Idea 24 and Blend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD2xzfeRTdI

Terry Everson performing Idea Number 24 for Trumpets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiixWApl-V8

North Texas performing Idea Number 24 at NTC 2010 (with wicked post-production!)

So, there's no such thing as a perfect run-through except on a CD. Assuredly Everson's cut has some editing going on. I figure quite a bit of balance and maybe it's made up of a couple different cuts. Contrast that with a live-run of UNT in 2010. Firstly, they're on the page, which we haven't seen much of, but that's not the most important thing, in my opinion.

What about blend? The Everson version is so perfectly blended (as far as timbre is concerned) that if I didn't know better I would think he played every part with a click track and put them together. That's not inherently bad but UNT is really laying this chart out but I can tell the difference between each trumpet player. Is that better? I often wonder if seeking perfect timbral blend is both possible and even worthwhile. The instrument is possible of creating a wide swath of sound shapes even before non-homogenous trumpets are thrown into the mix. Idea 24 is pretty popular in the trumpet ensemble scene, gets a lot of play, and has a lot of opportunities to contrast style between the larger sections of the piece and between melody and harmony. So if we think about how each individual trumpet sounds compared to the others, is it sometimes better to let individuals poke out of the texture?