["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Happy December and welcome back to another episode of the Piano Pod.
Here, tradition meets innovation. We bridge the timeless beauty of the piano with the
dynamic pulse of today's world. I am your host, Yukimii-san. It's that time of the year when we're
all buzzing with excitement, surrounded by friends and family soaking in the holiday vibes. I hope
you're feeling the festive spirit no matter where you are tuning into this episode. By the way,
this is the Piano Pod's last episode of the year 2023. What a fantastic year I've had as a host of
the show, connecting with you and with incredible guests through this magical medium of podcast.
And I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for tuning into the
Piano Pod throughout 2023. Your support has been the greatest encouragement that has fueled my
passion for sharing the world of piano with you. Whether you are a dedicated listener or a casual
viewer of the Piano Pod, your presence has made this journey truly remarkable. It's been an
incredible and meaningful year for me and I couldn't have done it without you. So thank you.
As we are ending the year 2023, I want to assure you that that Piano Pod is only getting started.
So stay tuned for the year 2024, where we have an exciting lineup of guests ready to share their
thoughts, ideas, and expertise. And I am thrilled to bring you more inspiring conversations,
captivating performances, and behind the scenes into the world of classical music.
Okay, so to end the year 2023 on a positive note, I want to bring you a love story. It's the story
of two incredible souls who not only found love for one another, but also shared a deep passion
for music. You know those couples that just radiate power and success and we call them power
couples. And we've got our own power couple in our industry. They are Grammy and Latin Grammy
award winners and nominees, Carlos Franzetti and Alison Brewster Franzetti. Carlos and Alison are
partners in life and music, making beautiful melodies together. And I mean it literally.
So let me first introduce Mr. Carlos Franzetti, composer arranger of five Latin Grammy awards and
a Grammy award, a musical virtuoso of unparalleled versatility. His talent spans classical
symphonies, big band jazz, Latin American rhythms, and captivating film scores. His compositions have
graced stages globally from the Boston Pops to Prague, uniting hearts worldwide. In jazz,
he collaborated with celebrities like Arturo Sandoval, crafting unforgettable recordings.
Mr. Franzetti's artistic imprint shines through in beloved films such as the Mambo Kings,
enriching the narrative tapestry of cinema. His ongoing creative journey delights enthusiasts
with recent hits like Legacy and Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Born in Buenos Aires, Mr. Franzetti's
musical journey began at six. Studying at prestigious schools like Julliard, he pursued
his dreams, becoming a global citizen through music. His compositions bridge cultures,
uniting audiences through his extraordinary music and recordings.
Now let me introduce pianist Alison Brewster Franzetti, a renowned artist celebrated for her
exceptional musicality. She's received accolades from prestigious organizations like the Latin
Grammy and Grammy Awards. Ms. Franzetti's career spans solo performances at iconic venues like
Carnegie Hall, collaborations with renowned artists, and orchestral engagements with groups
like the Brooklyn Harmonic. As a prolific recording artist, her latest solo project,
Pianista, earned a silver award from the Global Music Awards. Ms. Franzetti's influence goes
beyond performance. She is an acclaimed author, composer, and editor, contributing to notable
publications and collaborating with esteemed musicians. Her educational background includes
degrees from the Manhattan School and Julliard. In academia, she holds potential
positions at Kean University, Rutgers University, and various music festivals. Ms. Franzetti's
diverse talents and contributions to classical music and the arts have earned her recognitions
from foundations and societies, cementing her status as a distinguished pianist and a globally
respected artist. Before we dive into this special episode featuring Alison and Carlos,
a warm welcome to all newcomers joining the Pianopod today. I am a classical pianist and
educator based in New York City, the creator and executive producer of this show. Whether you are
fully immersed in a piano career, deeply engaged in a classical music scene, or simply drawn to
the beauty of the piano melodies, this podcast grants you an exclusive pass into the captivating
world of the piano. To all our loyal TPP fans and listeners, just a quick reminder to rate
and review the show on your favorite podcasting platform because your ratings and review will
play a crucial role in helping others discover this podcast. So grab your hot cocoa and brace
yourself for the inspiration that awaits from Carlos and Alison's incredible journey. Welcome
to the final episode of 2023. Please enjoy the show.
You are listening to the Pianopod where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry about how
they are bringing the piano into the 21st century. Welcome to the Pianopod, Alison and Carlos. Thank
you so much for being here. Well, we're delighted to be here. Thank you so much for inviting us.
Thank you. So you were both introduced to me by Donna Wang Friedman, who is a producer,
concert pianist, and she was actually on the Pianopod as a guest in season two.
And then I think Donna is your really close friend. She's been my friend for many, many years,
and I'm a huge admirer of her work and all the accolades she's getting for Never Fade Away.
Very exciting to see what she created and all the recognition she's really truly deserving to get
for such an extraordinary project. Absolutely. So a quick shout out to Donna. Thank you. And if
you are listening, I love the morning of interview session, usually after I make my coffee and I start
my day because I get to listen to the music of the guest of that day that I'm about to interview.
And then this morning I've been listening to your both of your music. So in my YouTube playlist,
I had started out with a Pazza Collier, but the two piano version. Right. I also I realized that
there's a actual version in the CD album, one of the CD albums you have. But this was particularly
the two piano version both of you are playing and which led me to Circle de Alarvada. Yes.
That's a fun video with a small orchestra chamber, a few strings and a couple of woodwinds,
flute and clarinet, and of course, Alison playing piano and Krolls playing piano. And we also have
this Argentine. Well, actually it's a German instrument, the bandoneon, but adopted for
Argentine tango and like the guitar was recorded, what, 10, 12 years ago? It was 2012. It was right
before Hurricane Sandy, actually. And we flew back from Buenos Aires right after Hurricane Sandy.
We were able to see the devastation of the area from the air. And then of course, had a lot of
trouble getting home from Kennedy Airport at the time, but managed it because so many roads were
closed here. And the gas stations weren't giving gas either. But the video itself, that was a really,
really fun project. All the music was composed by Carlos. With the recording, we had forgotten a
baton. And so we used a straw to conduct when we were switching off. But you can't tell that it's
a straw in the video. That's actually what it was. Really? Wow. But I also noticed, Alison,
you were conducting too. So you took turns, like, you know, while Carlos was playing the piano,
Alison conducted and vice versa. And I really enjoyed the video. And at one point, it was like
a 45 minutes of sort of like a documentary where you performed, but also there was like a talk
in between. So I also watched the video clip of your performance of Lamento, which is the orchestral
work by you, Carlos. And of course, the piano part was performed by Alison. Actually, a couple
of days before we went to a recording session in Prague, and I came out with this tune, this
very simple tune. And Alison said, what is that? That's something that came out and, you know,
I'm going to write it down. And I started writing it, but we were leaving in two days. So I wrote
kind of half of it, you know, with orchestration. And then we left. We went to Prague and recorded.
And the contractor, the fixer, they call us over there, of the orchestra, a very good friend of
us, James Fitzpatrick, said, by the way, you know, tomorrow, instead of having half a session, you
have the whole morning. So record whatever you want. And I said, you know, I have this piece,
but I left it in the computer. And I think that I had emailed it to Alison's computer.
You had, I was able to access the file. Carlos and the fixer also had finale.
Right. So then I went and finished the orchestration and we recorded the next day. I mean, she
sirened. It's a very simple piece, but it was nice to do it on the spur of the moment and said, wow,
this is not going to die or live in a drawer. And we were happy to record it. So Carlos finished it
in finale. I extracted all the parts, the fixer printed all the parts and put them together. And
the next day we just went and did it. Oh my goodness. Wow. Yeah. But I noticed that there
were one or two CD albums that you performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Yeah.
The city of Prague Philharmonic. Actually, we did a lot of work. You know, I was called to do some
arrangements for a very good jazz saxophonist about 20 years ago. And they said the recording
will be in Prague. I said, well, you know, wonderful. We had been there before with Alison
doing some of the projects. So I, then I discovered this wonderful orchestra and I became very good
friends with this person, James Fitzpatrick, who was the producer and contractor. And then I
had other projects and I mentioned this orchestra. So I was going to Prague like twice a year
recording there. And I became very fond of the beautiful city. So that Alison, I mean, we did
many albums of ourselves and then of other people as well, singers and musicians, saxophonists.
Oh, wow. We have to talk more about your compositional genres and styles, Carlos,
because your style ranges from pure classical music to jazz, obviously to Argentine tango.
But before that, I really want to talk about you as a couple. So you each demonstrate individual
achievements and then together with your collaboration, you leave such a huge impact
in our industry and society. And then through your strong partnership, you have inspired so
many musicians and music lovers around the world. So, you know, people call you a call a duo like you
power couple, right? And then like we have been referred to that way, which we find really
fascinating because we really just do what we do. We don't put a label on us like other people would
do at all. And the good thing is that I must say, I mean, she's she's the pianist. She's the concert
pianist. I am not. I am a composer. But we both do things. I mean, she had composed a great number
of music and tunes and for shows and things and in orchestrate. And as I said, conduct the city of
Prakta Lamanic when I was playing. And on the side, I, you know, I did my classical training on piano
and study and whatever I did the basic repertoire. But my love was in composition. So we
share things, but we don't get to the point of competing. You know, like yesterday, I was there
like, I said, why don't you play the Brahms intermezzo that I love so much? Which one is the
Opus 118 number two, the A major. Beautiful piece. And she played it. She said, well, I'm going to
download the music on the right back and started playing. And it was just like a perfect performance,
which I can do. So but I don't improvise like he does. So there you go. That's what I mean about
that. We kind of we it's not that we compensate each other. We compliment. We compliment the
work you're looking for. You know, in as I said, we never got into a competition. You know, look,
I mean, you know, the way you play Chopin. And that's really true. I mean, it's it's we've been
extraordinarily fortunate that way. We're very, very respectful of each other's work very separately,
as well as everything that we've done together. And we started out knowing each other professionally
first. So, you know, people have asked us over the years, well, aren't you prejudiced because you
married? And I said, well, frankly, no, because the first months that I knew Carlos was strictly
professional relationship. And so I think Allison had a tree. I'm sorry. It's OK. Go ahead. A
chamber tree of saxophone, piano and cello and two of the people, I mean, like my music or one of
them, you know, the cellist and approached me and asked me to write for them for this trio called
Urban Birds. I said, fine, I would love to. And so they came to my house and they commissioned me
this music. I always said on the second visit, Allison gave me a check. It's actually true
because, you know, they pay for the I mean, we pay for the arrangement.
This is what you gave here. Here I'm paying you for it. And then they played it. And then I brought
some music for them and they played some other music. And then we started seeing each other.
I mean, but this happened like six months after that. So and since then, Allison had performed a
lot of my music, I've written a lot of music for Allison. I had a piano concerto that time,
but then I got a commission from the Philharmonic of Buenos Aires to write a piece. And I said,
well, you know, I'd like to write the piece, a new piano concerto. What about if Allison plays it?
Said fine. So we did it at the Teatro Colon in Argentina. And then I got some other music that
I, you know, I wrote for you. I mean, from for the Abunalma and you've written all sorts of music.
A lot of music. And this suite, you know, the suite for the Minotaur for three pianos. But
Allison was initially was going to be played by three pianos and then COVID. And the problem of
getting people together and one of the pianos lived in Europe. The other one was someplace else. And
we could never get not even a rehearsal. And three pianos, you need a place with three pianos. So we
went over and over this. And finally we decided to record it ourselves overdubbing. And Allison did
it at the Scott Walker Studio in San Francisco. So that recording we had done December of 2021.
And that's what came out in March. And that's the record called Pianista. And that's on Navona
Records, which is part of Parma recordings. Yeah. So I basically, so I overdubbed. And when I was
learning the other parts, cause I was originally playing piano too, which was really the motor
behind the whole thing in many ways. I had to learn the other parts. So I was practicing to a
click, which is how I recorded to a click track, which made it of course much easier. So would
record one part and then I could hear the part I already recorded with click when I recorded the
next part. And so the little editing that had to be done was done right then and there as I recorded
each part. So that when, when we finished all the recording, the suite was already edited. All we
had to do when we got back here was to have it mixed and mastered. And the other pieces that I
recorded required very little editing. So it was a pretty quick process to be able to turn it around
from the raw recording to actually the finished product. Wow. That's amazing. That's the album
Pianista, which was released this March, March, 20, 23. And you already received an award, a
silver award for outstanding achievement from the global music awards. Correct. Correct.
Congratulations. And so I was wondering about the three piano part. It's like, how in the world did
it happen? But it was the dubbing, putting the recording to it was over for the people who done,
I mean, you record one track and then on a multi-track recording room in the past, now on
computers or whatever, you record the second track as if you were listening to the first track played
by another person, another pianist, and then you add the third and final track. So it is multi-tracking.
We will be doing this live, but with three pianists when in February 11th at Clavier House in New York.
And so what I did for the other pianists is I took MIDI files at the tempo, which I actually
recorded everything and I made music minus one. Right. So that they can hear the parts that they're
not playing and practice their part with it. So they know how things work ahead of time, which
is going to save us an awful lot of rehearsal. I did that myself. Well, so that I would even record
myself playing to click, play a part and then practice with that too. So I got used to what
the process was actually going to be when we recorded it. So I was really prepared at the time.
Wow. So at the Clavier House you'll be performing, but after a performance, you will perform.
Young women who have both studied with me are going to play piano two and three,
respectively. And the other music actually, Carlos is going to play with me on the three
pieces that are online, the Pase Calla, the Tango Fatal and Argentum. And then there's a
suite by Amanda Harburg, who's an excellent composer, two piano suite that I'm doing.
And then there's one piano four hands by Alan Sean, whose music I recently performed up in
Beddington and a piece of his that I'm going to do with one of the other pianists. One piano,
two piano, three piano is basically the idea of the concert. Oh, wonderful. That is exciting.
I have to be there. Yes, I'll be definitely. I'll be. I'll let you know. No, great. Thank you. Wow.
But three piano is a very unique idea. You know, usually it's two. And so I was wondering how
this would work. But it sounds like it was a commission from somebody from San Francisco.
The name is Ted Viviani. And he had commissioned me before a two piano concerto. Not for me.
For two other pianos. And it was recorded in Prague, as a matter of fact. And he was
commissioning other composers to do music for two pianos. And then all of a sudden he came with this
idea of three piano. I said, with orchestra? No, no, just the three piano. That's fine. And
it's challenging. It's very challenging to write that. Obviously, there's a lot of counterpoint
involved. And there are not too many pieces for three pianos. And I mean, there are pieces written
for four pianos like Linus, but that's, you know, Stravinsky. Carla, so you also produced and
released your album this year. It's called Legacy, correct? Legacy is a companion of different 30
years of music that I wanted to put together. Thinking about what I consider to be most important,
but the music that I prefer of all the hundreds of pieces that I have composed. And this includes
a full symphony, my first symphony, and also pieces from a piano concerto number two that I
wrote for Alison. A piece for violin and orchestra, which I wrote right after September 11. It's an
homage to the victims. And also an intermezzo from my opera Corpus Evita, which is an opera that
I recorded also in San Francisco. And it was performed there. And now it's opening again
next year in February in Palo Alto, California. And Carla's got a Grammy nomination for the
composition of that opera. Oh, wow. I lost to William Balkam, which he deserved to win. I mean,
he wrote beautiful music, so I'm not sorry. Both of you are such incredible musicians. Like,
you know, both are nominated for Grammy, Latin Grammy, both. And Carla, so you won five awards,
correct? Six Grammys, yes. Two in composition, two in tango, and one with an album that I did,
duets with a fabulous jazz bass player, Eddie Gomez. And the Grammy was producing, that was Rubens.
Ruben Blades, yeah, Ruben Blades. So yeah, yeah, I got, I was very fortunate to.
Wow. And then Alison, you are also nominated.
Yeah, I've been nominated twice for Grammys and three for Latins. And my name is on one of his
wins. Carlos won for composition. It was a piece that I recorded, but I'm not the winner,
because the piece won, not the recording itself.
In my book you are.
Oh, that's, that's so sweet.
So sweet. Just about 30 years married.
That's so cute. Wow. But this is a huge thing. You know, any musician would dream
just to be even nominated. It's a huge deal. I know I wanted to talk more about you as a couple,
but we'll get back to it. But how did you start your musical journey? I mean, to get to the
Grammy nominee, Grammy award winner. Where is the start for you?
I mean, I've been doing music. You know, I never, I'm my age. I'm 75. I was born in 1948 in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. And music was always something that I wanted to be musician. I mean, from the
time that I started playing piano at six and later on, I got more and more involved in music
to the dismay of my parents. They wanted me to be a doctor or whatever. And, but music prevailed.
And I was a professional musician when I was 18, playing, writing my first arrangements.
And, and then I was earlier than that. Well, you can say, well, when you're 10 or 11, but I mean,
well, he had his own television show. He's not telling me yet.
It wasn't mine. I sang in there. I used to sing.
Really?
Yes. And that's one of the reasons I became an arranger, because I was in a show,
the big orchestra and everything. And I needed arrangements every week and I had to pay for my
own pocket. So I was spending a lot of my money in arrangements and I couldn't repeat the same songs
on the second show or the third, whatever. So I said, well, how difficult can this be? So
I started and said, well, I'm going to write an arrangement. And I wrote the very simple
arrangement for strings and, and I would win. And, and, uh, you went fine. And all the singers from
the show said, who wrote that chart for you? I said, I did. And I said, well, can you write for me?
I said, sure. And then I started writing for other people. And I found that's what I wanted to do.
I didn't want to be a singer. I didn't want to be a pianist. I wanted to be a composer,
arranger. And by the time I was 21, I left Argentina, I went to Mexico, where I also studied in,
in Mexico. I studied with a very good composer, Umberto Hernandez, Medrano. And I lived there for
three years. And that was really my school because I was writing all kinds of arrangements from
classical to mariachi to Latin music. And my dream was to be in New York, to be in, in, uh,
you know, United States to live in New York and to play in New York. And by 1974, I had been here
as a tourist. By 1974, I moved here. Very happy with it. Now, so, you know, Carlos, as a composer,
you compose for orchestra, you classical style jazz and Argentine tango. Where was the beginning?
Did you start as a classical musician, classical training? Well, the classical training helped
tremendously because I had the know-how of writing for orchestra, you know, the instrumentation,
the range of instruments and things like that. But when I first came to New York, I mean, I wasn't
going to get an offer to, uh, to write symphonies or anything like that. So I have to play with
whatever was available. I could play piano, I could write. So I started playing for Latin bands,
for salsa bands. That was the New York, the big productions of Latin music by Fania Records
with people like Tito Puente and Celia Cruz and Ruben Blades and Willie Colon. And I started
learning that those styles of, uh, you know, what they call the Montunos and things like that.
So I started writing and playing, and then eventually I started playing and writing for
other people. Then, um, I started writing music for commercials for TV and radio, what they call
jingles, which is very lucrative and kind of a secret world because you have some of the best
musicians in the world playing there for you. Nobody knows who's playing on a clay roll or
whatever. I shouldn't mention any of the products that I was writing for, but you have people,
they come from Master from the New York Philharmonic and you have some of the best,
I mean, at the time, my Brecker, Randy Brecker, Luz Soloff, and the, I mean, all the best musicians
in the world were playing in, uh, you know, in those orchestras to do the jingles. And I think
I did that for about 25, 26 years. Unless you are in the business, unless you're part of this
commercial advertising world, you don't know who's doing what. Because, you know, I mean,
they played on TV and say, well, you know, this is a nice, nice jingle or this is horrible,
whatever. You never know who wrote it, who's playing there and who's singing. So, um, as I
said, this was a very lucrative career, but also kind of a secret. And it gave me time to write
other types of music that I wanted to write. It also gave me access to other musicians who were
fine musicians. I said, would you like to play this? Would you like to record it? Yeah, absolutely.
So, and that's why I said that my commercial in record career started later than that. And,
and that's why the Grammys and all that. For some things, that's true, but then,
no, because I was, you know, basically involved in writing music or commercials. And well, yeah,
but what he's not telling you is there's a record of his that has become the super cult classic.
That this is a really cool story and it's your story. So you know, graffiti is your story. You
get to tell it briefly. It's a recording that I did in 1977. It was called graffiti. I did it in
one day and the record was never released properly. Nothing happened with this recording. I totally
forgot about that. I gave one copy to my mother and friends, but understand what's on it is that
it's wool stuff. Plus he's playing on it and he's singing on it. And he's got these amazing
musicians on it. And at the time it was really a groundbreaking kind of musical event to do what
20 years after that, I got a call from London that they wanted to put one of the tracks of graffiti
on a compilation. And I said, fine, you know, I mean, how do you know this tune? I went, well,
you know, we heard it in a disco. I gave them the rights. They put it out. And 10 years after that,
I got a call from Germany. They wanted to put out the whole album. Last year, another call from
England. They put out the album in England. But the thing is that at one point with Google and
everything, I started looking for graffiti and I found my album going in an auction for $500.
Oh, wow. And I said, but I don't even have an album. I don't think I want to spend $500 on an
old album. It became kind of a hit on the discotheques. Yeah. In London, this particular track called
Cocofunk. Cocofunk. And as a result of that last year, no, this year, we went to, last year I was
in London. I saw the people and I did an interview for the BBC with Giles Peterson. Last year, I
thought I was going to be there for 10 minutes. I was there for two hours. And this year they invited
me. We went back to England. This time we sailed on the Queen Mary too. And I was invited to this
record release party where they had my albums as well. And to sign some copies. I said, fine,
maybe sign one copy, whatever. No, I was there. There was a lot of people bringing me not only
that album, but also other albums that I have done. First pressings though, understand. The
original pressing of all these records, some of which we don't have either. Right. And all these
people were like, Hosanna, hosanna. We're so excited to meet you. You are a legend to us.
It was really fun to watch that. It really was. DJs from all over the UK
converged on this bookstore on the East end of London. I mean, it was such a gas.
So that kind of answers your question. It was an accumulation of things during the years. And then,
as I said, when I quit the business of doing music for shampoos and airlines, I started writing more
music and releasing more music. And I was lucky to be on a label like Sonic Side Records and
also Chesky Records where Alison also recorded. Some of those products were out and I was amazed
when I first got my first nomination. We were in Argentina with Alison doing concerts in Chaco.
Yeah, we were in the right, which is the North of Argentina. You know, it was a festival and
we were going to play, but we did play. Anyway, and I had submitted this recording. I'd submitted.
It closed like he's like, forget it. And it's like, I have a feeling I'm submitting it.
It was Tango Fatal. And we were in a hotel. I got a phone call from a friend and said,
oh, you got a Grammy nomination. You got a what? What is in the papers? So I bought the newspaper
and there I was. Yeah. Thanks to her. Yeah. And we forgot about it. I mean, you know, we went,
we did our concert, we came back, we decided to go to the ceremony and the ceremony was going to
be on September 11, 2001. We got there the day before we flew the day before. And I originally
had planned to fly the day off and Carlos was like, no, you're coming with me the day before. So I did.
Well, the worst that could happen. I mean, you know, just imagine, but I mean, you could have been
strapped. Anyway, everything was was canceled, of course, you know, and this is on a Tuesday.
And on Friday, we rented a car and drove back from Los Angeles to New Jersey. We couldn't get
any other way. We tried to get on trains to Chicago, buses to Chicago, anywhere. We couldn't get
anything. And so I started calling rental car companies. We got one of the last cars out,
in fact, that we could get. And yeah, we drove home. Oh, my goodness. What a story.
And then three months after that, they call me on the phone, the president of the Recording Academy
and said, we would like you to come to Los Angeles. There's going to be this presentation
of the Grammys that we couldn't do. And it's going to be in December. And then I said, well,
I don't know if I want to fly. I don't know if I want to go to 3000 miles to Los Angeles.
And this person said, I understand. But you have to understand why I call you. And then
a couple of days after that, I, you know, it was in the newspapers that I have won my my first
Latin Grammy. That was a Latin Grammy for tango. And then the other ones came. I was a name there
that people would look at when they see, you know, the list. And some people, I think some
people just voted for out of sympathy for me or whatever. Some people like what I don't know.
I don't know. I don't think so. I think when you have somebody, you know, and have won a Grammy or
an award or whatever, you know, and you're not too sure about certain categories,
you know, being in classical music, you don't expect 10,000 people to vote for you.
Or like a fraction of that. So it happens also in jazz and other categories that are not so
it's not pop or or Latin or anything like that rock. It's more selective. And, you know, but I,
you know, I got very lucky. No, you deserve to. Yeah. But you know, you you have the five awards
to or six, six awards to prove that that's not out of sympathy that you got the notes.
So I would. But I think I'd like to think that the vast majority voted because of the,
you know, the music. Of course. Yes. Incredible. Now, then, Allison, so how about you?
When how did you discover the love for music and get to where you are right now, especially,
you know, you have such an interesting experiences, you know, Grammy Award, classical music tribute
to Earl Wilde and Lang Lang at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. And yeah, many other things.
But where was the beginning? I don't remember. I and I kid you not. I am told that when I was two,
my parents got their first piano was a spin it. Now, my grandmother taught piano locally for like
55 years. And I evidently started really figuring out how to play the piano. I didn't do the baby
bang, bang, bang. I actually figured out how to play. What I can tell you is that I can remember
by the time I was four, I could play whatever I wanted. If I heard it, I could figure out how
to play it. I could play it. Whatever key I can make it major, I can make it minor. If I heard
stuff, I could sing it. I have perfect pitch so I could sing it so I could sing all sorts of scores
of Broadway shows, because that's a lot of what was played in my house and Harry Belafonte records
and stuff like that. So when I was sick, my mother and my grandmother took me for a consultation to
Juilliard because my grandmother said I was beyond anything that she could teach. And I got assigned
a Juilliard pre-college teacher at the time. Started actually at Juilliard when I was either
eight or nine. And then when Juilliard moved, I ended up at Manhattan School of Music. So I
then did pre-college there, got my bachelor's at Manhattan, my master's at Juilliard. And then
way later, I got my doctorate at Rutgers. So that was, and I had not planned on that,
but I was already teaching at King University and a whole bunch of people from completely different
parts of my life. I had nothing to do with each other since when are you going to get a doctorate?
And when you hear enough of that, you start thinking, hmm. So I looked into various programs
and Rutgers was really happy to have me. And I was an older candidate for a doctorate, which is not
unusual at Rutgers at all. So I finished my doctorate when our daughter finished high school. It was
like at the same time. So I kind of sailed through, I was very fortunate. Two years and seven months
from the time I started in the classroom, my doctorate, I finished all my exams and I was done.
Yeah, I really blazed my way through that one. And while I was also not only teaching at King,
but I was teaching at Rutgers. I was an active performer and our daughter was also in the midst
of college application. Oh, wow. And my dad passed in the midst of all that. No, no, he died right
after I finished. So it was, it was quite a time. And my doctorate was based on a Polish composer
named Mieściciel Weinberg. A lot of his music at the time that I did was not published yet. It now
all is. And so I was the first person to record a lot of that music too. So there's a four record set
that Noxos put out and then they combined it into one complete set that they released in 2015.
And I had very little time to learn all of it. So initially I'd done two records worth then I was
offered first crack in all these archives. And so I got in touch with Noxos and said, are you willing
to suspend my deadlines? Because I have now lucked out. I have access to all this music. If you're
willing to play ball with me, you will have it too. And that's pretty much what happened. So
four records worth of music, basically recording about a five day period, but not all at the same
time. So some of it was recording 2009, some of it was recording 2010. And then the rest happened
from there. And which albums did you receive the nomination? Okay. So the first one was No,
that was later. The very first record I received the nomination for was the Latin Grammys for Tango.
Year after Carlos won, I didn't, but that was a record called Tango Bar. And Tango Bar, I wasn't
even originally supposed to play on it. I was supposed to do something else. And then I said,
well, you were adjudicating for the Eskia. Right. Allison should play this. And I produced kind of
produced after it was recorded because I would go to the sessions when they would finish in
basically the driver back to New Jersey. But I was actually the one who then put things in order
and any edits that got done and stuff. I actually was the one to do that. So anyway, that was the
first one. That was the first one was when we were nominated together for the Grammy. And that was
Poet Adadabal. That was for best classical. It was crossover. And Carlos was nominated
for an arrangement of a piece that actually I mostly wrote. Right. Which was, I hadn't composed
for a while. And Carlos kind of was like, would you write something for this? And to humor him,
I wrote most of this particular tango that then he got nominated for the arrangement, which is
simply gorgeous. Then I was nominated for a solo record that was on Naxos. That was
that was 20th Century Piano Sonatas. So I was nominated for that. I lost to Garrett Goulson.
I thought I was going to lose to Mark Andre Hamlin. And I remember thinking at the time
that I'm so honored to whom I'm going to lose to because I knew I wouldn't win given
that. Well, you never know. You never know. But I was pretty sure I wasn't going to win. But I was
very excited to nominate. Tell us about the repertoire that you played on. So the repertoire on that was the Berk
Sonata. Then these pieces by Schoenberg, which at the time were not being performed. And they were
very early pieces from 1894. Then the Hindemith Second Piano Sonata. But then I did the complete
Carl Amadeus Sonata 25 April, 24 or whatever, 27 April 1945. The whole Sonata had not been recorded
at that point. Parts of it had been. So it's actually it although there are four movements,
the last movement has two different versions. One of the most difficult pieces I have ever,
ever attempted to do. And Carlos actually told me about this composer because Carlos was familiar
with his symphonies, which are not done in this country, but they're fabulous pieces. So Harman
was German and he did not allow his music to be performed during the war. And this particular
piece was based on seeing prisoners march to Dachau at the very end of the war. And that's why it's
called 27 April 1945. That's what it's about. So it was it was extraordinary getting to actually
do this record, which we did at Skywalker. And before the ceremony, you play for Lang Lang and
in a while. I mean, it was a tribute to both of them and to the music of the Rekhmaninov,
the transcriptions of Rekhmaninov that Earl Wilde had done. So I was asked to do O Cease Thy
Singing, the Earl Wilde transcription. And I have to say that Lang Lang was very, very impressed
and complimentary of you and your playing. She won't pay that, but I was there. He was very nice.
He really was nice. So was Earl Wilde, who I've known for my Juilliard days, although I had not
studied with him. And so Earl at this point was blind and wasn't performing in public anymore.
But he did. He played a fantasy impromptu that was just beautiful. It was really beautiful and very
touching to hear him play at that point. So then after that, I was nominated for a Latin Grammy for
Alma Piano Music of Argentina. And then we were nominated together for a record called Buenos
Aires and more. And so those are the nominations. I think I've thought of all of them. So those are
mine. His I lost track of. There's so many. Carlson's nominated a grand total between the two, I think,
16 times, something like that. Oh my goodness. Hey there, TPP family. The Piano Pod is now into
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continue with the show. Yeah, you both have individually has this incredible career,
but then now let's talk about you together. You know, you're basically finishing sentences
to each other. We look like an old couple. So sweet. That's so sweet. Now, you maybe mentioned
already, but what was the like a sort of a defining moment you realized you wanted to build a,
not only the life, but also career together? Or is it did it happen like, sort of because you started
your relationship as a professional relationship. So maybe that was a natural thing.
We continue that. We don't have to be Laurel and Hardy. We don't work together all the time,
but it's wonderful to work together. So sometimes I have like, I have a project now to this suite,
the three piano suite. I want to orchestrate that for one piano and orchestra. So it will be
available for Alison and other pianists to play it without having to go and give to other pianists.
You know, and it's something that I just finished composing a piece and something that I will do
during the winter to orchestrate this and to create a suite for piano and orchestra. And obviously
Alison will be the first one. She'll have the first refusal.
Yeah. So yeah, working together for us is really very organic. And it was fun.
We really do. And we have fun traveling together and working together. So yeah.
And you know, the only, the only difficulty I have with Carl's music is sometimes he'll write
these 10s in the left hand and I really can't reach him and he has an 11th and it's just not.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, he really does.
But no, but I said, no, I understand. You know, you can roll them.
Right. Yeah. So in tango that doesn't work really well. So sometimes occasionally I'll do a re-voicing
or ask Carlos, can I do this or can I do this? He's, and he's done some really challenging
stuff. His piano concerti are very challenging to play, but super rewarding.
And it's beautiful. I enjoyed listening to. Yeah, really. So Carlos, when you compose music for the
piano, does Alison's influence shape your creative process? Can you?
Yeah, I learned a great deal from, you know, I mean, I could write the piece that will be played,
you know, but, but she would give me some certain points about, you know, do this, this way I think
is, you know, we voice this or whatever, not only because of her hand, but because it practical sense
of writing something that is much more playable for other pianists. But I asked her, I mean, you
know, I just finished a symphony. I wanted to write a fourth symphony and I just finished it,
you know, like a couple of days ago. And I call Alison and say, what do you think of this? Oh,
yeah, I like it. I think you're close. I think you're, you know, I kind of, because at this point,
I am so immersed in the music. I work sometimes six, eight hours a day. And at one point I lose
the concept of, you know, being objective and not so subjected to, well, I like it. But I mean,
is this resignation that I accept this thing? I have to play for somebody else who better than
Alison. So I do this and I can see her reactions to all the music. Like yesterday I told her,
you know, the last movement of this symphony, you know what it's based on? Give me three composers.
She said, Shostakovich, Mother, I said, no, Rossini. And I went, what? And then he showed me what?
And he said, and I went, okay, I see that. But you liked it, right? I did. I did. And,
and in fact, you know, Carlos had worked on several different versions of a particular section,
right? He's been working on it, working on it, working on it. And he played a version for me
last night and said, that's the one, you know, I knew immediately I went, that's the one. And,
and I could tell also that he felt the same way. I agonize over the ending. One of the
difficult things to do is to stop the piece, to bring it to a conclusion. And, you know,
I found it so difficult after four movements and I did it kind of chronological order.
So I kept the last movement, this kind of Rossini for the end. And I found that it was so difficult,
I could end the piece, but the ending wasn't to, wasn't going to be what the piece required,
not that particular movement, but the other three movements, you know, I have to think from the
beginning of it to the end, it's 45 minutes long, it's a long symphony. That's what I can, you know,
I can, I can develop this and develop and keep going and going and going. And then at the end,
eventually this has to, you know, it cannot just stop, you know, so I was trying to end
not toying with the idea, well, it has to be a brilliant ending, like a Star Wars kind of thing.
So, and, you know, it made me stop for a week, right? I mean, basically, and kind of retreat and
start thinking the music away from the medium, away from the piano. I don't use the piano to
compose, but I use a keyboard because I enter the notes to the computer with a keyboard. But
it's good sometimes to take distance, you know, and so this is not going anywhere.
And then the music comes back to you and it keeps you awake at night. And then it's the
time to dive in and write in things. And when I do compose, which is only for very select kinds
of things that I do, I'll turn to Carlos for advice, especially if I have to do an arrangement
of something. So a few months ago, I co-wrote a song that came out very differently than the
lyricist thought it was going to. And it turned out really, really well. So he asked me, could I
could I do an arrangement, add winds and harp and strings to it? So I did. I turned to Carlos a
couple of times and said, what do you think would work here in a particular spot? And he said,
well, try this, try this, try this, which I did. And then she played it for me. Then I played the
full arrangement. And he, when I was done with it, he said, sounds like me. And I said, it sounds
like, it looks like I wrote it. Which he didn't. But I made the voicing and everything. And it's
just a couple of suggestions he'd made. But he said, it sounds like I wrote it. And I said,
well, I take that as an extreme compliment, because I don't think of myself that way. And
I used to, you know, in teaching, I would have to rewrite pieces for students all the time.
Well, there is good and bad. It sounds like I wrote it. I don't want to say that. If I write it,
it's, you know, it's bad. No, no, I took it as an extreme compliment. Yeah. And there are some
other, a couple of times where Carlos entrusted me to write a couple of arrangements for things
for projects. In fact, where people had no idea that I'd done it, but it was because I know how
he writes, you know, and so, but he would make suggestions about how to voice certain things that
I hadn't thought of that I just went, oh, that texture is this way cooler than what I thought to
do. And then all of a sudden she decides to call me and said, let's play. Let's do this thing. And
then I have to go back to. So now he's going to have to practice. To practice. Wow. So you both
are the good influence and good impact for one another. That's that. Oh, I know. Absolutely.
Yeah. That's for sure. We really do bring out the best in each other constantly.
And it's really great to have that kind of support.
And that's a wrap for the first part of this engaging episode on the piano pod with Grammy
and Latin Grammy award winning artists, Carlos Franzetti and Alison Brewster Franzetti.
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are in the description. Tuning next Tuesday, December 19th at 8 p.m. for the rest of the
interview with Carlos Franzetti and Alison Brewster Franzetti.