (1961).
Here's the story behind the first recording ever of the 'Moto Perpetuo' on the trumpet by Rafael Mendez, as told by Dave Hickman:
Rafael worked very hard on the Paganini and could play all of it pretty much flawlessly, at home. Normally, his two sons (Robert & Ralph) did not go to their dad's recording sessions because of school. But on this occasion, they were really anxious to hear their pop record it, so they arranged to miss school that day.
They said that Rafael was very nervous about the recording of the MOTO. He had never performed the piece in public, nor even rehearsed it with an orchestra. At the breakfast table that morning he decided to record it in four breaths (Still pretty amazing considering that the piece is over 4 minutes long!).
When he got in the studio, he marked the best splice points in the score. He quickly wrote out a triangle (percussion) part to be played. This was so that when the editing was to be done (old analog system) the dings of the triangle would be clearly audible by the engineers. For those of you that have not watched tape editing, the editor will slowly hand reel the tape while listening for an obvious note to stand out and cut on.
If you listen carefully to the recording, you will hear several little dings of the triangle... almost randomly. He added many more than 4 dings to the part, so that was needed for the splice points, just to make it be more musical. But three of those dings are splice points.
Although Mendez and his sons were a bit disappointed that he decided to save his lip (don't forget, he recorded the rest of the album on that day as well!) by not going all the way through in a straight shot, they were very pleased that only ONE TAKE WAS NEEDED for the MOTO!
Now, that's impressive!!
To my knowledge, Mendez never performed the MOTO in a concert. Does anyone out there know of a time he did?
BTW, in a clinic I attended by Mendez, he demonstrated circular breathing by double tonguing 'The Flight of the Bumblebee' while circular breathing. I am convinced that he could have done the MOTO without technical difficulty...
Dave Hickman
Check other three great recordings of the 'Moto Perpetuo':
Sergei Nakariakov:
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Wynton Marsalis:
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Caterina Valente:
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