Several years ago, I met a composer named Donald Fraser.<\/p>\n
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Arranger Donald Fraser and conductor Kenneth Woods following the world premiere of the Piano Quintet, a 2015 Classical Music Magazine Premiere of the Year<\/em><\/p>\n It turns out his wife Bridget was the executive director of my old youth orchestra organization, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras. At the time, my mom was the board chair, hence the connection. When Charlotte (my mom) told me about Bridget\u2019s husband, I hadn\u2019t heard of Don, but a quick google search opened my eyes pronto. Here was a guy who had studied conducting with the likes of Adrian Boult, won the highest composition prizes in the UK, produced records for Jessye Norman, started his own TV show and arranged and produced for the likes of Freddie Mercury and the Rolling Stones. In a nutshell, Don was my kind of guy. As one of my colleagues in my orchestra said after working with him for the first time \u201cDon\u2019s a leg[end].\u201d<\/p>\n We met in Guildford before a concert I was conducting. It turned out to be of historic importance that we met in a pub \u2013 somewhere unpretentious but where they do the important things right. Don wanted to talk to me about a project he was working on called \u201cConnections.\u201d It was to be focused on the music of Elgar. Don had grown up under the wing of some of Elgar\u2019s closest confidants and greatest interpreters, including Boult. They had given him a special connection to Elgar\u2019s musical legacy, as had Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin had, of course, made the most famous recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Elgar on the podium when he was just a teenager. Menuhin wanted to take more of the music of Elgar to America, so he asked Don for some arrangements he could take on tour. Another connection.<\/p>\n