It was in November, 2009 that I found, in poking around a stack of uncatalogued CDs in the kpac library, several orchestral recordings by someone named Carlos Franzetti. I took these recordings home and listened to them and I liked what I heard. Somehow, I tracked down contact information for Carlos and set up a phone interview. In early December of 2009 Carlos and I talked for a good hour about his background and his work and pretty much from the first five minutes of our conversation I think we both felt we were talking to old friends. Was it because both Carlos and I were born in 1948? After all, it was a good year to be born a musician.
Recently, Carlos Franzetti, his wife Allison, a pianist, and flutist Laurel Zucker were in San Antonio for the premiere of a new piece, "Through Fields into the Ocean." They stopped by our KPAC studios for an interview, transcribed below.
One of the first questions I posed to Carlos, and he'll likely recall, was whether he was a composer who waited for a commission before writing music, or did he begin writing when the muse tapped him on the shoulder?
James Baker: I believe, Carlos, you described yourself as “like a shark...”
Carlos Franzetti: Yes, yes, and well, it's great to meet you in person. First of all, I mean, because we've been communicating through emails and phones and things like that, finally, I'm here in front of you. I also, I think, that I was talking about self commission projects.
JB: That's right, exactly right. And I was curious whether this music that you're premiering tomorrow is one of those self commission pieces, 0r did you get a commission that set it all in motion?
CF: I was very fortunate to get a commission from the soloist of this piece who also recorded and is going to perform it at the Convention on Friday at 1130 (I think 45), that's my wife and Laurel Zucker, who is a fantastic, wonderful flutist and is with us today, and and she did commission me, and apparently she liked it so much that she came with another three commissions. So you know, we'll talk about that later.
JB: I guess, Carlos, you're one of the busiest composers I know, very adept at doing your self commissions and . . .
CF: . . . other commissions. Yeah, I . . . I'm very fortunate my music is played, and I am constantly writing, talking about self commissions. Last year, after I finished Laurel's Sonata and other pieces, I said, well, I wonder whether I can do something for orchestra, you know, like more extensive piece and I wound up writing a Fourth Symphony, and that was a self commission. I wanted to do that, you know, I don't think I'm going to get to a ninth, but at least I match Brahms in numbers, not in quality, because Brahms Fourth is a beautiful, beautiful work.
JB: Well, Laurel Zucker, I'm sure you're the one who is the best to give a bit of background for the National Flute Association, because you've been in the middle of quite a few of these conventions. How many of these conventions have you attended? I think this is the 52nd one. Do you have any idea how many of them you've attended?
Laurel Zucker: Probably about 10. I would say about 10 of them, or maybe more, I'm not sure, but a lot. And this is a wonderful one that's so beautiful here in San Antonio.
JB: Thank you, Laurel, San Antonio really knows how to welcome visitors, and as you know, we're reliant upon it. That's an important part of our economy. Laurel, I was also looking at your discography, and I am amazed at the number of recordings you've made, and also the range of the repertoire, I guess you've always recorded for Cantelina, is that it?
LZ: Yes, it's a passion of mine. I love recording. And I, I'm the kind of person I don't want to play the same piece over and over and over again. I just once I perform something, I just want to go on to the next and learn new music. I just love it.
JB: So now I turn to Allison, and I know this is not the first time you've collaborated with Laurel. You've known each other for some time, haven't you?
Allison Franzetti: We actually had met a few years ago. We were both at a chamber music festival and also various other kinds of things in Italy. Was about five years ago. It's the InterHarmony, and that was in Acqui Terme in Italy, but we really start working together through a wonderful flutist named Jeremy Benson. Jeremy is the president of the Florida Flute Association, and Laurel was their feature guest artist last year.
LZ: No, no. Two years.
AF: Oh, is it two years ago already? Two years? Oh, my goodness, I lost track. Anyway, Jeremy assigned me to play with her because I'm one of the pianists there. I fly in from New Jersey . . . do it every year. And Laurel had a project, and she said, would you like to do it and I was like, well, yeah, sure, because I was very anxious to play with Laurel. Everyone who knows anything about flute knows Laurel is one of the people you want to work with. So that was our first collaboration, and we've gone on to do several from there.
JB: Let's hit rewind for a moment, and I think it will lend considerable context to the evolution of “Through fields into the ocean.” June 6, 2020, I see the following post on Carlos' Facebook page. It was from Allison and read, “Carlos asked me to post this. He had two subdural hematomas and needed surgery this morning, he will make a full recovery, and is very fortunate. Thank you for your love and support.”
JB: This, of course, left all of the friends of Carlos and Allison slack-jawed, as they say. Brain surgery? Is there really such thing as a full recovery?
CF: Yeah, I have to go to rehab and actually practice driving my car again, because I was driving and I would tilt to the right and, you know, and it was the way I, you know, I couldn't play piano. And the funny thing is, just before the surgery, I asked the surgeon, would I be able to play piano again? Not would I be alive? Would I be able to play piano? What's the major concern . . . play piano or write for orchestra? But it took me a while, as I said, after that and the rehab and everything I didn't have the endurance for about a year, year and a half, something like that. Yeah, I just couldn't concentrate. You know, it was Netflix all the time, or watching whatever or news.
AF: But having said that, In the Wee Small Hours, the recording that he did, the jazz recording, that it is absolutely beautiful. And that was just short of a year after the first surgery. Really gorgeous project.
JB: So Carlos, here you are, one year into recovering from brain surgery, playing beautifully the album of standards and Laurel calls up and wants to commission a Flute Sonata. What then?
CF: I was coming out of . . . I had a couple of (more than a couple) or three brain surgeries, about in in 2020, which were Covid related. They were subdural hematomas, and after that, a year after that, I recorded an album of standards called In the We Small Hours of the Morning. And I did write some music that I got commissions to write, but I, you know, I noticed that I didn't have endurance. I couldn't stay there sitting for more than an hour, two hours. So when Laurel asked me to write this music, and thank you again, I started with a very simple piece that I had a melody before, Romanza, and I said, up, I'll see what I can do with this. Whether, you know the thing works, and it did work. And then I went to another piece that I have in mind for, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, which is the “Lobster Quadrille.” I so I wrote that again, and it's a fun piece. I mean, it's a very humorous piece. And then I said, Well, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna write this Sonata. And I started. Then I started from the first movement to the last moment, because there's a lot of composers. Sometimes they write the ending of, you know, of a piece, and then they go, and they go back and write this slow movement, or whatever, and the first two movements (of the flute sonata) are joined together, so it's an attacca subito at the end of one movement . . . the other piece starts the slow movement, which ends a little bit with the transition from the first movement to the attacca subito of the second movement. And, and it works so fine for me. As far as the shape, the form of this I was very pleased. So then I went into the third movement, I got wild into this folkloric dance of, you know, alla Ginastera, or that type of thing. And, and I wrote this Chacarera Trunca, which is also very fun piece, even with a section that resembles a little bit kind of a soloing over, you know, hip jazz chords, I would say, so you know, sequence of four chords in six-eight and Laurel plays all this note that sounds like, you know, she's playing a jazz tune and in a very kind of loud, victorious way, right?
LZ: Yes, absolutely. And you wrote all that music. I didn't even know Carlos was writing the “Lobster Quadrille” or the “Romanza” . . . that came as an extra. You wrote so quickly. That was what was so amazing. It just boom, and it was there. And I was like . . .
CF: I do write (fast), but I tell you one thing, I find myself very pleased to write when I was doing this Fourth Symphony. I don't feel the passing of time, I can write for 10 hours straight and not feel any kind of effort and being tired or anything like that. I'm totally concentrated. I forget to eat, and I'm very happy writing. So that's why it's not that I write . . . I do write fast, Laura, but, but it's also that I stay here, you know, very consistently.
JB: So here is the music heard in public performance just last week at the National Flute Association Conference. The Sonata is called “Through Fields into the Ocean,” and it's played by flutist Laurel Zucker and pianist Allison Franzetti. The composer is Carlos Franzetti.