This week on Great Arts at Eastern, Jeff Gentry talks with musicians John Olsen, Maxine Ramey, and Adam Collins about the upcoming concert "John Olsen and Friends" taking place on November 22nd.
John Olsen talks about the upcoming recital and his guests from Montana, who have come here to perform alongside him. "Well, it is a chamber music recital for clarinet and cello and piano written by Johannes Brahms. It's one of his last works." John states as Maxine continues with more details on this piece. "(Brahms) Only wrote the one trio. He wrote some piano trios, but (Brahms) decided to start composing when he met this clarinetist, and he was inspired to write the trio." Then John continues, "then Maxine called me what about three months ago and said: "how would you like to play the Brahms Trio again? We did it oh... twenty years ago or so. -Twenty-seven years ago, and I said gees can I do that anymore? And you (Maxine) replies, "of course." And we got together and made some plans. Maxine and Adam came, who is the Cellist in the trio, and we are pulling it together for that performance. And we are having a lot of fun with it."
With this being a special concert for John Olson in that "it is a very special performance. This is my last year working here at Eastern. I'll be retiring in May, and this will be one of my very last performances. So, I'm, it holds a special place in my heart because it probably my last, not one of the last that I'll be giving." John states.
With John Maxine, and Adam performing the Brahms' Clarinet Trio, each talks about how the selection displays their collaborative talents. "Well, that's a very good question. But I feel that the wind player playing with a string player playing with a pianist, it's the whole family of music. So it's the colors, the Rangers, the timbre are really diverse, and that's the attraction for the audience and for the players, I think." Maxine states.
"Yes, as a string player, there are a few concerns that come to mind when I play with clarinetists that wouldn't come to mind when I was playing with a violinist, for example. The concerns about the vibrato, when do use it, and when not to use it. When you want to blend it with the clarinet sound might not be appropriate." Adam states about his role during the concert.
Maxine talks about playing alongside ENMU's Pam Shuler on the double-clarinet section and what she likes about the harmonies involved. "Oh, it's wonderful, what we're trying to do, and the audience can be the judge. It is a canonic work Meaning that we play the same part one measure apart. But we should sound like the same person. No one should be able to tell who is playing. That's kind of the nature of this that we're hoping to do. We Are planning to pull it off."
With Adam playing a sonatina composed by Teresa Procaccini. Adam talks about why they choose this 20th-century selection for the concert. "I chose it because it's a really captivating work. It's only in three movements and about eight minutes long. And there is such a diversity of style and expression that is contained within the three movements. It is completely unlike Brahms; it is antithetical in a way. It is much less lyrical but totally gripping. I just really love it. And the composer is not really well known in the United States. I wanted to introduce more people to her music. " Adam states as he continues on about Teresa Procaccini. "She's from southern Italy. But she teaches at a conservatory in Rome, where she used to teach. She's well into her 80s at this point." Which makes this piece one of the few during the concert that is from a still living composer.
"It is a really gripping peace. "Maxine states about the work Alex will be playing. "It has almost like popular music, like rock, or something that is like heavy metal. Little pieces of it, young members of the audience will be eating it up. It is really incredible. It is riveting."
John Olsen and Friends
Buchanan Hall, ENMU Music Building (MB)
Friday, November 22nd, 2019, at 7 p.m.
All the great arts at Eastern are found at <enmu.edu/fineartsevents> You can learn more about this program at KENW.org.