Rite of Summer Music Festival (8/18/18)

Collaborative Arts Ensemble
Jocelyn Zhu, violin; Matthew Maimone, piano; Thomas West, baritone, piano; Jasminn Johnson, vocals, dance

Letters from the American South

Shenandoah – Traditional
Excursions, Op. 20, No. 1 (Un Poco Allegro) – Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Four Souvenirs: For Violin and Piano – Movement I: Samba – Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947)
Memories (Part 1) – Charles Ives (1874–1954)
Grief – William Grant Still (1895–1978)
Orange Blossom Special – Johnny Cash (1932–2003)
Daybreak in Alabama – Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956)
American Lullaby – Gladys Rich (1904–1994)
Georgia on My Mind – Hoagy Carmichael (1899–1981)
Hard Times Come Again No More – Stephen Foster (1826–1864)

Texts for readings: Emma Lazarus (1849–1887); Harper Lee (1926–2016); Maya Angelou (1928–2014); Richard Grant (b. 1956); Brené Brown (b. 1956); Jasminn Johnson (b. 1993)

Collaborative Arts Ensemble (a new organization established in 2017) has a mission of involving text, music, and physical movement into an expansion of the typical concert. For the most part, it worked. As seen above, the musical selections were quite eclectic. The readings, while also eclectic, were not actually listed in the printed program, so we didn’t know whose words were being used or where, which was a little disappointing for me. The texts ranged from commentary about the obvious and still present racism in the south, with references to slavery, but also about the inherent ‘good neighbor’ feeling that also exists in the south. And the readings were sometimes solo affairs and sometimes group efforts, which proved a bit clunky at times.

With ten musical entries, I’ll hit the ones that were highlights for me. If you have any questions about others that I don’t get to here, feel free to contact me and I’ll expand. Shenandoah began with solo violin (Ms. Zhu) that was then joined by piano (Mr. Maimone). Pleasant enough, it eventually served as underscoring for a spoken introduction by Mr. West and Ms. Johnson that laid out the quest for the scope of the afternoon.

Excursions (for solo piano) was rapid, modern, very interesting, and intriguing, with jazzy rhythms. Some of the most enjoyable Barber I’ve heard in a long time. The Samba movement that followed a reading was also very modern, once again with driving rhythms, and hints of dance forms—hello! it’s called Samba!

Mr. West acquitted himself quite well with Memories, a sort of fun patter-like song that he sang while embedded in the audience. Orange Blossom Special was a little touch of country, very fast, almost (but not quite) making it into foot-stomping territory.

The rest of the second half of the program seemed to lack a bit of focus, and while a brief a cappella section of Hard Times Come Again No More was effective, the piece didn’t quite make it as a concert ender. One of the nice things about the Rite of Summer concerts, performed on Governors Island, is that the 1pm performance is repeated at 3pm. I considered sticking around for round two but ended up deciding on the 2:30pm ferry back to Manhattan. And a rain shower hit right around that time. I hope the performers had a successful second iteration of the program. This was the last of the Rite of Summer concerts for this season—alas, the only one I made it to this year. I’ll have to be more on the ball with scheduling next summer.

ConcertMeister