Beauty Meets the Beast at Present Music Concert

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Present Music - French Connection

Present Music - French Connection

Present Music celebrated the opening of its 41st season on Sunday with French Connection, a French-themed program mounted in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s cavernous yet sleek lobby. The main event was Jean Cocteau’s film La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), accompanied by Philip Glass’s opera treatment, but first came an appetizer: two selections from French pianist-composer Christophe Chassol, specially arranged for the Present Music ensemble by J. Paul Bourque. These pieces were charming. The first offered a catchy melody with a certain French (dare I say) je ne sais quoi, both playful and melancholy. Each iteration took on grander orchestration. The second piece grooved in an irregular meter, floating along with bold colors of brass and winds and off-kilter drums. Chassol’s music seemed built for cinema; perhaps some interesting footage could have been projected on the unused screen.

For the film, four singers took their places at microphones below the screen, elevated above the ensemble. Philip Glass’s score generally complemented the images, creating hypnotic undercurrents to some of the magical moments and dreamlike scenes in the film. Some exciting music arose in the sequence where Belle’s father gets lost in the woods and discovers the Beast’s castle. The singers all performed admirably. Hai-Ting Chinn brought passion and conviction to the role of Belle, Marie Mascari hammed it up as Belle’s obnoxious sisters, Robert Mellon was a magnetic presence as Belle’s father, and Gregory Purnhagen (heroically filling in on short notice) conveyed the Beast’s sadness and sweetness. Occasionally the instrumental ensemble overpowered the singers, but it did not detract from the finished product. The audience engaged heartily with the movie, laughing at funny lines and at some moments that were unclear if intentional or unintentional humor. One of the biggest laugh lines of the night was Belle explaining to her family: “I don’t love him. I like him. It’s not the same.”

By the end of the program, it was clear that Present Music was just as daring, weird and ambitious as ever. Artistic directors David Bloom and Eric Segnitz surely have more memorable experiences planned for the rest of the season.