Last Friday evening’s Present Music concert marked my first visit to the Jan Serr Studio, on the top floor of the UW-Milwaukee building at Prospect and Kenilworth. It’s an industrial chic kind of space, with a tall ceiling, polished concrete floor, painted steel pillars and a dramatic wall of windows that faces south with a view down Prospect and to Downtown. This was an amplified concert, so I can’t fully comment on the acoustics of the room.
The program of music by women was curated by violinist Eric Segnitz, a constant presence with the ensemble for many years and recently named co-artistic director for the forthcoming season (along with David Bloom). There was deliberate eclecticism in the varied program.
Pianist Cory Smythe is always a thrill to hear in whatever he plays. Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Scape used a piano prepared in mysterious ways, with Smythe making rapid gestures on the keys. He was a virtuoso in the challenging piano part of Jennifer Higdon’s Fiery Red, joined by Segnitz and cellist Adrien Zitoun. The substantial music lives up to the title, sounding a bit like Shostakovich on steroids.
The most effective combination of recorded words and music came with Gilda Lyons’ What you Want (Substance Free), with giggly girly voices saying satirically that they don’t know anything and are therefore not a threat. This was followed by string quartet Voodoo Dolls, which was written for choreography that showed different types of dolls.
I like any music I’ve heard by Caroline Shaw, and Entr’acte for string quartet is no exception. This was the most understated music on the concert, almost a theme and variations, never rising to full volume. Shaw is expressively inventive in her use of essentially traditional-sounding harmonies. I was less interested in Sophie Lacaze’s Voices of Australia, for flute and recording, which was repetitive and tedious. The concert needed some rhythm as a finish, and it came with Sonia Possetti’s Bullanguera, a fresh-sounding take on tango.
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