Opera Review: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Original image of DVD booklet by There Stands the Glass.

Dmitri Shostakovich recently instigated an unpleasant exchange in my home.  More accurately, my insistence on playing the composer’s clamorous opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” at maximum volume was met by a reasonable request to turn it down.  I responded with wildly inappropriate sass.

Aware of Joseph Stalin’s condemnation of the opera in 1936- criticism that endangered Shostakovich’s life- I compared my life partner to the murderous Russian.  It wasn’t my best moment.

I’d like to blame my abhorrent behavior on my passion for the opera.  The library loan of an unflinching 2006 production was my first experience with the work.  (Here’s a representative four-minute clip featuring Eva-Maria Westbrook in the title role.)  Shostakovich’s portrayal of inhumanity coarsened me.  Stalin may have been on to something.

Album Review: Zsófia Boros- El último aliento

Manic dembow made by the likes of Donaty is my new go-to soundtrack for driving and yard work.  I expect my infatuation will last through the summer.  Yet the bonkers music is jarring inside my home.  The contemplative guitar of Zsófia Boros on her third ECM Records album El último aliento is precisely what I need as I gaze out windows at the spring bloom.  Her exquisite interpretation of Mathias Duplessy’s "Le labyrinthe de Vermeer" is representative of the extraordinarily restorative work.

Talk About the Passion

Original image of Anne-Marie McDermott monitoring a student’s performance at White Recital Hall by There Stands the Glass.

Music lovers within my demographic- white, male, middle-aged and Midwestern- recently commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the release of R.E.M.’s Murmur with rhapsodic social media posts.  I also loved Murmur.  Paying $1.02 to attend an R.E.M. concert at the Uptown Theater on May 30, 1983, still seems like the deal of a lifetime.

That said, it’s been more than 25 years since I’ve listened to Murmur.  Having fully absorbed the music in the 1980s, I’ve felt no need to revisit the album.  Expanding the horizons of my knowledge has always excited me far more than wallowing in the familiar.  Chamber music- a form that until recently was entirely foreign to me- has provided many of my kicks of late.  

Watching Anne-Marie McDermott alternately encourage and scold three young pianists at Grant Recital Hall yesterday blew my mind.  Almost everything the famed musician said in response to their performances of compositions by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethover and Camille Saint-Saens acted as an enlightening "Catapult".

Album Review: Alex Cunningham, Seth Andrew Davis, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter- Branches Choke

Footage of Alex Cunningham, Seth Andrew Davis, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter improvising at Charlotte Street Foundation continues to fill me with joy nine months after I posted the brief clip to Instagram.  Branches Choke, fifty minutes of gleeful entropy recorded in Kansas City the day after that performance, is similarly provocative.  The cover art evokes the anarchic punk band Crass while the album possesses the ear-splitting racket of glass bottles shattering in an empty recycling bin.  The Kansas City guitarist Davis sounds like he’s torturing a Slinky toy.  The St. Louis tandem of bassist Smith and fiddler Cunninghim occasionally synchronize their agonized groaning.  The thumps and rattles produced by New York percussionist Weasel Walter are funny even without the riotous visuals. The outrageous Branches Choke is astounding.

Super Slimey

Original image of Future at Petco Park in 2018 by There Stands the Glass.

I just saved $75- and I’m mad about it.  Future- one of my monthly concert recommendations for KCUR- canceled tonight’s performance.  The game-changing rapper may be a superstar, but expecting 10,000 fans in Kansas City to buy exorbitantly priced tickets for an arena show may not have been realistic.  Knowing sales were horrendous, I’d intended to buy the least expensive seat at the door, figuring all attendees would be encouraged to move to the front to improve the optics.  I redirected my money into a ticket to experience a British disco band’s live show for the first time.

EP Review: Midwestern- Cartoon Network

An audio tag featuring what might be a television news reporter enunciating the words “Kansas City homicide” is frequently applied to Cartoon Network.  It’s appropriate, as the stunning combination of vintage no-wave and au currant hyper-pop on Midwestern’s new EP knocks me dead.

The duo’s freewheeling sound fuses the convulsive anti-funk acts of the 1970s like James Chance and the Contortions with the glitchy innovations of contemporary artists including 100 Gecs, Flying Lotus and Tyler, The Creator.  The dynamic prevents the band’s obvious love of vintage soul from succumbing to sentimental nostalgia.

Midwestern’s rapid evolution is astounding.  Nine months ago, the group looked and sounded like this.  It was something else entirely at Howdy last week.  While there’s no telling what Midwestern will be come December, I anticipate another Kansas City homicide.

March 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Deutsche Oper Berlin’s production of Richard Strauss’ Arabella by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of March

1. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown- Scaring the Hoes

Noise devolution.

2. Morgan Wallen- One Thing at a Time

My review.

3. Cécile McLorin Salvant- Mélusine

Peculiar chansons.

4. Eddie Chacon- Sundown

Quiet storm.

5. London Brew- London Brew

Restorative.

6. Slowthai- Ugly

Life is hard.

7. Willie Nelson- I Don’t Know a Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard

Nor do I.

8. Laura Schuler Quartet- Sueños Paralelos

My review.

9. MSPAINT- Post-American

Punk progression.

10. Wadada Leo Smith- Fire Illuminations

Conflagration.

Top Ten Songs of March

1. Shay Lia- "Takutá'"

Hopscotch.

2. RP Boo- "B.O.T.O."

Fancy footwork.

3. Baaba Maal- "Freak Out"

Chic.

4. Kassa Overall featuring Nick Hakim and Theo Croker- "Make My Way Back Home"

Prodigal.

5. Meshell Ndegeocello- "Virgo"

Back to the stars.

6. Moor Mother- "We Got the Jazz"

From strength to strength.

7. Las Marias- "Ismael"

Spring has sprung.

8. EST Gee- “Pray You Die in Surgery”

Cursed.

9. Sleaford Mods featuring Perry Farrell- "So Trendy"

Shouty.

10. Atmosphere- "Bigger Picture"

The relentless march of time.

Top Ten Concerts of March

1. Ghais Guevara, Tricky Youth, Student 1, Midwestern, Tabby, Defo, Laaee Uzumak and Young Mvchetes at Farewell and Howdy

My review.

2. Boston Camerata’s “Dido & Aeneas” at Community Christian Church

My Instagram photo.

3. Bill Frisell at 1900 Building

My impressions.

4. Artemis at the Gem Theater

My review.

5. Austin Plaine, Katie Toupin and the Pinkerton Raid at the Monarch (Louisville)

My Instagram clip.

6. CRAG Quartet, Joshua Gerowitz with Vinny Golia and the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society of Kansas City at the Bunker Center for the Arts

My review.

7. Cynthia van Roden at the Market at Meadowbrook

My Instagram photo.

8. Te Deum’s “Solemn Vespers” at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

My Instagram photo.

9. Electronic Music Midwest Festival at Kansas City Kansas Community College (concerts one, five and eight)

My review.

10. Kristina Gaddy, Nadia Ramlagan and Blakeley Burger at Carmichael’s Bookstore (Louisville)

My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly survey is here.

Concert Review: Ghais Guevara, Tricky Youth, Student 1, Midwestern, Tabby, Defo, Laaee Uzumak and Young Mvchetes at Farewell and Howdy

Original image of Midwestern by There Stands the Glass.

JPEGMAFIA, the cult artist responsible for the possible album of the year, performed at the Granada in Lawrence, Kansas, on Wednesday, March 29.  I opted for a different rap show.  Two rap shows, actually.

I paid $15 for admittance to the serendipitously titled Farewell to Rap tour at Farewell.  The cover charge for a bill of noise-rappers a few steps away at Howdy was $10.  My quick impressions of all eight acts in the order of their appearances:

• Young Mvchetes- Good ideas. Iffy execution.

• Laaee Uzumak- Mainstream Kaycee rap.

• Defo- Even before he told me he was from Minneapolis, I detected Doomtree vibes from the rapper.

• Student 1- Ingratiating Minnesotan.

• Tricky Youth- Industrial shock rapper replete with an incense incantation and a literal blood ritual.

• Tabby- Slick pop.

• Midwestern- The only act I’d previously seen and a factor in my decision not to go to Lawrence, the duo’s manic performance floored me.

• Ghais Guevara- The leftist Philly rapper merits consideration from Top Dawg Entertainment.

Four rap enthusiasts drove 50 miles from JPEGMAFIA’s concert to catch the final 20 minutes of Ghai Guevara’s gig.  Their dedication inspired me.  Yet no matter how good Peggy was, I’m confident I made the right choice.

Opera Review: The Metropolitan Opera’s “The Hours”

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I correctly assumed the Metropolitan Opera’s world premiere production of "The Hours" would eventually make its way to PBS.  What I didn’t anticipate is how difficult the opera would be to watch.  The unflinching depiction of hopeless despair is unbearably grim.  I repeatedly paused the three-hour broadcast lest I fall into a sympathetic depression.  The three stars- Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming and Kelli O’Hara- portray the suicidal gloom devised by Kevin Puts and librettist Greg Pierce, based on a novel by Michael Cunningham and inspired by the work and life of Virginia Woolf, with upsetting fidelity.  Everything about “The Hours” is outstanding- and that’s why it’s almost unendurable.

Laura Schuler Quartet- Sueños Paralelos

Almost everything about Sueños Paralelos sounds wrong.  Drummer Lionel Friedli could be auditioning for a rock band.  Hans-Peter Pfammatter’s synthesizer belongs in an avant-prog ensemble.  The storied saxophonist Tony Malaby and Swiss violinist Laura Schuler get tangled up like competitive kite fighters.  The quartet’s rude, unpolished anti-jazz is a combative rebuttal to the codified, calcified realm of mainstream improvised music.