Readers will
recall that Robert Farnon has dedicated his final work the Bassoon
Concerto "Romancing the Phoenix" to Daniel Smith, the
eminent American virtuoso on the instrument. Recently Daniel gave
this exclusive interview to 'Journal Into Melody, in which he talked
about his career and meeting Robert Farnon.
Daniel
Smith
interviewed by David Ades
DAVID: Daniel,
let's start with how your career in music began.
DANIEL: I grew
up in a family where there was not any musical background. The reason
for my taking up music makes for a rather funny story. I grew up
in the Bronx, and when I was sixteen years old, happened to see
a show on TV which reunited the original Benny Goodman trio in a
New Year's eve special. Seeing Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa and Teddy
Wilson was a magical moment which changed my life forever. I knew
absolutely nothing about music or instruments and watching them
perform left me staring at the screen with these amazing sounds
coming from them, and especially Benny Goodman.
Shortly after
seeing this show, I I went to a music studio where my cousin was
studying drums and told the owner that I wanted to take trumpet
lessons. He asked me why I wanted to play the trumpet and I told
him that I had seen someone on TV play the trumpet and that ( really
liked the sound of it. 'What was this person's name' he asked me?
'Benny Goodman' I said. 'And what did his trumpet look like' he
further inquired? I said it was long and black. He then of course
told me that it was a clarinet. That's how naive I was! So it was
actually Benny Goodman who inspired me to want to be a musician.
Prior to this
I was studying to be an artist and went to a special Arts High School
in Manhattan as well as the Arts Student's League. I had always
had this artistic bent in me since I was a small child. No one in
my immediate family or any of my relatives had such a trait, so
I guess it just came sort of out of nowhere. As the saying goes,
'I did not choose it, it chose me'.
My first lessons
were, on the clarinet with a somewhat inept teacher, I then switched
to Bill Sheiner, whose teaching fame was that he taught Stan Getz
and other famous artists. I then took up the saxophone with him
after the clarinet and also added on flute. Eventually I entered
the Manhattan School of Music as a clarinet major and midway through,
switched to being a flute major and eventually got my degree from
them on flute.
DAVID: Where
does the bassoon come in?
DANIEL: These
were the later years of the Vietnam War and of course I had to do
whatever I could to avoid getting caught up in this or else run
to Canada. Being now of draft age, I chose the best way out by signing
up to perform with the West Point Band to fulfill my draft obligation.
I auditioned for them on flute and was appointed solo piccolo and
flute in what is called 'Special Services' and with the rank of
SP5 for a three year tour of duty. Meanwhile, my wife had given
birth to my daughter while I was in the service and I was nervous
about making a living after I returned to civilian life. I thought
it would be prudent to learn a double reed instrument to compliment
my already proven skills on saxophone, clarinet and flute. This
so I could then have the ability to be a 'doubler' and be able to
perform in Broadway show bands and studio work. So this is how I
got involved with the bassoon and at this point, had nothing to
do with the idea of being a bassoon soloist, just to help make a
living.
DAVID: So you
were always employed as a musician one way or the other?
DANIEL: More
or less. My parents had hopes of my being an accountant or a dentist
like a cousin of mine. My father especially fought tooth and nail
that I should not be a musician and I had absolutely no support
or understanding from them. It was very traumatic and a very difficult
period in my life, but obviously there was something within me that
held firm and somehow held onto my desire to be a musician. I always
envied anyone who came from a family where there was understanding
and support. Recently, before his death Robert Farnon told me of
the joy he had coming from such a family where music was an important
part of everyone's life
DAVID: It made
you all the more determined to become a musician.
DANIEL: Yes,
you are correct. My father had worked in the Post Office and I watched
the sort of life he had, and by the time of his retirement, he was
a very closed person full of fears about life. His advice to me
was to never take risks. So I knew instinctively that this was not
for me, a safe and secure life where no risks were involved. Music
became my calling, and as I said before, I did not chose it, it
chose me.
My later background
in music is so different from that of a conservatory trained classical
bassoonist, although I did study eventually with some of the best
players and teachers, including the principal players from the NY
Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Boston Symphony and
even from Toscannini's NBC symphony. In later years I performed
in the bassoon sections as an extra or substitute with the NY Philharmonic,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and several other leading ensembles
with some of these very same teachers. However, along the way, I
also did many things in music that a strictly classically trained
bassoonist would never experience and certainly not which you would
associate with someone known as a solo classical or jazz bassoonist.
For instance, I played saxophone and flute with Latin bands in New
York at clubs where we would be in very dangerous neighbourhoods.
These 'gigs' would go to two or three in the morning and I witnessed
riots, knife fights, beatings, attempts on my own life, etc... nasty
stuff but part and parcel of my musical experiences.
DAVID: There
are not many bassoon players around; is this why you took up the
instrument as you knew there would be plenty of work?
DANIEL: Yes,
exactly and we sort of covered this earlier. But this had nothing
to do with my eventually becoming a soloist on the instrument. At
first, it was purely pragmatic, to make a living so I could support
my family. As the years went by, and for various reasons. It evolved
into a strong desire to become a soloist and also to plunge into
areas of music where the bassoon had never gone before crossover,
ragtime, popular music, and of course jazz. And along the way to
record a lot of musical gems written for the instrument, especially
the complete 37 bassoon concertos of Antonio Vivaldi.
DAVID: Tell
us of your time on Broadway.
DANIEL: I can
answer this in a 'broad way' in fact. I was at one point doing so
many different things in music and on so many different instruments,
that I would almost say I was going through multiple musical lives.
I played in Broadway show bands, off Broadway show bands, Latin
bands, resort show bands (where I played lead alto for big headliners
such as Vic Damone, Steve Lawrence, Billy Eckstine, Billy Daniels,
Buddy Greco, Carmen Macrae, etc.) ... I was a very good sax player
on all the saxes as well as the other woodwinds. I played with such
bands as Billy May, Les Elgart, and even one summer with Guy Lombardo
where I had to execute that outrageous wide vibrato to fit in with
his sax section. Then a Latin band phase where I played with or
opposite on the bandstand with the likes of Tito Rodriguez, Tito
Puente, Xavier Cugat, Machito and others. A lot of this sort of
stuff was overlapping such as where I would perform as principal
flute with an orchestra north of New York city, jump into my car,
and drive to Manhattan where I would dash into a night club to perform
that same night with a Latin band on saxophone. As my bassoon playing
started to improve, I kept on taking lessons with those teachers
I referred to earlier and was granted a scholarship to Tanglewood.
I also spent four seasons on scholarship with the National Orchestral
Association under Leon Barzin. And then started to perform on bassoon
and contra bassoon with a lot of orchestras and ensembles. So as
you can see, I wound up for a variety of reasons doing a lot of
different things in music, including and excluding the bassoon.
DAVID: So most
of your work was in New York in the early days?
DANIEL: Yes,
I did not go to California or Hollywood, just around New York. Somewhere
along the way, I was starting to get this desire to become a solo
bassoonist and started to perform concertos with various orchestras.
I also had the good fortune of performing for ten years as principal
bassoonist and as soloist many times during summers in Rome, Italy
with the Rome Festival Orchestra. And then I started to plunge in
with making my early recordings mostly concertos with string ensembles
on a variety of labels. My biggest break then came when on a trip
to London with my wife; we were at a friend's home in Richmond where
the subject of my recordings and musical career came up. This couple
were close friends with Jose Luis Garcia, leader of the English
Chamber Orchestra, and they asked me if I would like to record with
them. I thought I was dreaming but she was obviously serious. She
picked up the phone and rang Garcia. We spoke for a while and he
instructed me to send him some of those recordings I had already
made so the powers that be at the ECO could hear them and judge
if I was up to recording with them. They liked what they heard and
before I knew it, I was sitting in a chair at Rosslyn Hill Chapel
in Hampstead with the ECO and recording an album of mixed bassoon
concertos. I also at that time made an album of English Music for
Bassoon and Piano with Roger Vignoles, so my foot was now in the
door with recording in this country.
At the suggestion
of the producer of these two albums, Brian Culverhouse, I took the
masters to ASV which had recently started up thanks to the leadership
of Jack Boyce. I got to know Jack very well and he was keen on my
doing further albums for ASV. When I mentioned to him that Antonio
Vivaldi had written 37 concertos for bassoon and nobody had ever
recorded them all, he said to me 'why don't you do them for US'
I thought he was kidding but he was quite serious about this. It
was a huge undertaking, and over a period of six years, half accompanied
by the English Chamber Orchestra and the other half with the Zagreb
Soloists, we eventually completed the entire series which went on
to win several awards. Including the MRA award as 'Best Concerto
of the Year', The Penguin Guide *** rating, and four times on Fanfare
magazine's 'Want List'. Along the way there were other albums including
crossover music with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, music for
bassoon and string quartet, others involving ragtime and so forth.
DAVID: How did
you become aware of Robert Farnon?
DANIEL: In November
of 2004, the phone rang at my flat in London. It was someone by
the name of David O'Rourke who was phoning me from New Jersey. David
indicated he was glad to have finally located me and asked if I
knew who Robert Famon was. I said I had heard of Robert Famon and
asked why he was phoning me. David told me that there was a network
of people trying to hunt me down on both sides of the ocean. Apparently,
Robert Famon wanted to write a concerto for bassoon which involved
jazz improvising and my name kept coming up as other bassoonists
were approached about this project. He had fallen in love with the
sound of the instrument and now knew I could perform both the virtuostic
concerto parts as well as improvise where needed in the piece. But
he only knew of my first name ...'Daniel' and could not locate me.
Eventually through a broad network of people, they found me via
my UK manager.
David O'Rourke
and I had a wonderful conversation about this project and left me
with Robert Farnon's Guernsey phone number. He said that I should
phone him and that Robert Famon would likely be contacting me shortly
as well. Within ten minutes the phone rang again and this time it
was the voice of Robert Farnon that I now heard. I will never forget
his deep booming and friendly voice with his cheerful introduction...'
Hello Danny', how are you?' There was an immediate connection between
us and as I later found out, many others had experienced the same
sort of thing over the years.
Robert and I
had a long conversation that day and went over the concept of the
bassoon concerto. In the next weeks, we had many further conversations
on the phone and I then flew to Guernsey a few weeks later in December
to visit with him and go over the piece, this after having earlier
sent him samples of my recordings to listen to. He was full of praise
for my playing and was very open about any ideas I might have for
the concerto. On his music stand was the first page of the bassoon
concerto score.... that was all he had at this point. I asked him
how long before the full concerto would be finished and he said
that he would have the whole piece ready no later than the beginning
March of 2005, just two months later! I arranged with him to fax
me the bassoon parts in New York where my wife and I would be from
December through February of 2005. Within a very short time, the
faxes started to arrive courtesy of his copyist and by mid February,
I had the entire solo bassoon part in my hands. I could not believe
the speed at which this all happened. I practised and learned the
solo part in New York and in February returned to the UK and then
flew to Guernsey to actually play it for Robert Farnon. At this
point, he was recuperating from a leg operation and receiving therapy
at a nursing home in Guernsey. We spent a wonderful day together
going over the concerto and sharing lots of laughs and stories.
He was so excited about this music and said it was the best thing
he ever wrote and that it's premieres would be huge successes. His
wish was to be able to conduct it himself, to have the UK premiere
at the Proms, to have Andre Previn involved in Oslo, Canadian orchestras
involved, and much more. He wanted to devote his energies to having
all this accomplished as soon as his Third Symphony was premiered
in Edinburgh later that month. And as we all sadly now know, he
was not to be alive much longer after that day.
DAVID: Could
you describe the work to us?
DANIEL: I will
try to some degree. I actually never saw the score until that second
trip to Guernsey in February, about a month before he passed on.
I had at that time with me the solo bassoon part, but did not understand
where everything fitted in or how the piece was constructed. When
he showed me the completed score, I knew almost instantly that I
was looking at something very special and unusual. Robert told me
that all his life he wanted to compose something that had no restraints
on it and which would include everything he could muster up from
a lifetime of composing and arranging. As with his Third Symphony,
his last two pieces including the bassoon concerto were not bound
by any commissions, deadlines, financial obligations, or anything
else, just to fully express himself as a composer. And as I mentioned
before, he told me it was the best piece of music he ever wrote
and was very excited about seeing it brought to life.
In the actual
score, you can see passages where the bassoon plays the role of
a lead saxophone with three bassoons underneath in the scoring,
just as in a saxophone section. There is also a lot of percussion
used and in many sections, the winds of the symphony act as a sort
of wind band within the full orchestra Farnon described this as
, a big band within a full symphony orchestra'. Naturally there
are gorgeous moments in the second and lyrical movement as per what
everyone knows of the music of Robert Famon. And then as we arrive
at the third and final movement of the concerto, Robert made full
use of some of my suggestions where he pulls out all stops. At one
point, the full symphony orchestra and big band fade back and the
bassoon opens up with a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums
in an up tempo blues (which Farnon composed himself) allowing for
unlimited choruses to be played and at the moment of choosing of
the soloist, the conductor then brings in the orchestra, starting
with percussion first and then adding on instruments. And then after
a few more spots which also have improvisation involved, a really
startling ending which simply flies all over the place and ends
on a bang. It is hard to describe and hopefully we will see all
this incredible music brought to life in the near future when everyone
can hear what Robert Farnon achieved in his final work.
DAVID: Robert
called it 'Romancing the Phoenix'. Do you know why?
DANIEL: Sort
of. I asked him but don't remember his exact words. Robert apparently
had the concept of the phoenix as an elusive legendary bird that
rises up again and again in unexpected ways. I suggested 'Flight
of the Phoenix' which he liked even better but after checking this
name out on the Internet, he discovered that this title was the
same as a recent movie and so he went back to his original title
idea. The concerto, without any doubt, is a one of a kind piece,
and I am sure that when it is heard, it will have quite an impact
in the musical world.
DAVID: So is
it with a jazz band and also a symphony orchestra? Roughly how many
instruments are involved?
DANIEL: It is
with a full symphony orchestra, and once again as Robert Famon described
it. ' a big band within a full symphony orchestra'. When I finally
saw the score, I was a bit confused as I thought he meant a big
band including a saxophone section, but apparently what he had in
mind was a big wind band using the resources of the wind players
of the symphony being involved in passages that stand out from the
full symphony in various passages.
DAVID: Isn't
it costly to stage with so many musicians?
DANIEL: Not
really because it involves a symphony orchestra which already has
the wind players within it. The only instruments to be added would
be a piano, bass and drums for the jazz rhythm section
DAVID: Have
you any idea where the premiere might take place?
DANIEL: At this
point we are following up on various possibilities. As already said,
Robert's wish was to see it premiered at the Proms and wanted to
work towards this goal and other premieres, not knowing of course
that his recent illness would become worse. He was so upbeat and
so excited about this music and looking to hearing it performed.
In any event. I am sure that in the coming months we will know a
lot more about premieres. Unfortunately, we will never know what
doors he would have opened but there are other people now working
on this. I am sure there will be a big demand to have it premiered
in various venues and countries.
DAVID: You have
the honour of having his very last work.
DANIEL: Yes,
he was very generous about it for many reasons, not only that he
wrote it for me but that he arranged for it to be printed by Warner/Chappell
and with a dedication to , The American virtuoso Daniel Smith'.
He also had the opportunity for one movement to be premiered with
the BBC Concert Orchestra but turned it down because they would
use their own bassoonist (he would have had to write out any improvised
solos of course) and he would not allow this to happen until I did
the actual premiere. Which was very kind of him.
When I last
met him at the nursing home in Guernsey, and also prior in some
phone conversations. Robert had asked me if I could bend notes on
the bassoon like the clarinet does at the beginning of Rhapsody
in Blue. I said I was not sure but would play for him when we next
met and show him what I can do. So when we did meet, I told him
I had an idea about this query. I played Duke Ellington's ' In A
Sentimental Mood' . Several measures into the piece. the melody
swoops down to an Ab, which I seriously bent as per Johnny Hodges
would have done. 'That's it!' he exclaimed with a big smile on his
face. I think he wanted to go back to the piece and incorporate
this effect in the music but of course we will never know what he
had in mind.
DAVID: Will
other bassoon players be able to play this piece do you think, or
is it a bit too technical?
DANIEL: Probably
not. A highly skilled virtuoso bassoon player could execute the
melodic material but would not be able to improvise in those places
which require this unusual skill. And for the handful of jazz players
on the instrument, I would have serious doubts they could execute
the written parts which are quite difficult.
I would like
also to bring up the subject of unusual and different music which
can be performed on the bassoon and also jazz. Ragtime if executed
with the right feeling can sound very natural on the instrument,
as does a large amount of 'crossover' material including transcriptions
of music normally performed on other instruments as well as orchestral
pieces. As for playing jazz on the bassoon several years ago, Steve
Gray composed a work for me entitled 'Jazz Suite' which I had the
honour of performing with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra. The piece
contained improvisational spots and which forced me to plunge in
and get serious about playing real jazz on the instrument. I was
already a virtuoso so to speak but all of my technical skills were
of no help whatsoever in learning
how to play jazz in a serious way. I had to methodically learn to
play extended chords and scales from top to bottom on the instrument
and in all keys. This included many scales and chords which do not
appear in classical music. And then to place all ideas exactly where
the underlying chords are heard and of course to 'hear' musical
ideas many measures before you execute them. This took me about
four years to accomplish and along the way my arms became very sore
and stiff from the effort. But then suddenly the ideas flowed and
the soreness stopped... everything just flowed! All the musical
ideas made sense and can now perform a full two hour jazz concert
without using any music and with a repertoire of nearly one hundred
jazz pieces to pick from including bebop, swing, Latin, blues, ballads,
etc.
Finally, the
bassoon must be amplified when performing jazz, otherwise it would
not be heard above a rhythm section, let along a full symphony orchestra.
I have a special microphone attached to my crook/bocal which makes
this possible. When Robert Farnon found this out, he was much relieved
knowing that his music would be clearly heard above the orchestra
in his bassoon concerto, And as for developing a jazz style on the
instrument, there are no real role models from the past to learn
from such as Armstrong, Gillespie or Davis on trumpet or Parker,
Getz or Rollins on saxophone. It is all pioneering stuff and I am
very pleased to be involved in such ground breaking efforts and
of course with the bassoon concerto of Robert Farnon as a fitting
memorial to his memory and talent.
Daniel Smith
was speaking to David Ades on Tuesday 24 May, 2005. The Editor thanks
Adam Endacott for transcribing the recorded interview for Journal
Into Melody'.
IN MEMORIAL
ROBERT FARNON 1917-2005
I was deeply honoured that Robert Farnon chose me for what is
now his final musical composition. Over the past months, we
had been in touch frequently as the music took shape. Robert
expressed often to me his enthusiasm and excitement about his
new bassoon concerto and for him it represented a new lease
on life and renewed purpose at a time when he took ill. I flew
twice to Guernsey to discuss and go over the music with him,
and along with working on the music, we spoke of many other
things; his friends and colleagues over the years, his beloved
wife, children and grandchildren, the importance of music and
the arts, my own life experiences and along the way had a lot
of good laughs. To me he seemed like someone 87 years old going
on 35, full of enthusiasm and hope. There was never a moment
of pessimism or negativity, just a great need to move forward
and create something beautiful for the world to experience.
I was initially contacted by a friend of Robert Farnon in November
of 2004 with news that he was trying to locate me and wanted
to have me premiere his new bassoon concerto. I made contact
and we then had several initial phone conversations about the
music before I flew to Guernsey to meet with him. When I arrived,
all that was ready was a single page of the score containing
the opening measures of the concerto. He told me that the piece
had already been worked out in his head (as Mozart often did)
and not to worry, the entire piece would be finished, scored
and sent to me no later than March of 2005. I left the UK two
weeks later and flew to NY where I would be in Brooklyn for
several weeks. And sure enough as promised, the music started
to come through via fax at an unbelievable speed. By mid-February,
the piece was completed and I was now learning the solo bassoon
part from the faxed pages. He had more than met his own deadline
by several weeks!
I have since met many people who knew Robert Farnon during his
lifetime, including members of the Robert Farnon Society. I
had the honour of speaking to them at their 50th Anniversary
meeting in London the very day after I last saw him in Guernsey.
I met many friends and admirers who had known him for many years,
some for decades. I only knew him for a brief few months, but
immediately recognized that he was someone from a time and place
where a very different set of values existed from what we often
see in today's world, where generosity, honesty, integrity and
genuine talent were prized and respected. Where one's word is
kept and values, whether in regard to family or profession or
ethics, are important.
Robert told me at our last meeting in Guernsey that his bassoon
concerto was the best piece of music he had ever composed and
that he was excited about seeing it premiered in the UK, Europe
and North America. The fact that he composed the piece in less
than three months bears testimony to his dedication to seeing
it brought to life, and of course his tremendous talent. This
was an incredible feat for any composer, let alone someone of
his age. Having been presented with a full score at our final
meeting in Guernsey, I now realize even more how amazing the
piece is. His dream of composing a concerto full of passion,
excitement, fun and the unexpected was achieved. Let us hope
that in the coming year we will see this music brought to life
at concert halls throughout the world and as a testimonial and
memorial to the talents of a truly great and unique person and
musician, one whose presence will be sorely missed by countless
fans, family and friends.
Daniel Smith |
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