Edward Smaldone (b. 1956)
What no one else sees…
Beauty of Innuendo
Prendendo Fuoco (Catching Fire)
Murmurations
June 2011
What no one else sees…
rec. 2013-2024
New Focus Recordings FCR425 [75]

In his introduction to this disc, the composer, Edward Smaldone, suggests treating it as a five-course banquet laid out on a table as separate dishes which the listener is encouraged to treat as a buffet from which they can sample as many as they wish, returning to the table as often as they like. I approve of the analogy, as I remember once, when I had properly discovered chamber music, going through a phase when I felt overfed by symphonic music, in that it was like being served a three-course meal on a single plate. In reviewing the disc I have, indeed returned to the table multiple times but have never felt either overfed. What happened, as indeed it should, is that every time I returned I discovered something I had missed before, and savouring the multitude of flavours became a thing of great joy.

Smaldone cites his major influences as both jazz and concert music, and having spent over fifty years as a performing jazz guitarist, he should know what he’s talking about. As a jazz fan myself, I can attest that the influence is clearly there. I also thoroughly approve of his assertion that “the brainy parts of contemporary concert music should never get in the way of expressing heartfelt, soulful, swinging music that exudes the spirit of spontaneity. The two sides combine.” The more often the listener ‘returns to the table’ the more all these strands will merge in the brain and the more the ‘diner’ will enjoy the feast. 

Beauty of innuendo is an extremely powerful work, as are all the works on the disc. There is a virtual musical maelstrom created for the first two and a half minutes before the energy seems to burn itself out, making way for a gentler interlude before the intensity builds once again and continues for the rest of the work, ending with a gradually reducing tension culminating with a single note from the violins before the piece evaporates into silence.

For me, the piano concerto Prendendo Fuoco (Catching Fire) is the highlight of the disc. It is divided into four sections subtitled Introduction (Smouldering); Ballad, Singing; Fire Dances; Incendiary (Quiet before the storm, Catching Fire). As suggested, the opening alludes to the beginnings of a fire when it is still simply smouldering. The beauty of these opening sections belies the ferocity that awaits. The quiet occurring before the moment of spontaneous combustion is such a contrast to when it finally bursts into all-consuming flames that the power is almost tangible. All the orchestral forces are brought to bear to create a sound picture of the increasing flames that morph into total conflagration with the piano providing the detail. There are some moments when the soloist is called upon to perform considerable feats of dexterity with hands leaping from right to left with greater and greater speed, especially in the closing minute. It must be quite an experience to watch the work, written specifically for Niklas Sivelöv, performed live. Repeated hearings only serve to allow the listener to get more out of it and marvel at both the work and the soloist.

Composers are a special breed who often challenge themselves to represent increasingly difficult scenarios and the next work is, like creating the sound of fire, a hard one indeed: a murmuration of starlings. It is a magical experience and to painting that picture in music exerts particular challenges which Edward Smaldone manages with amazing aplomb. It is the next best thing to seeing it and a blind person listening would be better able to imagine it than by any other method. The composer’s choice of using a clarinet is perfect; it has a special grace and the ability to enable the listener to envisage the swooping, soaring, circling and diving of birds. It is a powerfully expressive work.

The next piece was, once again a difficult challenge which the composer set himself: namely to represent a moment in time when life for his family changed forever following the loss of the last member of his wife’s generation, her mother. The music is meant to represent the specific moment when this occurred and its emotional impact on the family. The music begins powerfully, presumably representing his mother-in-law’s hold on life and her unquenchable spirit; it then relaxes into a calm and peaceful period as her life begins to slip away before ending with more of a bang than a whimper. I trust my interpretation is not too far from how it was meant.

The final work on this intriguing disc is a woodwind quintet entitled, as is the entire disc, What no one else sees… It is divided into three sections: Playful, Serious, Free Spirited. The idea behind the title came from a book “The Creative Act” that holds that the creative artist “sees” the work they are creating before it exists, in ways no one else does. It is a fascinating concept, for how many of us have wondered how a composer begins to write a work, especially those (and there are many) who can compose one in a matter of days, if not hours? The music is completely abstract with two fast outer movements enveloping a pensive slow movement. The whole is a complete joy and wind bands around the world will surely gratefully welcome it into their repertoire. 

I’ve always found American music extremely interesting; there is a very strong and highly expressive spirit of innovation and a feeling of spontaneity (which he mentions in the notes) in the music coming out of that country. Edward Smaldone is, therefore, as one might expect, someone with a singularly unique voice and the disc is an excellent starting point from which to discover his attractive and individual music. All the musicians who perform it here were, it seems, carefully chosen and the two orchestras, two conductors, Den Kongelige Livgardes Musikkorps (Royal Life Guards Music Band) as well as the individual performers all show total commitment to the music and the composer – and from what he writes in the booklet notes it would seem that he was more than pleased with the results. Proof of this is shown by the fact that two of the works had already appeared on another label, performed by the same forces but were selected to be part of the present disc.

Steve Arloff

Previous review: Göran Forsling (February 2025)

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Performers and recording details
Beauty
Brno Philharmonic/Mikel Toms; rec. 2013 Besední dům, Brno, Czech Republic
Prendendo
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Mikel Toms, Niklas Sivelöv (piano); rec. 2024 Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
Murmurations
Den Kongelige Livgardes Musikkorps/Giordano Bellincampi, Søren-Filip Brix Hansen (clarinet; rec. 2021 Stærkassen Theater, Copenhagen, Denmark
June
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Mikel Toms; rec. 2022 Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
What no one
Opus Zoo Woodwind Quintet; rec. 2024 Odense, Denmark