I'm Chris Martin, Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic

and I'm here today to play for you the post horn solo from Mahler's Third Symphony.

A post horn is exactly what it sounds like.

It kind of looks like a baby French horn

and it was used, traditionally, by the postmen

to announce their arrival into town.

Post horns would play little fanfares.

Sometimes they would play folk melodies or popular tunes in that area.

Mahler's solo is in a movement titled "What Nature Tells Me."

The music comes from that tradition. It sounds very serene, placid, beautiful.

It opens with a distant, gentle fanfare

and then moves into beautiful, folk-inspired melodies.

For a modern trumpet player,

the most interesting part of the solo is to think about what instrument we play it on.

It can be played on post horn.

There are modern instruments now that sound beautiful. I've done that.

Often it's played on the flugelhorn for a mellow, warm sound.

Today, being in quarantine, I have just my C trumpet,

but I have a special mouthpiece that is kind of in between

a trumpet and a flugel mouthpiece, made by a great guy named Mark Curry.

It's a beautiful sound and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks very much.

Thank you for listening and I hope to see you soon back in Geffen Hall when the orchestra's

reassembled and we are all in the same room again to share music together. Stay safe. Take care.