Chattanooga Times Free Press - ChattanoogaNow
A control freak’s dream come true
Bela Fleck’s thoughts on composing two concertos
Bela Fleck is arguably the world’s most-respected banjo player, and he has made it his mission to broaden people’s perception of the instrument. He wants people to realize it can be used for more than hillbilly or Dixieland music.
That’s why he creates so much of the music he makes, whether by playi ng with his band the Flecktones or with a full symphony. It’s also why he has created two concertos. He will perform the second, “Juno,” tonight, Oct. 26, with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Also on the program, conducted by Kayoko Dan, will be Gershwin’s “American in Paris” and Debussy’s “Children’s Corner.”
“I always l ove putting the banjo into some unique situations and adding some class to it,” he said. “I love the idea of it not being reduced to a stereotype.”
For Fleck, the chance to write a second concerto was a welcome challenge, in large part because of what he learned from the first one. Co-written with friend Edgar Meyer ( his uncle, Walt, was a popular local jazz performer), “The Imposter” was written in 2011. Fleck was able to perform it more than 50 times, a luxury not often afforded concerto performers, he said.
“These projects are labors of love for me,” he said. “There is no way it is financial. These are vanity projects in a weird way. The world is not clamoring for a second concerto, nor were they the first one.”
Writing and performing “The Imposter” so many times allowed him to learn what worked and what didn’t, he said.
“None of what I learned was very sexy. You don’t l earn vast conceptual things, but you learn some things are very hard for an orchestra to learn so you spend all this rehearsal time on it when maybe it didn’t have to be there in the first place.”
He added that classical music has difficult passages, but most musicians hear them growing up, and seem to know them innately.
Performing the pieces also allowed him to learn about other instruments and how they worked together. Seemingly simple things, like where the oboes are onstage in relation to the clarinets or trumpets, can make a difference.
“Some composers will change the seating chart for a piece. One of the weird things is that people on one side can’t hear the other side, so you go to the referee, the conductor.”
When writing “Juno,” which was inspired and written for his newborn son, Juno, Fleck said he also kept in mind some advice he got from Meyer.
“He said, ‘ Make sure there is plenty of banjo in it. You know how to do that.’
“I do know how to do that. I know how to reinvent things or do things that have never been done on the banjo before. That is the fun of it. It’s a big challenge and why I do it.”
Fleck said he l oves the challenge of composing for orchestra, even if it does come with some risks. He loves the inherent sense of power that comes from composing a piece and then hearing an orchestra play it.
“The power of that sound and the control freak in you loves it. Everything is written. There is no improvisa- tion. Not only do you determine what note is played, but how to slur it and how to come in and out of it.
“It’s a control freak’s dream, but you live and die from it.”