Fanfare Magazine‘s, Phillip Scott, interview Fantasy And Farewell violist, Roger Myers:
Phillip Scott: Coming to Fantasy and Farewell, can you tell us something about your relationship with Michael McLean, who composed a Suite and arranged the Schumann Märchenbilder for you?
Roger Myers: I met Michael through another friend of mine and soon heard some examples of his work, which I found sonically beautiful, musically meaningful, and immensely accessible. This being a time when I actually had enough of my own money to commission a work, I approached him with the idea. I visited his Los Angeles apartment and spent a weekend with him listening to music, playing for him, and generally getting to know him. Suffice to say we became great friends and developed a close working relationship that allowed him to come to know my personality and playing. I really feel that his suite is tailored to my style of music-making. When I commissioned the Schumann orchestration we already had an established friendship, and work proceeded on it quite quickly. I read the orchestration through with my university orchestra and conductor, and then sent a recording of that session to Michael who proceeded to revise his initial orchestration. The result is on this disc and sounds to me rather like an original Schumann orchestration!
Phillip Scott: McLean’s suite is a work in a very clear tonal style, but has a great deal of emotion invested in it. I’ve read several interviews where soloists say they have to work hard to keep their own feelings in check when they are playing highly emotive music. Was this true for you?
Roger Myers: With this work it was very true, since it was commissioned in memory of my mother. Michael invested a lot of energy into doing justice to this memorial piece, and he has produced a work filled with sentiment. Learning it and working towards the world premiere was especially emotional for me. I will never forget how the significance of every note (and how well I played it) weighed on my mind. But, come the actual world premiere—like with my Carnegie Hall debut—an amazing calm came over me and it all went beautifully. To answer your question, yes, you have to channel these emotions to some degree to be able to play such complex music.
Phillip Scott: Vladimir Mendelssohn’s arrangement of the Shostakovich Viola Sonata (for Viola, Strings, and Celeste) would be a good companion piece for the Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta. I have a 20-year-old recording of it with Mendelssohn playing the solo part himself, but I didn’t know anyone else played his version. Where did you come across it?
Roger Myers: Funnily enough, I never heard the orchestrated version until two years ago, as this project was being formulated. I knew of it but had not had an opportunity to hear it. When I spoke with my producer about what else to include on the disc a few works were proposed and rejected, and then he said, “Why not have Michael McLean orchestrate something like the Shostakovich Sonata?” At that moment I remembered it had already been done, so I bought the CD of it performed by Yuri Bashmet, as well as the Mendelssohn version.
Phillip Scott: Your new CD is iconic in several ways: You are accompanied by one of the world’s great orchestras, it was recorded in the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London, produced by Michael Fine, and it appears on a classical label (Delos), which is one of the great stayers, currently celebrating 40 years in the industry.
Roger Myers: But you know, in forming my early ideas for this disc the last thing I was thinking of was making something “iconic.” A project like this comes from a basic desire to play music you like and think you do well. In choosing these works, particularly as a starting point the McLean Suite, one thing just led to another: what to put with the McLean and then what to put with the Schumann. Then of course, you look into who will produce the CD. In receiving recommendations about Michael Fine for this job, a whole lot of his advice naturally began to shape the project. It was he who suggested the LSO, and they usually record at Abbey Road. With the recording done, certain labels and markets suggested themselves—hence Delos. So everything just logically evolved from one thing to the other. The results have made me very happy!
Read the full interview on FanfareMag.com!
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