By James Leavey
Sir Colin Davis
Pipe smoking is music to the world famous classical music conductor's ears
JL: Where did you first start smoking?
CD: My father smoked a pipe and I think it was probably during the time when I did National Service. I took up smoking a pipe on the journeys from London and Windsor, en route to my barracks. I held the lowest rank in the army as a musician in the Household Cavalry; no wonder I started smoking.
JL: Do you still enjoy pipe-smoking?
CD: I've just smoked one pipe today.
JL: What tobacco do you enjoy most?
CD: Now, I've been introduced to black mixtures by my son, but I still enjoy what is called an English Mixture, that is a mixture of Virginia and Latakia. Anyway, the best version of that comes from George Hoober, in Munich. He has a package called 'English No.1', that I'm very fond of.
JL: Which musician, living or dead, would you like most to share an ashtray with?
CD: The two men who I admire probably most were pipe-smokers. One was Bach, who actually wrote a poem in praise of pipe-smoking, and Mozart, who we know was a pipe-smoker. And I suspect Beethoven was probably a pipe-smoker too. So, if one of these three men would care to smoke a pipe with me how wonderful!
JL: If you were forced to smoke in the doorway of one of the world's musical venues, which I hope has never happened, which one would you prefer to smoke in?
CD: What an extraordinary idea. Probably in the gent's (toilet) at the Barbican. There's no picture of me puffing my pipe at the Vienna Opera House or in La Scala in Milan. I have smoked in all kinds of holy places, so I can't say I would prefer one or the other.
JL: Have you ever conducted with your pipe?
CD: Never. But then I'm not old enough, because it was Klemperer who smoked a pipe and the leader of the orchestra used to remove his pipe before they started the rehearsal. I don't know whether it's apocryphal or not, but there we are.
JL: Do you smoke your pipe before a performance, or light up afterwards?
CD: On the way, usually. I find it has a very benign influence on the journey to the concert hall.
JL: Do you think that pipe-smoking has helped the creativity of composers or musicians?
CD: I think it gives them time to contemplate. It's seriously difficult to talk much when you're smoking a pipe because the damned thing goes out all the time. Women leave one alone because they suffocate, so a chap's got time to himself, and nothing's more important, if you're a creative person.
JL: Has there ever been a special moment in your life when everything came together enhanced by the smoking?
CD: Well, that's very hard to answer. My life is like a hairbrush it's full of high points and to choose one or another would be to belittle the rest. But probably the most satisfactory pipe is after one has got married.
JL: What music to you enjoy best sitting back and smoking to?
CD: I would almost certainly choose Sibelius, not that he smoked a pipe, but he was a shocking consumer of cigars. And there is a leisure about Sibelius's music which entices one to light up before the aural enjoyment.
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