Adrian
A. Smith
b. Kingston-upon-Hull,
28 October 1931
d. Huddersfield,
6 December 2005
Contributions from
John Quinn
Paul Serotsky
Sir Malcolm
Arnold, CBE
Arthur
Butterworth MBE
Mathew
Curtis
Keith
Llewellyn
Elaine
Carter
Marilyn
and Dick Myers, Edgewood Symphony
Orchestra
Stuart
Marsden, SPO Trumpeter
From Marilyn
and Dick Myers, Edgewood Symphony Orchestra
-
Maestro Adrian Smith
made ripples in musical circles, even
on the "other" side of the
Atlantic Ocean. In 1991, Adrian was
a guest conductor of the Edgewood Symphony,
located in Pittsburgh, PA. Our members
greatly enjoyed Adrian, his quick wit
and sense of humor as well as his conducting
style. Adrian felt that the sense and
sweep of the music was most important,
not the individual notes.
When some of our players
complained that his tempo, though right
for the piece, was too fast for some
of us, he said with a sly Adrian grin,
"I have no respect at all for human
frailty." And, you’ve guessed it,
we managed to play (mostly) the piece
at his tempo, and it was great. The
few missing notes were more than compensated
for by the energy.
One of the high points
of our musical life was getting to play
under Adrian, in the back of the second
violin section, for the performance
of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony
in Huddersfield Town Hall. At the end
of the final movement, Marilyn was moved
to tears, to the point that the notes
were swimming. She felt embarrassed
because she had no handkerchief, but
Adrian approved: "That’s what’s
supposed to happen," he said.
Another high point
in our visit was one of the after-rehearsals,
when we visited a local establishment*
with Adrian and some of the SPO players.
Dick was quite taken with his draught
of Enoch’s Hammer. We suspect
that the friendly and companionable
way that two American Pittsburghers
were treated was due at least in part
to the tone set by Adrian during his
long tenure.
* According
to Stuart Marsden, this was a pub called
The Sair,
one of seven in Huddersfield that brews
its own beer [Paul Serotsky]
