Daniel Smith

When I first studied with Maestro Peter Gülke at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, I had no idea how much he would change the way I hear music.

He later prepared me for one of the defining concerts of my life: my first appearance at the Mariinsky Theatre, conducting Mozart’s final three symphonies in one programme. I still remember those lessons: the precision, the humour, the danger, and the sense that Mozart was not a porcelain statue, but alive, theatrical, mischievous and deeply human.

That was his gift. He made you look again, even at Urtext editions. He sent me back to the handwritten manuscripts in Salzburg and Vienna, where I found missing bars, added bars, jokes hidden in the notes, and errors still sitting in printed scores today. With him, the printed page was never the end. It was the beginning.

Many knew him as a conductor, musicologist, author and teacher. Fewer perhaps realise how much of his work lives quietly on music stands around the world, through the editions he prepared and edited. His influence reached generations of musicians, including conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Kirill Karabits, Oksana Lyniv, Anja Bihlmaier and Nodoka Okisawa.

We remained in contact until now. This week he passed away, only three days before his 92nd birthday.

Thank you, Maestro Gülke, for teaching me to search deeper, to question more, and to remember that even gods have handwriting, humour, corrections and secrets.

My first time in Padua, at Teatro Verdi.

I was grateful to read these words from Federica Bressan in Le Salon Musical on Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess:

“In this 1936 orchestral score, Daniel Smith showcased his full technical mastery, doing justice to Gershwin’s rhythmic complexity and poignant melodies. In a compelling performance, he drew the orchestra out of its classical rigour, allowing its jazz soul to emerge. Almost like a mischievous sprite, Smith swept up both musicians and audience with his energy and sheer delight in music-making, bringing the performance to a close in a spirit of joy that echoed in the Teatro Verdi audience’s enthusiastic applause.”

My thanks to the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, pianist Arsenii Moon, everyone at Teatro Verdi, and the audience for such enthusiasm.