SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
Last week I gave a presentation at the Music and Opera Appreciation's final meeting at the Stratford Country Club, during which I made the statement that the composers Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert had huge impacts on my life as a child. In those days, I was listening either to records on machines the size of armoires, or cassette tapes on non-reversible playback machines.
About a day later, someone wrote to me to ask if there were other influences on my musical life. To answer that requires something much longer than a Friday e-blast, but I'll cite two here which immediately came to mind. First up, Sumi Jo:
Back during undergraduate days, one of my dorm-mates played a recording of this soprano on his stereo and I looked at him somewhat suspiciously, thinking that the recording must be filled with edits as it was too good to be true. Years later while I was in Vancouver, Sumi Jo came to sing with us at the Vancouver Symphony. I was ready for it not to be that good. Boy, was I ever wrong!! Absolutely spectacular. The above link is from around the same time that I would have been with her on stage out west. From slightly later, here's another link:
Next is Stuff Smith. Have a listen:
The first time I heard Stuff Smith's violin I was in a car somewhere in Idaho. I was on a road trip with two other musicians, and of course we had all brought cassettes to play in the long car rides between towns on tour. I couldn't believe my ears! There was no other violinist/fiddler I had ever heard that created a sound like it! I immediately hoped for a chance to hear him live, but was told by my car-mates that he had long since passed. Happily, there are several recordings available of his output and more and more video footage being released on services like YouTube. The story of his life is a complicated one, but he did leave a real mark on the music world. He left America (he was from Ohio) in 1965 settling in Copenhagen, and died in Munich in 1967. Admirers of his collected his body and transported him to Denmark, where he lay buried in a small cemetery in Jutland. While in Denmark on tour, I took a colleague's car and made the pilgrimage to pay respects. The stone laid in his honour didn't quite get his name correct, but it was close. "Stuff's" real names were Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith. The stone says Le Roy. In French that means "The King". That sounds just about right to me.
Here's another clip of him at his best. After about 45 seconds of an incredible piano solo, Stuff takes the fiddle and does what only he can do:
Stuff Smith - Bugle Call Blues (Live 1965)
Have a great weekend all!
Mark and the Stratford Summer Music Team
Supporter Highlight
MacLeods Scottish Shop
Corporate Sponsor
When I first came to Stratford to join the team at Stratford Summer Music, one of the first businesses I became aware of was MacLeods Scottish Shop. And it wasn’t just because of their prominent location in town - it was because I heard so many people talk about them!! Word of mouth still means a lot (including for music festivals!), and we are so very thankful to MacLeods for the years they have been at our side. Here’s a quote from their store manager Victoria:
We are proud to support Stratford Summer Music and all the incredible programming they bring to our community. As a downtown shop, we can see firsthand how their phenomenal performances impact Stratford, benefitting residents, visitors and local businesses. Music makes Stratford even more special. Community is so important to us and we look forward to another fantastic season of music!