Photo Courtesy of Present Music
Present Music’s Thanksgiving concert tradition continued on Sunday to a large audience at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Choral music was the focus, featuring the premiere of a work commissioned to celebrate artistic director Kevin Stalheim’s final season.
The premiere was Kamran Ince’s warm and consonant Meditation and Gratitude for women’s voices and ensemble, which is set to a text by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-’73). Chant-like lines are sometimes accompanied by busy instrumentation, creating striking contrasts. The music aptly captured the mood of words such as “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
The excellent Hearing Voices Ensemble of eight singers was also heard in Robert Honstein’s deeply persuasive Book of Hours set to various texts. I found the setting of words by Rainer Maria-Rilke particularly moving: “I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone enough.” Karen Beaumont gave a thrilling account of Litanies for Organ by Jehan Alain (1911-’41), who died a hero in World War II. The Homestead and Ronald Reagan High School choirs sounded fresh and in fine voice in the lovely Stars by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977).
Earlier in the week, soprano Susanna Phillips joined clarinetist Todd Levy and pianist Brian Zeger in a wonderful performance of Franz Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (“The Shepherd on the Rock”) at a Frankly Music concert held in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Levy’s first entrance, with a sound that seems to come from nowhere, was captivating. It was a high pleasure to hear Levy and Phillips subtly trading phrases back and forth. Phillips is known for her roles at the Metropolitan Opera and other major houses. In Milwaukee, we rarely have the chance to hear a singer of this caliber in recital. Just as a statement of fact, George Gershwin arrangements written by me were also performed.
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Frank Almond joined Levy and Zeger in a stirring rendition of Béla Bartók’s master chamber work, Contrasts. This music brings out a different side to Almond’s playing from his more commonly heard lyric spin, blazing with color in a primarily lower range.
