Squirelling away our losses

Last night the world lost a great conductor, a huge personality, a generous and rare breed of human being - Sir Andrew Davis.

How is it that life can be so brief and yet so fraught with continual loss of people to whom we owe so much and yet the debt will remain unpaid?

For those who say that our upbringing is the determining factor in our life path, I say it is people with whom we have the good or bad fortune to connect in our lives.

These people can have a life altering effect and if we are open, and the winds are fair, the journey can resemble a ship travelling to a new world.

Such was the case with Andrew Davis, who had the generosity to take a risk in hiring me as a very young musician. In a bygone age, he was going by his instinct, and instincts are themselves under seige these days.

One might think that conductors are confident by nature. Such is not the case. Conductors generally are people with fragile egos seeking constant affirmation and friends in a business where there is little of either in a true sense.

This man had a security about him that was inspirational. The knighthood was but window dressing for him. He was generous on and off the stage and capable of enormous versatility as a performer and conductor. Who can conduct Mahler 9 one week, go on to be organ soloist in Saint-Saens’ organ Symphony and then sing and conduct in a Gilbert and Sullivan performance the next? And deliver all at a top level?

His grasp of English ( and other languages ) was remarkable, as was his ability to arrange, compose and accompany. He also was far ahead of the curve in being able to connect verbally from the podium with an audience .

In the end, he was a person who got it. And I was lucky to have spent time with him over many decades. I have a collection of nuts in my cheeks - morsels from Sir Andrew Davis - that I shall nibble on during harsh times to come.

He leaves us having made the world a better place.