{"id":4429,"date":"2013-02-05T17:29:36","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T01:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4429"},"modified":"2013-02-06T15:12:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T23:12:12","slug":"jeff-sultanof-on-robert-farnon-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/02\/jeff-sultanof-on-robert-farnon-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Sultanof On Robert Farnon, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Jeff Sultanof makes clear in the first segment of his two-part essay for Rifftides<\/em>, the most accomplished \"Gillespie<\/a>composers and arrangers looked up to Robert Farnon (1917-2005). To the left, we see him between two of his admirers, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Carter. Early in his career, both offered him encouragement and advice and, later, became fans. The sheer skill of Farnon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s craftsmanship would have been\"sultanof<\/a> reason enough for envy, but he combined mastery of technique with a creative imagination that gave him range from the most subtle harmonic magic accompanying singers to the surging power of epic seaborne motion picture battles. <\/p>\n

Mr. Sultanof is treasured by professional musicians for his analysis and editing of scores and for his writing and teaching about composers and composing. He has also written for Rifftides<\/em> about Pete Rugolo, Gerry Mulligan and Russell Garcia. <\/p>\n

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Robert Farnon<\/strong><\/iframe><\/div>\n
By Jeff Sultanof<\/iframe><\/div>\n

In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s colleges and universities around the world, students and teachers continue to explore the world of big band and orchestral arrangements, analyzing them in classrooms, writing them, or both. It is a fascinating journey to see and hear how many different kinds of sounds and structures can be created using the same instrumentation that has been formulating and evolving over many, many years.<\/p>\n

\tSomewhere along the line, anyone familiar with Nelson Riddle, Billy May and the many other legends of arranging in the popular music idiom, eventually finds the name of a man who never became very well known, at least in the United States. It’s a different story in Europe because his BBC broadcasts were heard there. Professionals everywhere, however, regard Robert Farnon as the best of them all. <\/p>\n

\tI will deal only with the basics of his career. You are invited to explore the Robert Farnon Society website<\/a>, the internet home of the organization that celebrates and promotes Farnon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work as well as that of other composer\/arrangers. <\/p>\n

\tFarnon was born in Canada on July 24, 1917 (coincidentally, I was born on the same day in 1954, something Bob and I used to joke about). He came from a musical family. His brothers Brian and Dennis also became world-class musicians. Bob was a trumpet player and joined the CBC Orchestra as lead trumpet for broadcasts under the direction of Percy Faith. When Faith left the CBC, Farnon took his place, and his arrangements were heard all over Canada. Farnon also composed two well regarded symphonies, one of them played by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Considering them juvenilia, he later withdrew them, although some of the themes in those works were recycled for other compositions.<\/p>\n

\t\"Captain<\/a>During WWII, he became a Captain in the Canadian army, and was commissioned to assemble an Allied Expeditionary Force orchestra from Canada to be sent overseas to entertain the troops. His was the equivalent of Glenn Miller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s American AEF ensemble and George Melachrino\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s English band. The three men were great friends, and would meet at Miller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office, which was a room at the Mt. Royal Hotel in London. The British music world recognized Farnon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talents, and he often moonlighted as arranger for such leaders as Ted Heath and Geraldo.<\/p>\n

\tDuring and after the war, Farnon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ensemble broadcast regularly. Some of those recorded programs were found many years later. Farnon was not exactly thrilled at their rediscovery and availability on CD, as he had been forced to arrange the newest songs by transcribing them over short-wave radio broadcasts, and the lyrics and music were sometimes incorrect. This makes his work all the more remarkable; some arrangements, including \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Laura,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are from that period, although commercially recorded several years later. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Laura\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is considered one of his masterpieces. He continued to perform for it many years.<\/p>\n