JPG: When you were writing it, having the experience of working on the previous concertos with Edgar Meyer, did you — at least in your head before you sat down to write the first notes — did you think, “I’ve experienced this. I know what I’m doing, and I have Sibelius here to help me out. I can do this.”?
BF: I felt very excited about the idea of finally doing it. I’ve been waiting so long. I didn’t know how good it would be. I’ve seen a number of people do it and went to see it and had mixed feelings about their pieces and thought, “Anybody could be the armchair quarterback, sitting on the side going, ‘Oh, why did he do that?’” So, I knew it was the kind of thing where you could work your ass off and still have a lot of people not perceive it as being a success. In some ways, I felt like there was no way to win and in another way I thought there was nothing I could do wrong, if that makes any sense.
A lot of times when you’re an artist or musician and you hear other people do something and you don’t like it, it’s because it’s not what you would have wanted to do, not because it’s not good. So, I was really curious about what I was going to do. I was really excited to get into it, and then it was fun to watch it unfold but there was a lot of doubt as I was going along because I didn’t know how Sibelius was going to represent the orchestra. How similar would it sound to what I had in my computer? Then, I discovered in reality, there were things that were very similar and there were things that were completely not similar at all. That’s the kind of thing you can only learn from doing it.
I’m hoping that I learned that when doing this next one that I’ll have learned some of the kinds of things that I should and shouldn’t write for the different instruments, although it’s a success in that it’s been played now by probably 30 different orchestras. They all play it great. It sounds good on their instruments, the audience loves it. So I would say, it’s a success, but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t do things better. I don’t want to write the same one again. I want to write something different, as different as possible.
JPG: That reminds me, the ending of the concerto; I thought it was funny that every person in the film didn’t like it except for Futureman. Some people would go by the majority opinion. Was there anything in particular that he said or just something about him or something within yourself that stuck with it and didn’t change the ending?
BF: It’s funny. When you’re creative and you have a creative impulse and you follow it through and you like it, it’s really hard when people, it doesn’t matter how many people tell you they don’t think it’s a good idea, you still think it’s a good idea. And when you’re in a band, a lot of times some of the best ideas get tossed out. Somebody, one of the four or six people, however many people it is, is gonna not like the idea.
I just felt like this was a place where I’ve got to try my bold ideas. If it hadn’t worked out, I probably would have rewritten it for the future. But the truth is we were also recording it for the Deutsche Grammophon [Records] album during the performance. So, in a way it was a little…I really liked it is the honest truth but I never say it anywhere [in the film]. I really liked it. I thought it was a neat way to bring it to a close. I still like it. So, there you go.
JPG: Each time I heard it, I liked it a little more. It’s such a different ending from how a normal piece ends.
BF: Right, felt like a nice letting of steam out. Edgar also felt it wasn’t the best ending because it allowed the audience to jump to their feet the way that something was strictly rhythmic stays solidly in time would have but I wasn’t thinking about that.
JPG: Then, there’s what you referred to as the ShantiOm section. At the same time, there’s a scene of you running and I don’t know if you meditate but do you find such things as useful tools in life as well as creativity to clear your mind and write?
BF: I love running but I had to stop because my hip hurts. I haven’t been able to do it, and it was the place where I would listen to music and I don’t have a place to listen to music in my life anymore. So, that’s sad. Yeah, there’s been periods where I meditated and it seemed like it was a helpful thing. It’s not a big part of my life right now just because there’s no time with a two year old. I have a two year old. Everything is just how do you get everything done? I’m a little more frantic these days. I probably could use it more, but I need to spend that time getting stuff done.
JPG: I understand. You spent time writing in two very different places. You were among ocean waves at Cannon Beach and then a desert climate in Mexico. Did those influence the concerto?
BF: Definitely. I would say much more so at the beach because the second movement is a lot about water. I was actively trying to imitate the sound of the way the waves come in on Cannon Beach where Abby’s parents have that place. They come in at all different speeds. There’s fast ones going, “Whoooow” and the slow ones going “Whoooooaaa.” I can’t say I did it perfectly but I can say it was an inspiration for the notes, and I like what I ended up with musically. Sometimes, I tell the orchestra what their parts are, that they need to think of themselves as waves coming up slowly and fast. It doesn’t really make them play it any better but it’s kind of fun that that’s where it came from.
JPG: Speaking of Abigail, when collaborating with her, how does that work versus your other musical situations?
BF: It is very different. For one thing neither of us is in control. Neither of us is the boss. So, it’s very much about finding consensus. There’s a million ways it can go, even with a simple fiddle tune or an old traditional song. So, we’ve got to find something we both really feel good about. I’d say 90% of it happens naturally and the other 10% we go back and forth about quite a bit.
JPG: Going back to when we were talking about the ending and the feedback from it, early on in the creation of the concerto you didn’t want any opinions coming in but then there was that whole portion of the film where you’re playing the completed piece to a number of people. Were you trying to get feedback or was it just, “Here’s what I’ve been talking about all these months”?
BF: I was I ready for some feedback and Edgar points out that I pretty much knew what the piece was at that point and I think that’s true. When you listen to other people’s opinions, you compare your own with them and if there’s something where somebody says, “I don’t agree. I wish you hadn’t done that.” And then you go, “But, I really like that.” Well then, I know that I really like it or if somebody says, “I don’t know if that part is working that good” and I go, “You know what? I think he’s right. That part’s been bothering me the whole time, too. I don’t know why I didn’t notice that before.” So, it really can help.
The important thing is not to do it too early in the process. You need to complete it. It’s kind of like editing. You don’t start editing until you’ve done all your creative stuff. You don’t start comping the solo until you’ve played a bunch of solos if you’re in the studio. Do you know what I mean? If you’re composing, you don’t start critiquing everything or it pretty much kills the creative impulse. For me having some outside voices to kick in didn’t mean I had to listen to what they said. It means that now I could settle those thoughts in with mine and I could check them for resonance.
And the ones that really resonated, in particular Edgar’s, I actually acted on. And it changed what I wrote. It brought some new elements into the piece that made it a lot better, especially in the third movement. Then there were things he said that I didn’t agree with at all. He felt like the first and second movements were too similar. To me they were so completely different I had no idea what he meant. Now, I’m sure he was right, and he was talking about the amount of activity, the tempo, things like that, but the musical information was so different and the way it was treated was so different that I didn’t consider it to be a problem. Where he said the third movement is not landing correctly, now that was different. That, I thought he had something there and I was trying to get something out of his critique. I did get something though ironically he didn’t think that I had gotten it but I think I did because when he heard it the last time he thought everything was working really good. He didn’t realize I had made some changes based on his critiques. In a way I wasn’t really being fair to him when I said I thought you hated that part at the end. The truth is I changed a lot of things to make that part better by working on the structure up to it based on his comments. So, the truth is I actually succeeded at what he asked me to do.
The edit of the film, it seemed to make more sense to poke fun at him a little bit, act like he was irrational but the truth is he isn’t irrational. He’s a very smart guy. He’s a good friend, too, so he puts up with it.
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