Below is a transcript of our conversation with CMU Trumpet Professor Neil Mueller
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. Neil Mueller is Professor of Trumpet in CMU’s School of Music. In May, he traveled to Trento, Italy, to conduct master classes for former recital and continue a long standing collaboration with fellow trumpeter Ivano Ascari…
Neil Mueller:
And as part of really a (a) multiyear massive project that that he embarked upon, I'm not sure what year he started, but to collaborate with trumpet colleagues from around the globe and then also to bring about new pieces that feature the trumpet in some way. And when he came to CMU, one of our professors, Evan Ware, wrote a piece for two trumpets called “American Apocalypse.” And so, when Ivano was here, in addition to him giving a recital and teaching my students giving master classes here, we recorded that piece. And so, in essence, my trip to Trento, to the Conservatory, there was part of an exchange that we're doing this fall. But the other part of that and the way this ties into the recording project that he's been doing and commissioning project is that we will be recording a brand-new piece by Mount Pleasant’s own and CMU's own David Biedenbender, an alumnus of the CMU School of Music. And so we're going to be premiering a piece and recording a piece for two trumpets and organ. And so that premiere will take place at the, our CMU Brass Day and we'll record it the day before.
DN:
When you look at the compositions of Evan Ware and of David Biedenbender, do you and Ivano kind of compare notes or see the similarities or difference in the more contemporary works that are being composed here in comparison to the more, more contemporary works in his native country?
NM:
I think there's always in the Italian trumpet music that I've played. There's always been this sense of cantabile singing and lyricism, and I think that's one of the things that when I was looking for a composer to write a piece for trumpet, David is one of the first persons that I thought of because he writes so singingly and lyrically. Yeah, I should mention that the piece that we played river of time, I performed it in Italy, one of three versions that David has and it's common that pieces will exist in multiple versions. For example, if I play a trumpet recital in Chamichian Recital Hall and want to play the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, I will play with a piano and, but the piece was originally written for trumpet and orchestra.
DN:
What do you take away in the way you approach the piece in that more intimate setting only accompanied by piano as opposed to a full orchestration behind you.?
NM:
Yeah, that's a great question. You certainly have to adjust as we do. Musicians adjust for the room; we adjust for the other musicians that are we're performing with. But (but) certainly the scale of a piece, if I'm playing with piano, it's much, you know, it's a chamber piece basically at (at) that point. And David's piece is very much collaborative. It's not just the piano is sort of the (the) frame for the work of art. I mean, it's really a collaboration between the trumpet and the orchestra. He also has a version for Wind Ensemble, which we've performed the piece on campus last fall with the CMU Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and that's different still. And then with piano it becomes, I have to sort of remember that I'm not Doc Severinsen standing in front of The Tonight Show Band. I have to I have to dial it back just a little bit. But when I'm in front of an orchestra, I have to, I have to say with that piece I, there's a little of that, sort of bravura that has to come to the fore. I have to sort of aim for a little smaller target and I also encourage the pianist to think like an orchestra and provide a nice counterbalance.
DN:
Well, in Italy, Neil Mueller also explored the instruments and writings of a leading voice in the development of Italian music. We'll hear about that next time on Central Focus.
