Paul Shoemaker (1937 - 8th June 2010)
Paul
Shoemaker, a long-time contributor and reviewer on MusicWeb International,
passed away on the 8th June 2010 in Boise Idaho after a long battle
with cancer.
Paul Shoemaker was born near Los Angeles in 1937. His Theosophist
mother enjoyed singing folksongs to him. The fun of banging on
grandfather’s piano was almost completely ruined by piano lessons.
His father and uncles played classical recordings for him until
he outraged them by knowing more about the subject than they did,
and telling them so. The local newspaper printed his school prize-winning
essay on fire prevention.
After flunking out of both the Cal Tech and UCLA astronomy schools,
he took a job as an illumination engineer and failed at moonlighting
as a science fiction writer. With his very first paycheck he became
a compulsive recording purchaser. Reading LP program notes led
him to reading Tovey and he became as the years passed an "armchair
musicologist" as the record and book collections expanded
at nearly the speed of light. He bought a clavichord and a large
harpsichord and struggled to teach himself to play them, while
hanging out with a local amateur string quartet. They played for
him the Tovey completion to the final fugue of Bach, and this
experience set him on a resolve to hear all the rest of Tovey’s
music. He has sung in several symphonic choirs, and actually performed
on stage the bell part in what used to be thought of as a Bach
Cantata (#53).
Upon retirement he moved to a tiny country town in Idaho, less
than an hour’s drive from a university with a huge music library.
His arrangement for four guitars of the Bach Passacaglia in c
was performed by the university guitar class. He sold his harpsichord
and clavichord to buy a Yamaha DX7s synthesizer and has recently
worked with computer MIDI files, and with computer digitization
and restoration of classic LP recordings.
In addition to music and writing he has been involved seriously
in astronomy, spirituality, photography, Egyptology, exploring
the natural world, tattooing, gardening, and astrology.
Paul first contacted me after he read the articles I had written
about my work with computer MIDI files and Donald Francis Tovey
in the 1997 journal of the British Music Society and we regularly
corresponded with each other via email. In 1998 I was scheduled
to give training courses at the subsidiary in Montreal, Canada
of a major Swedish telecommunications company where I worked.
Paul decided to drive across America from his home outside Boise
to Montreal to meet me which he did. In the few days he was in
Montreal we attended a symphony concert and an opera and talked
and listened to music throughout most of my free time. I came
to realise just how vast and extensive Paul's knowledge of music
was and how much it meant to him. Of course he had read everything
by and on Tovey that had hitherto been published. On my return
to Sweden and he to Boise the email correspondence continued unabated.
I retired in 2005 and could now devote my time and energy to recording
the music of Donald Francis Tovey, my paternal grandmother's first
cousin. Paul continued to be a source of inspiration; listening
to all the recorded material I sent him and reading all the notes
I prepared for the CD booklets to which he added his own comments
and advice. We had corresponded on many occasions about my wish
to visit him in Boise and for him to show me all those parts of
the Western United States that he loved and cherished. The opportunity
came in the spring of 2007 and I booked a flight to Boise Idaho.
Paul met me at the airport and we hired a minivan and drove to
his apartment outside Boise. The apartment was filled from floor
to ceiling with Paul's massive collection of LPs, CDs and books.
I now understood why Paul was able to make so many comparisons
to previous recordings in his reviews. He had almost all of them
and those he didn't have he borrowed from the university music
library in Boise. In his study/listening room he had the latest
in surround sound technology and a well stocked library of pocket
scores. He took his reviewing very seriously but there was always
a glint in his eye and the understanding that it was as much his
job to entertain as well as criticise. He also believed that he
should not review anything by a composer whose music he did not
like or have empathy with. A trap that seems to befall so many
reviewers who do not comprehend the subjective likes and dislikes
music instils in the listener.
Our journey took us westwards into Oregon where we could see Mount
St. Helen, Mount Ranier and Mount Hood on the horizon then down
to Crater Lake. Then down the main California highway past Mount
Shatka to Oakland. Paul had been brought up in Burbank and spent
most of his working life in the Los Angeles conurbation. When
he retired Paul decided to resettle in the countryside of Idaho
far away from the large conurbations which he detested. I had
agreed that we would avoid large cities where possible. The next
day we met my younger son David who was in San Francisco for an
IT seminar. We drove round the bay to the Golden Gate bridge and
across it to a park on the opposite side. That was as far into
San Francisco that Paul was prepared to go. Back over the bridge
we then drove north to the Napa Valley where we visited the vineyards
and tasted the grape of the vines. David returned to his seminar
and we headed in the direction of Yosemite National Park with
its cascading waterfalls, forests and impressive rock faces like
El Capitan. The road out of Yosemite to the east was still closed
because of the snow so we headed north as far as Carson City to
join the highway south towards Mono Lake. From there we headed
to Death Valley stopping off at Badwater Basin 282 feet below
sea level and from there onward to Las Vegas. I was allowed to
drive along the Interstate 15 highway which runs parallel with
the strip and saw as much of the man-made jungle of Las Vegas
as I wanted to see. Our journey took us over the Hoover Dam to
the south side of the Grand Canyon where two elderly gentlemen
sat in silence at the edge of the canyon contemplating the wonders
of mother nature, including a coyote, but declined to attempt
the descent to the Colarado river. We then headed north through
Monument Valley where we became stuck in the sand at the side
of the highway because I wanted to stop to take photographs of
this unique natural landscape. We were rescued by friendly Navajo
Indians who towed us back onto the road so that we could continue
our journey to Bryce Canyon National Park, which the elements
have sculpted into a myriad sandstone columns. We made a detour
to the North Side of the Grand Canyon which give an entirely different
perspective of this wonder of nature. Passing through Zion Canyon
we headed north, bypassing Salt Lake City on our way to our final
destination in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone
Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America. The current
caldera were created by a cataclysmic eruption that occurred 640,000
years ago. There are 300 geysers in Yellowstone and a total of
at least 10,000 geothermal features altogether. We visited 'Old
Faithful', the most famous geyser in the park. There we saw an
abundance of park wildlife including bison, deer and black bears.
After Yellowstone we headed back into Idaho and our journey came
to an end.
Back in Boise Paul introduced me to Geoffrey Trabichoff who is
Concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic and former concertmaster
of the BBC Scottish Symphony and cellist Samuel Smith of the same
orchestra. Paul managed to persuade Sam Smith and pianist Robyn
Wells to perform Tovey's
Elegiac Variations for cello and
piano at a chamber concert in Boise. This was typical of Paul
- in his quiet and unassuming way he was able to make things happen
and impress us all by his erudition and unbounded love for music.
Under a somewhat 'bohemian' exterior; white bushy beard, tattoos
and sloppy clothes, lay a man of great compassion with an enquiring
mind, a passion for music and a deep love of nature and the natural
world. He did not take himself seriously and his bubbling sense
of humour was never far below the surface as witnessed by the
amusing comments which were a hallmark of his reviews. ”Music
is fun! How can you take it seriously?”
I am proud to have known Paul and to call him my friend.
Peter R. Shore
Stockholm 2010
