Present Music Brings Peace to the Cathedral

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Present Music continued its long-running Thanksgiving tradition on Sunday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. The program was titled Concert for Peace, with a brochure adorned with both a dove and a peace sign to drive the message home. Countries involved in current global conflicts were represented (Ukraine, Israel, Iran), but the actual messaging was a bit diluted. When I think “Concert for Peace,” I think of something focused on one specific war and perhaps with spoken components that address it. Despite that nitpick, any gathering around music is, in a way, an act of hope for peace.

But I’ll digress. The Little Priest Singers, a local indigenous group who have been appearing at these Present Music concerts since 1991, opened the concert with drumming and chant that always seems to wake the soul. Then we got some good old organ music, taking advantage of the cathedral’s instrument. The hymn “We Gather Together” was heard in two settings, one a fantasy by African American composer Mark Fax, the other a set of variations by Present Music’s own John Orfe. Fax’s piece formed a grand opener, a neat mix of dissonance and hefty tonal resonance. Orfe’s piece was expansive, using a variety of organ textures. I particularly liked a variation of arpeggios using a flute stop, a progression from gospel aesthetic to full-on boogie woogie, and the ecstatic ending.

Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh spoke during a pre-concert talk, where she explained how her piece C Ce See used physical structures to literally connect the instruments together, with fishing wire then pulled through to create some sounds. The audience at the talk seemed completely fascinated by this, so I can only assume they were disappointed when they were unable see these mechanics in motion. Most of the seating was too far from the ensemble to see such delicate details. I would encourage Present Music to rethink the setting or seating next time a piece has such a crucial visual element. Without those cues, the first minute or so of music came across as a bit shaky, but then gave way to a nice flute solo and a landscape of timbral effects. The peaks of the first movement were overwhelming, like being swept away by a great wind. The second movement featured a lot of strummed piano strings, sensitively performed by Michael Mizrahi and Alex Wier. The string textures in the third movement were more traditional and quite beautiful, but the music seemed to end a little too fast. Again, the visual element seemed to add to the experience of the piece, conveying in literal terms her message of community and connectedness. I liked the music on its own, but I would be interested to seek out a video to more closely study her execution of the concept.

The first half closed with Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Postlude No. 3 for cello and piano. To me, this piece was a little too safe, too musically conservative. I didn’t get much out of it.

Holiness Sermons 

Courtney Bryan’s large ensemble piece Sanctum meditated on both the holiness sermons of preachers like Shirley Caesar and Rev. C.L. Franklin and high-profile cases of police brutality against Black citizens. Jazz bass, tolling bells, percussive effects, and breathing formed a kaleidoscopic canvas. Occasional recorded snippets of a sermon emerged as well, though I couldn’t make out the words. Bryan’s solos were perfectly crafted, whether for violin or trumpet other instruments. Each one landed just right. The piece rose to intense heights with percussion and recorded vocal chants, and soulful sections led by brass. I think the acoustics of the cathedral obscured some of the recorded elements; they never came through as transparently as I wanted. But the overall effect of the music was a beautiful, painful cry against injustice.

Moses in Nederland, a violin concerto by Michael Kropf, was undeniably the highlight of the night. Inspired by his great-grandfather Moses Schenkein, a Jew living in Holland in the leadup to the Holocaust, the piece incorporated Yiddish tunes written by Schenkein and handed down through the family. The first movement skillfully conveyed the mystery of digging into his family history, with slow scalar figures roaming through the ensemble. Violinist Sabrina Tabby was arresting from the start, digging in with searing intensity and never letting up. As the first movement started to open up, it had the effect of opening a sealed box of emotions from the past.

The second movement, titled “Elegy,” began with a straightforward Yiddish melody first introduced in a low register in the ensemble, before Tabby entered with her solo. I thought she could have toned down the forcefulness here, but it still worked. The B section of this movement was very touching, with Kropf taking the elegiac mood further in a personal attempt to capture the tragedies of the past. The buildup to the climax burst with heart-on-sleeve emotion, followed by a poignant comedown with the solo violin sustaining a single low note and the ensemble strings sighing. This movement had real sweep.

The finale, a portrait of Schenkein returning to Holland after the Holocaust, contrasted the previous two movements with feelings of excitement and hope. Just when the mood started to feel a bit static, the music kicked into a new gear. The violin soared over brass fanfares to a happy conclusion. Moses in Nederlandwas a winner, fresh and accessible at the same time, and with an emotional directness that made the personal story universal. Sabrina Tabby’s stirring performance enhanced all of these factors.

Present Music’s Thanksgiving concerts always give me a lot to think about. Processing the diverse worlds and craftsmanship can feel a bit like digesting a large feast. The impact of the music has stayed with me (minus the forgettable Silvestrov piece), and my only real complaints concern logistics. Present Music should be careful about programming amplified spoken word in a cathedral-like space and should consider the audience distance from the stage when a key visual component is in play.