Composer Edward Smaldone blends influences from the worlds of twelve tone music, jazz, and extramusical realms like architecture and poetry. His new album of world premiere recordings “What no one else sees…” (New Focus #fcr425) is performed by some top European ensembles, including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Denmark's Royal Life Guards Music Band, the Brno Philharmonic, and Opus Zoo. The album features two programmatic orchestral works, a clarinet concerto, piano concerto, and a woodwind quintet.
In this extensive interview with the composer, we spoke with Smaldone about the new album, his journey from playing in professional rock bands to writing for top European ensembles, first impressions, and so much more.
The works on this album are performed entirely by European artists. How did you first connect with the Scottish RSO, the pianist Niklas Sivelöv and some of the others?
There were two “threads” that lead to this CD being completely performed by European artists. The first was a Student Exchange program I arranged with the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, while I was Director of the Copland School of Music in New York. There were visits from students and faculty in both directions, and I got to know both Søren-Filip Brix Hansen and Niklas Sivelöv.
In 2010 Søren-Filip Brix Hansen was an exchange student, studying clarinet at the Aaron Copland School of Music (with Charlies Neidich). It was soon after Søren-Filip returned to Copenhagen that he was named the concertmaster of the Royal Lifeguard Ensemble. We stayed in touch (I had written other pieces for him) and we hit upon the idea of a concerto for him to celebrate his new appointment. Covid delayed the premiere, (originally scheduled for March 2020!) but we finally gave the premiere as part of the KLANG! Festival in Copenhagen, in June 2021 (under rather strict Covid conditions). We recorded it at that time, and it was the first piece of the puzzle.
Niklas Sivelöv was another contact I had made during various visits to Copenhagen. I was invited to compose a new piece for the League of Composers Orchestra for a New York Premiere at the Miller Theater at Columbia University. I had suggested once to Niklas that “I should write you a concerto” and he foolishly answered “Sure.” I wrote the piece in 2019 and 2020, but that performance was also delayed by Covid. The premiere was in New York City in May 2023 and we recorded it in Glasgow in 2024.
The second thread extends from Douglas Knehans and Mikel Toms, two wonderful musicians I have known for a while. Douglas Knehans is a fine composer and good friend I have known for 30 years. When he started his record label (Albaze) I was happy to participate in several recording sessions in Brno and Glasgow. Among these were Beauty of Innuendo in Brno and June 2011 in Glasgow, both of which were previously released on compilations on Ablaze. I’m re-issuing them here so that they are on this album with the two new concerti.
The final work on the CD comes from another offhand comment, this time by Søren-Filip, who asked “do you have anything for woodwind quintet?” There is nothing a composer likes more than being “asked to dance.” I wrote the piece for his group in 2023, they performed it about a half-dozen times in Denmark and in New York, and then recorded a live performance in Denmark in 2024, which we have included on the CD.
Having assembled all these European performances, (the last one in May 2024), I brought all the music to the Westchester studio of the incomparable Grammy winning recording engineer and editor Silas Brown) in Summer 2024, and made ready for release in December on New Focus.
In short, the European threads were like a series of long fishing lines laid out over a number of years, that finally came together back in New York!
You wrote your piano concerto Prendendo Fuoco (Catching Fire) specifically for the Swedish pianist, Niklas Sivelöv as soloist. The Danish clarinetist Søren-Filip Brix Hansen was the inspiration for your concerto for clarinet and wind orchestra Murmurations.
What are the rewards – and challenges – of writing a work with a specific artist in mind; and for these artists specifically?
These two concerti are among four I have written, each time for a specific soloist. I have also been fortunate to have written quite a number of chamber pieces where I have known exactly for whom I am writing. This is my preferred way of working. (Actually, I can’t think of a single piece I have ever written that was not for a specific performance and performers in mind.)
When the musicians are both close colleagues and friends I have the opportunity to “customize” the piece in ways that fit both the personality of the performer and the special strengths that each one has. In the case of Søren-Filip, he has a beautiful sound and can play meltingly seductive lines. He is also able to play brilliant rhythmic lines and generate excitement. I sought to capture both of these qualities in the piece.
Niklas Sivelöv is a brilliant technician, and also a master improviser. I wanted to give him plenty to chew on (I was astounded when first hearing him play some of the passages. In some cases, which I thought were near the edge of playability, he just tossed them off like it was nothing.) But I also wanted to give him passages where he could “bend” things a bit, to make it sound like he was actually improvising (though, I assure you, every note is written out!). There are quite a few places in the piece where there are complex rhythms and challenging ensemble coordination. The idea was to create the kind of rhythmic fluidity that one often finds in improvised textures. Niklas had no trouble navigating these moments.
These two musicians did an amazing job, but there is always the challenge that these “bespoke” pieces might not fit the skill set of other musicians. We’ll see! I’m hopeful that we’ll get additional performances as time goes by, and I’ll be happy to hear other musicians put a personal stamp on them. In a sense I’m like a tailor who gets out his scissors as soon as there is a customer in the store.
Talk about the title track, What no one else sees … for woodwind quintet. To me, it has the most programmatic-sounding title on the album, yet it’s the only composition on the collection that you say is completely abstract.
I write music as an abstract expression. In fact, in every case, the titles of these compositions (and all of my others!) were decided sometime in the midst of composition. There are not any of my compositions where I start with a non-musical idea, and then write the piece. It is always the other way around. I know there are composers who can decide “I’m writing about a particular character, or story,” and then set to work. I don’t.
The way I work is by manipulating sound (harmonies, rhythms, melodies, instrumentation, tempo, etc.) most often through improvisation at the piano or the guitar. When I find something I like I write it down. Sometimes I record my improvisations so I can go back and “mine” them for good ideas, without breaking the flow of improvisation.
Once I find something useful, (a chord, a rhythm, a melody, a gesture) and write it down, I can determine the structural details of an improvisatory fragment and find the building blocks that will allow it to grow into an actual musical idea and ultimately grow into a piece. In this process, the creation is quite intuitive and abstract and only much later does a title emerge.
Each of the pieces on this CD (and most of my compositions, in general) got their titles when the piece was more than 50% completed. While I was composing the Woodwind Quintet, for example, I was also reading a book about creativity by the pop music producer, Rick Rubin. The music Rubin is known for producing is vastly different from what I do, but his book was an interesting stream of consciousness manifesto of ideas about music and creativity. There was an idea in the book I came upon that articulated something I have acknowledged for a long time: until the creative artist makes the thing, the thing does not exist. (Yes, obvious, I know…) As Ruben expressed it, the creative artist needs to see “What no one else sees.” I decided to let this title stand as an expression of the spirit of how I create. To me, the musical materials and how they interact make a fascinating story all their own and don’t need a programmatic “meaning” to justify them. I’m a big fan of abstract art: (color, line, contrast, perspective, but no story!) and this piece celebrates the abstract elements of music (melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, register, articulation, etc.) in their purest form.
You recently retired after 35 years on faculty at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. How does the academic side of your career inform the composition side; and vice versa?
The academic side of my career was primarily taken up with teaching music theory, ear training, music appreciation, and orchestration, with a few composition students and classes sprinkled in along the way. I love talking about the intricacies of music so I really loved my time in the classroom. It was a joy to be the person who opened the ears and minds of students, hearing and understanding the mechanics of music for the first time.
I always felt that my compositions were a combination of intense “technical” aspects of combining sounds (like the things one discusses in Theory Class), the nitty gritty details “under the hood” that make the music of the masters “click.” But composing is not the same as analyzing. You can’t get bogged down with these details. Like someone who designs a sports car, you need to know the mechanics and engineering at every level, or the car won’t work. But you also need to understand the end user experience, or the car won’t be fun to drive. I think these different aspects are equally important for me as an artist. I have spent a great deal of time fussing over the minutiae of music theory at every level, and I often spend a long time trying to find just the right chord, melody or musical gesture for a moment in a piece. But all that matters once a piece of music starts to fill the air is that end user experience. The sports car driver (like the listener) does not need to understand the mechanics of engineering, but it is those mechanics (and a little magic) that brings it all together.
Another important part of my academic career came from the rewarding experiences as the leader of 7 different Study Abroad projects. These were in England and Italy and were primarily focused on composition and performance projects. In each case, we landed in a foreign country, started writing music, and gave a concert 3 or 4 weeks later, featuring our own performances of that original music. In each case, the students wrote music for the instruments we had among the students taking the course. It was a joyous microcosm of the working composer’s life: get a date, pick the musicians you are writing for, and then make it happen. I’m still in touch with some of those students who tell me how instructive those experiences were. (One of them is writing operas and ballets across Europe at the moment!)
Tell us about your roots as a rock musician, and how that influences your work as a composer of concert music.
My journey from rock musician to concert music composer happened over the course of 12 years, from the time I was a Freshman in College to earning a Ph.D. Prior to college and during my undergraduate days, I played guitar and sang in several professional rock bands playing the music of the Allman Brothers, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power and others. I later played in wedding bands (with an array of astounding New York freelance musicians) playing the popular music of the 1930s through the 1970s. When I arrived at College, despite all this experience, I could barely read music. The time I spent as an improvising musician, figuring things out by ear, following other musicians and playing without a score, did much to inform the musician I became as I later learned the specifics of music theory, analysis, notation, and music history in College. I have been convinced for a long time that the intuitive skills I leaned on at the beginning are still an essential part of my profile as a composer. The music I write relies both on the technical things I learned as a music student and the intuitive musician I have always been. I remember learning that one of the things that Schenker admired was the “sweep of improvisation.” It was through this that a notated composition achieved unity. The ability to make something that is so carefully prepared seem like it just sprang from the air is the magic of a great composition, like the way that the very best acting, be it on the stage or on film, simply convinces you that the characters are real and living each moment in real time. I keep trying to achieve that
What else would you like us to know about you?
Throughout my compositional career I have sought to create exciting and detailed musical landscapes. I am aware of the old adage that “you only get one chance to make a first impression.” My goal is always to find a way to make that first impression one that draws in the listener. But an additional challenge is (in my opinion) to make things rich enough in detail, so that every detail is not obvious from a single hearing. What I try to do is create an inviting surface that has lots of detail and invites additional listening. I’m also a huge fan of architecture, so I want the large outlines of my music to be plain and clear. I like strong cadences that divide the musical landscape into manageable “chunks” and then the “chunks” need to add up to a satisfying whole. It is a tall order! It is especially difficult when it happens in a live performance, where both the players and the audience only get one shot. I love the high wire act of live performance, and the excitement of live players adds a dimension that is irreplaceable. but I’m glad to have the opportunity to fuss over the recordings on this CD and to make them available in the wonderful sonic world we live in. I’m really hoping that some listeners will seek out the high-resolution recordings we have made available (they are on Bandcamp and on the New Focus Website.). The streaming services are a wonderful way to share the music, but the tastiest listening is with the Hi-res files and pair of headphones!