CMC Prairie director Janna Sailor in conversation with violist Jesse Morrison, discussing his recent solo album, Transitions!
Creative Process and Collaborations
Janna: How do you describe yourself and your creative output as an artist and how does this project tie into that?
Jesse: For me, what’s always brought so much energy and focus into what I do has really come a lot from chamber music. Growing up through my twenties and going to school, I started going to chamber music festivals, making friends and playing all kinds of music, both contemporary and the standard repertoire (Beethoven, Schubert quartets, etc).
I started becoming immersed in a lot of different musical languages, and once I started working with composers, my eyes opened up quite a bit in terms of what became possible with my instrument. Especially, the viola being an instrument that doesn’t have as much repertoire over the years, as some of the other instruments. So I felt very encouraged and motivated, to try and see what was possible with stretching the limits of the instrument’s capabilities, and started making connections with some composers whose music I loved.
With Derek David, a composer and friend of mine in Boston, I planted the seed during the pandemic of having him write me a piece, and just kept pestering him about it until he felt he could do it. Once he agreed to that, I felt like this was all going to begin a greater project, which would be to record a solo album and start thinking about what would work around that piece that he’d write for me.
Janna: And that really formed the heart, and the centerpiece that you built the concept of the album around.
Commissions, Collaborations, and Composer/Performer Relationships
Janna: Can you tell us about that process of commissioning, the importance of that composer/performer relationship, what goes into a successful collaboration and how much were you involved in the composition process and the evolution of the piece?
Jesse: As a little backstory, Derek and I had first met when we went to school together at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and I had a couple opportunities to play string quartets of his. Fast forward about a year or so later, I’d met him at a music festival in Los Angeles and I wound up playing one of his pieces for violin and viola. It’s an awesome duo, and full of really unique sound worlds. What I love so much about Derek’s music, and which became a pretty strong element of the album as a whole, was his way of tying early Baroque music into new music and contemporary sound worlds. So you always feel like there’s a structure to the music that is relatable, whether it’s something that you’re listening to, like in music of J.S. Bach or Telemann, or anything from that period where you feel the dance-like qualities of each of the movements. But then I also feel that there’s something that’s not either quite right with it or something that’s almost like this incredible resistance; it’s excited, disturbed and just incredible.
So I really fell in love with his musical language then, and working with him on the piece was awesome. The way he uses extended techniques became of interest to me. I had thought of him when I was thinking about who could I bug to potentially write me a piece for solo viola, and add to our repertoire, and he kept coming into my head, so I stayed in touch with him. We FaceTimed a lot, and he had never written for solo viola before, so it was a perfect opportunity for both of us to learn from the experience
Janna: And it’s entitled Partita; evidently some Baroque influences there. Did that tie into your choice to include some Telemann and other Baroque conspired elements on the album?
Jesse: Absolutely. Originally it was gonna be a suite, in the style of a cello suite, but the virtuosity and the style of writing became more suited to a partita. But yes, it encouraged me to find a way to bridge the gap between the Baroque sound world into the new or contemporary music scene. That was something that I felt like I really wanted to have the “palate cleanser” on the album being the Telemann. It’ll be on the very end of the album, and Derek’s piece will be first.
Janna: You come full circle.
Jesse: Yes, and you’ve come home hearing something that is very tonal and still reminiscent of where we started, even though where we started had other elements integrated into it.
Evolution as a Musician
Janna: As you worked on this project and dove deeper into each of these selected works, was there a sense of evolution and a growth on your part as a musician while you spent time with these works, and progressed from start to finish?
Jesse: In terms of what came first, the Brett Dean piece that I have on there came as a first introduction to something that I started learning, that then inspired me to also think about what other kinds of elements of music, texture and sound could I incorporate into this album? Of course, in speaking with Derek, I had asked him to write me something in the style of a Bach suite. And then Brett Dean’s piece was something almost otherworldly, very unique soundworlds that he has incorporated in that piece. It was originally written for a viola competition, I believe in 2012, so that piece has been around for a little while, but hasn’t been recorded. So I’m going to be the first recording artist of that piece, which is an honour and Brett is really wonderful. I’ve been in communication with him, since I dreamt this whole thing up.
After letting all this music sit with me, I was seeing how things were quite related to one another in how much I dissected everything, trying to find both the similarities and dissimilarities, and how to connect the movements and motions of all the different ways that the music was speaking. And I started to find a flow with it all, in terms of how each thing connects to one another, and find the sort of synergy from one language to another.
Janna: Let’s talk a little bit more about the Kurtág because it’s not heard as often as it should be. Can you dive into that a bit more for us?
Jesse: Kurtág wrote these miniatures. Some of the movements are like 40 seconds, and some of them are as long as almost five minutes. There’s a collection, and he dedicated some of them to friends of his, and other violists. The person who introduced this piece to me was my former teacher, Kim Kashkashian, who was incredible with these works, and I believe she won a Grammy with it as well. She was just somebody who has championed these works and is super close with Kurtág. So the connection that I had with one of my teachers was the closest that I got to Kurtág, but having her as an extended resource, with the knowledge that she has about his musical language, really enhanced that music for me. Had that piece or those movements come into my lap, without me having her in my life or having her as an influence, I think it would’ve been a very different thing for me.
So I really learned to appreciate his musical language and the incredible variety of characters that he has in his music. Different sound worlds, textures and excitement, and some of the ones that I chose also really capture some of the feelings that I had during the pandemic. Nothing’s happening outside in the world and nothing was happening really in my head at all times. So there was just this level of stillness I felt I was sharing with my environment and surroundings. I found some of the selections that I chose to have similar feelings to that in Kurtág’s piece.
Championing the Viola
Janna: So I can count on one hand, the number of solo viola albums that I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and listen to. What does it mean to have this opportunity to champion your instrument in this way and do an entire album, almost a love letter to your instrument?
Jesse: It’s something that I’ve always really wanted to do, but I was always terrified of the idea of actually doing it. I’ve been very fortunate with the teachers that I’ve gotten to work with, all being incredible having such variety in terms of how well they can play. In all the kinds of settings, whether it be in orchestra or chamber music or solo.
I’ve been quite spoiled with the musical influences that I’ve had for my instrument. As I progressed through my schooling, I was very touched by and very inspired by how each of these players and people could essentially execute and inspire others with their sound. For me, viola became an instrument that, outside of being something that I love to play, became something that I felt could really inspire people.
I think in terms of when somebody hears a really good violist, they’re always shocked. It kind of comes into play as a viola joke because people aren’t really expecting it. I learned in my twenties that whenever a violist could play well, people were always taken aback. And I found that to be funny for the same reasons everyone else did, but also interesting because I feel like there’s something there, in terms of not just the joke aspect of it all, but the intrigue and the ways of people listening slightly differently. So within that, I started listening differently to my instrument in terms of how I grew and, with my practicing. I was always searching and trying to find more of what I could do with it. For me, the real answer to that is just being intrigued and inspired by my own instrument all the time, and learning all the ways that it can sound.
And with new music, there’s so many new ways that I can even hear the viola’s potential. You’re constantly learning and building on different ideas and so forth.
Janna: I had the immense fortune of being able to hear you perform these works in person. And what I was struck by was how it truly brings out the best qualities of the viola, and the most interesting colors, the most extreme registers and pushing the instrument to its limit. So I think people will be enthralled with being able to just dive into this listening journey and to truly experience what the viola can do.
Audience Responses to Music
Janna: So now you’re at the stage where you’ve performed the program a couple of times, and you’re taking it out to the masses, which must be really exciting to actually have this project that you dreamed up during COVID and be able to present it for live audiences in real time. What has been the reaction and the response you’ve been getting to these works? You’ve got the standards, such as the Telemann Fantasia, and pairing it with these brand new works or lesser heard works. How are people reacting and responding to that and the narrative of it?
Jesse: It’s been a really interesting mix. I’ve had different settings where I’m playing selections from the album, so I’m trying to give people a quick taste or almost one course after the next – not quite the full meal. Those experiences have been really interesting because people don’t settle in quite as much to each piece as they would if it was the full program.
The order that I’ve finally settled on with the album starts with the David, then the Dean, followed by the Kurtág, and ending with the Telemann. In my experience of performing the album for people, when I get to the Telemann, it strikes this emotional nerve in me because E-flat major is just such a warm, beautiful, and settled key for me. I also think for a lot of people, it feels familiar. It feels like home, but it’s also very just grounding. I’ve seen people become quite touched by the Telemann at the end, feeling as if the sun is emerging or there’s a beautiful sunset after quite the storm, so it’s been really powerful to see that.
The Derek David piece has been given the most comments from the program as a whole. He originally wrote the podcast for a friend of his, another violist, whom he had been close with for many years, and he felt like it would be wonderful to dedicate this piece he was writing for me to his friend, which I thought was lovely. However, as the piece was being written, his friend unfortunately was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and both him and Derek David had a falling out. My experience in having this piece written for me, became something very different from what it was initially going into it. Now, I was experiencing having somebody write me a piece for the first time, but also experiencing the heartbreak of losing a friend. They don’t talk anymore and it’s very upsetting. Derek went through a lot in writing this piece; every movement was hitting him in a different way. Of the six movements, there’s an evolution from the beginning of the piece, which starts more tonal, but still with some elements of someone losing themself a little bit. There’s a lot of almost murmuring, first in the prelude. You’ll hear there’s almost nonsensical sounds, like you’re not meant to hear the pitch, you’re not meant to make out the rhythms, so it develops further as the piece goes on. By the very last movement, his friend is at that point in his life, completely gone and wasn’t seeking any help or medication.
As you could imagine, somebody with schizophrenia without being helped, to me, that’s terrifying. I can’t imagine what that would be like. The piece becomes very heavy and disturbed. In my experience, I’ve had audience members come up to me and talk about their experience with their family members or friends who’ve been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and have had people come up to me in tears. People have come up to me saying that they’ve never experienced certain emotions or realizations about what it’s been like for them to see their friend or their family go through that before and what it meant for them until they heard this piece. I could never have expected any kind of reaction to something that I played quite like that, so for me it was very touching. It was also very full of emotion and knowing that then I had a quite a great responsibility to not only be presenting this music or commission to an audience, but actually to understand the importance and the weight to it all and how it can affect people, even though it’s nothing that they were anticipating, once they sit down in the hall or in the space.
Janna: It’s always so amazing and humbling to me how music can carry these very heavy emotions and themes, and how people can pick up on that even without a verbal explanation. It has that power that we just innately respond to. Thank you for sharing that incredible and painful story. I feel that is something that is prevalent, yet so difficult to talk about, and music can just carry these things with gentle hands and facilitate those conversations in a miraculous way.
Jesse: Absolutely, I completely agree. I think it really speaks volumes to the importance that musicians have in working with composers to really take what we’re being given to another level, and also with deep appreciation for what it is, and the meaning of what it is, both of the composer and who it was meant for. It taught me a lot in terms of how much to really dig in and to really let go with all of it too.
Reflections
Janna: As this album goes out into the world, what do you hope people will take away from their experience with it and from experiencing you as an artist?
Jesse: I hope to showcase some incredible composers. I think that I’m so lucky that I have the connections to the composers that I do. I feel like I know Kurtág a little bit because of my former teacher. For me, one of the biggest things that I would love would be for people to hear the viola and hear how far it can go, and how far it can be pushed. Also connecting musical styles and different time periods, I think that’s something that I really cared about on my own, and with this project as a whole. While I think contemporary music can be very well received, sometimes I think it also has the opposite effect as anything does. However, I am very inspired in hearing concerts that incorporate a wide range of music and composers and time periods because you get to hear the more standard repertoire very differently. You listen very differently when you’ve been exposed to something that sort of stretches your brain, or your bandwidth of what’s musically possible. One of my goals with this album was to bridge that gap, and to encourage people that new music is not the most terrifying thing to listen to, but really it’s incredibly relatable to our time, and maybe with people that we know or experiences that we’ve had. At the end of the day, it’s whatever we make of it. I’m very lucky that I found a way of tying all of these things together, in the way that I did. It took a bit of figuring out, but I look at it now and I’m just grateful that it all came together in the way that it did.
In terms of people listening to me, it brings me a little bit of fear, of course. But at this point, I think the scary part was getting into the studio and affirming that I’m doing this now, and making sense of it all while it was happening. I think that was a really unique experience to have. I’m excited for people to hear me. This album really pushed me beyond everything that I’ve been able to do thus far, and it felt really hard at times. I had to learn a lot of lessons along the way, but I think the biggest thing was just to learn how to let go with playing, music-making, and experiencing music. I’ve always been somebody who’s really in my head about things. It’s very easy to be like that as a musician, with the nature of how we prepare for and work on things.
I also think it’s easy to be tucked away. Since I’ve been in an orchestra, I find it especially easy to be tucked away in the mass bigger group, so coming out of my shell, and coming outside of my comfort zone has been an awesome experience. I look at it now as something that I’m very proud of having done. It used to be scary to think about it, but now it is what it is, and I’m excited to keep doing more stuff like this. I’m excited to keep presenting it to audiences and get feedback about all of it.
Watch for Transitions on all major streaming platforms in fall of 2025!
You can read more about Jesse HERE