Irving Sarin's voice is cobblestone over which his trumpet solos pour smooth as water in Adam Allington's mix of "First Trumpet Memories", an interview detailing conductor Fritz Reiner and the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra in the mid- 20th Century.

MDs with a classical music format will find plenty of opportunities for this erudite insider's look at the personalities of the symphony, but the specificity removes it from general-interest programming.

There's some hollow mic-ing at the intro, and when Sarin complains that under Reiner, "Life became torturous," Allington follows, cartoonishly, with the opening of Beethoven's Fifth – not exactly a showcase for trumpet – but, overall, the piece is produced and edited smoothly. A classic classical interview.

Irving Sarin brought much of the Reiner discipline to the Wichita state University Brass Choir ensemble. Several members left after they we asked to play their parts in front of the entire choir. THose of us that stayed become very good indeed.

It would have been nice to hear in the backround a recording of Mr. Sarin playing with Reiner. There must be more interview than just 5 minutes. Irv can talk for ages. I know this as a former student of his. Let's hear it!

This interview with legendary Trumpeter Irving Sarin brings a great deal of insight to an earlier age of the life of an orchestral musician. Mr. Sarin's anecdotes of Fritz Reiner concisely show how the era of the dictatorial orchestral conductor evinced itself in an entertaining, yet informative manner.

Delightful trumpet features and other orchestral works punctuate the stories of one of the most powerful and talented conductors of the last century. Maestro Reiner, one of the last of the breed of the 'ultimate' orchestral conductors is shown to be both a wit and a tyrant, and the stories demonstrate the tenuousness of the professional life of the frontline classical musician in a highly entertaining manner.

Mr. Sarin, a highly esteemed veteran of the orchestral world, known for his ascerbic, 'take no prisoners' attitude, constructs a vivid portrait of the famous conductor as only someone could who is respectful of the art, sincerely devoted to his craft, and forced to live with the daily bombasts of a demanding, yet talented overlord.

This interview is an interesting look at the little known world (outside the arena of the classical musician) of both the instrumentalist and the conductor from an age when the conductor's word was law.