Like
many people, I was ignorant of the
bassoon and its repertoire. Well,
almost - for me it was a large instrument
with the daintiness of a small missile
launcher, played by my extremely
swotty cousin as a cunning means
of infiltrating the school orchestra
which had a groaning surfeit of
clarinets, flutes and violins. It
played the low bits in German folk-songs.
And so Daniel Smith was the man
to put me right. A tall, distinguished-looking
American, he is largely responsible
for the growth in popularity of
the bassoon as a solo instrument.
His driving purpose is to show off
the instrument, in all its fullness
and diversity, with work ranging
from a project for ASV, recording
all Vivaldi's bassoon concerti (more
later) to contemporary, ragtime
and jazz. His breadth of inspiration
can be heard on a disc released
recently-'Bassoon Bon-Bons' which
brings together a Chopin Etude,
Rachmininov's "Vocalise" and the
"Golliwog's Cake-Walk" of Debussy
among others.
I asked Mr. Smith about the bassoon
repertoire. "While some major composers
such as Brahms didn't write any
solo works for bassoon, Mozart wrote
a very famous bassoon concerto.
Then there are the 37 concerti of
Vivaldi, Weber wrote two interesting
concertos, Hummel wrote one, Strauss
wrote his duet concertino for bassoon
and clarinet, and so forth. If you
add several lesser composers, you'd
probably come up with at least fifty
or so concertos. Plus a lot of sonatas
and other pieces".
We
turned to Vivaldi, quite naturally
in the setting of Daniel Smith's
airy flat decorated with many prints
of Venice. His recordings of the
37 concerti with the English Chamber
Orchestra has been a long-range
project that is now half way finished-with
one album per year till the entire
series is done. The project greatly
animates him: "These concertos have
lots of character and are very sensitive,
and considering the harmonic palette
is limited, very inventive. The
slow movements are ethereal and
the outer movements of these fast-slow-fast
patterns are very exciting, they
can give you goosebumps!"
"Vivaldi
lived and worked at 'La Pieta',
an orphanage for teenage girls in
Venice, and was maestro of the orchestra,
composing for these pupils. Apart
from the violin, his most ample
output was for the bassoon. Nobody
understands why. He must have had
an unusually talented young woman
there: this music is difficult to
execute, full of all types of 'breathtaking
hurdles' as one reviewer put it.
The instrument used was also an
earlier Baroque model, and as it
is, even today the bassoon is the
least developed of the woodwinds.
In other words, mechanically it's
more awkward to play than any of
the others. Having played them all,
I am well aware of this."
How
did his musical life begin? "I actually
started on the bassoon very late
in life. I was 24 years old, which
is unusually late to start anything.
A rather odd sequence of events
had led me to getting involved with
music in the first place. I started
the clarinet at age 16, knew nothing
about music, and if you asked me
what a clef was, I wouldn't have
known what to say, I was totally
ignorant. So one New Year's Eve,
when they reunited the Benny Goodman
trio on television. I saw him play
and to me it was pure magic". He
went to a local music studio where
his cousin was studying drums and
asked them if he could take lessons
on the instrument Benny Goodman
played - the trumpet! Suspicious,
the teacher asked him to describe
this 'trumpet' and when told that
it was 'long and black, sent the
young Smith off to be taught the
clarinet. This sequence of events,
he feels, was 'fate'.
Daniel
Smith's earliest influences were
jazz musicians, Benny Goodman, Stan
Getz, and Charlie Parker especially.
"I felt the emotion and excitement
of what they were doing coming through.
What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter
what instrument you're playing or
what idiom you're playing in, what
is important is the feeling, the
communication".
From his beginnings with the clarinet,
saxophone and then flute lessons
followed in quick succession. Having
entered a conservatory as a clarinet
major, he switched to become a flute
major, gaining this degree from
the Manhattan School of Music in
NY. He then went on to join the
West Point Band as a special serviceman
where he played solo piccolo and
flute. During his last year in the
army, he began to study the bassoon.
"The
motivation had nothing to do with
what I'm doing now-it was a very
pragmatic thing - How can I make
a living when I get out of the army?
- this was my thinking at that time.
I thought that if I played another
reed instrument, and especially
a double reed, there would be more
opportunities-showbands, studio
work, etc.".
"As
the years went by, I became very
fond of the instrument. I loved
the sound it produced and the challenge
of playing it-it is so difficult
compared to other woodwinds. Many
people also find it appealing when
they hear it for the first time."
"An
interviewer asked me recently to
describe how I sound. I said, 'I
can't! I have absolutely no idea'.
When playing, I get lost in what
I'm doing - I'm out of myself. When
I finish, I can sort of evaluate
if I did what I intended to do,
but other than that, this is the
only way I can describe it".
"Although
I've had extensive formal training
with many famous teachers in the
States, members of the NY Philharmonic,
Boston Symphony, NBC Symphony, Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra, etc, at some point
I just went my own way in regard
to developing a style. Consequently,
people either like it very much
or are dubious. Not so much listeners
- audiences are enthusiastic at
my concerts and recitals and my
recordings sell very well. But apparently,
I have stepped a little aside from
the 'correct' way of playing, although
not intentionally, just simply by
doing what I do."
The
advice he received from one teacher
encouraged him to stick out and
be different. "There are a lot of
very good bassoon players around,
and they all play well - everybody
knows the orchestral repertoire
- that's a given. What you have
to do is somehow make yourself special
so that the audience in front of
you can feel something is happening.
Not just the correct notes coming
out, they've got to be almost lifted
out of their seats! I always try
to capture the essence of what I'm
playing, whether a sonata, a crossover
selection, a traditional English
piece, ragtime, or a virtuoso bravura
piece."
What
are Daniel Smith's plans for the
future? His solo career continues
to flourish, with many engagements
in his diary. Over the past three
years he has been working with pianist
Jonathan Still, and the duo has
been taking shape with over 20 recitals
in the past two years. He feels
fortunate in having found in Jonathan
a responsive musician who picks
up the slightest nuance from his
partner. As a dedicated Anglophile
too, he anticipates spending more
time in this country. This past
year two more recordings were released:
the third volume of Vivaldi concertos
with the English Chamber Orchestra
on ASV, and also a five concerto
volume including works by J.C.Bach,
Hertel, Graupner, Vivaldi, and an
18th Century dance suite by Henry
Hargrave - also with the ECO and
on ASV.
He
also points out that most importantly
is not 'what' he plays, but 'how'
he plays it. "My recent recitals
sound very different now from what
I would have played a year ago."
He
enjoys the opportunity to speak
to the audience, to communicate
information about the musical selections,
and to break any barrier between
performer and listener. The growth
in the instrument's popularity excites
him. "It's going to come into its
own soon. If it's played well and
effectively, it can be very appealing.
There are a lot of fine bassoon
players around, so eventually it
will catch on and people will accept
it as an important solo instrument
to go and hear."
Daniel
Smith seems to relish the freedom
of being a solo artist and a member
or a rare breed. "It is vital to
convey the inner 'life' of the music
over everything else. Arthur Rubenstein
claimed that he never played a perfect
performance, and hoped that he never
would. There would be nothing left
to aim for. In any event, it really
does not matter what instrument
you play, it's what you can convey
through the music that is important
and meaningful, everything else
is just the technique of executing
it. I'm always changing the way
I play - the use of vibrato, dynamics,
phrasing, etc...it's limitless what
you can do. Discipline has its place,
but when you are trying to convey
a musical message, why not be flexible?"
-
Ruth Preston
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