Lawrence Leighton Smith, music director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and formerly music director of the Oregon Symphony (1973-1980), has released information about his health, specifically that he suffers from Binswanger’s Disease (also known as subcortical vascular dementia), which, according to Wikipedia, is a form of multi-infarct dementia caused by damage to the white brain matter. White matter atrophy can be caused by many circumstances including chronic hypertension as well as old age. This disease is characterized by loss of memory and intellectual function and by changes in mood. These changes encompass what are known as executive functions of the brain. It usually presents itself in 54 and 66 years of age, and the first symptoms are usually mental deterioration or stroke.
Here’s the article from the Colorado Springs Gazette:
A degenerative disease will keep Colorado Springs Philharmonic conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith from the podium for the orchestra’s Feb. 19 performance.
If all’s well, though, Smith is scheduled to conduct the final two concerts of his last season with the orchestra: the Beethoven’s 9th on April 16 and his farewell concert on May 21-22.
“It depends on factors out of my control,” said Smith of planning in general. “I want to conduct, that’s for sure. That part of my brain apparatus is exactly the way it was. And at 74, I’ve had a darn good life.”Smith was diagnosed with Binswanger’s Disease last week.
The illness, which is also called subcortical vascular dementia, is characterized by tiny but widespread damage in the deep layers of the brain. The damage is caused by the narrowing in arteries (commonly known as “hardening of the arteries”) that carry blood to the brain. It typically starts late in life.
“It’s been going on for quite a while,” Smith said, adding that he’s fine mentally. “Unbeknownst to me there were symptoms. But I’m doing fine. I’m with the woman of my dreams, who is taking care of so much.”
Symptoms include problems with short-term memory, organization, focus, decision making, appropriate behavior and mood changes. Most troubling to a performer, though, is probably the slowing translation of thought into movement.
The diagnosis itself is something of a relief, Smith said.
Smith’s symptoms were not a factor when, in May 2009, he announced his retirement at the end of the season. In the meantime, five candidates are taking their shot at Smith’s position in concerts throughout the season. The third, Viswa Subbaraman, takes the baton on Jan. 22.
There is no cure, and any treatment addresses the symptoms, not the underlying cause.
“It’s part of my journey,” Smith said. “Thank God there’s no pain. … I know what’s going to happen (with the disease). I say, bring it on.”
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Larry at the Sunriver Music Festival for the last ten years, and I fully expect him to be able to resist this disease very ably.