Sunday afternoon saw the next installment of the University of Tennessee’s Ready for the World Music Series, an offering of three programs per year intended to illuminate the music and culture of a variety of regions around the world. Produced by the UT School of Music in association with the UT College of Arts and Sciences, UT Libraries, and other UT-related cultural groups, each program includes guest and faculty artists in performances of representative music, as well as exhibit displays reflecting an area’s culture. Now in its third season, RFTW’s previous recitals have visited a variety of cultures like Korea, China, Puerto Rico, and Poland. Sunday’s recital stayed closer to home with the subject of “Americana.”
Of course, there are subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the terms “American” and “Americana”, the latter being defined by a spirit and an evocation of mood and feeling, rather than just geography. To that end, the recital covered a broad range of works, running the gamut from folk song derivations to American musicals to contemporary music.
The guest artists were cellist Dennis Parker and pianist Lina Morita, who collaborated on several works, including the opening work by Lukas Foss, Capriccio for Cello and Piano. They were later joined by UT faculty violinist (and artistic director of RFTW) Miroslav Hristov for Cafe Music by contemporary composer Paul Schoenfield, a work that is a brilliant amalgam of jazz, blues, klezmer, and classical styles let loose through an addictively rhythmic energy.
Elsewhere on the program, UT voice faculty members Lorraine DiSimone, Cecily Nall, Andrew Wentzel, and Andrew Skoog (with faculty pianists Judith Bible and Kevin Class) explored folksong-derived numbers and a couple of duets from American musicals, all somehow touching on the American condition. Big hits with the audience were DiSimone’s “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House” by Tom Cipullo, Nall’s “Sourwood Mountain” by Jack Jarrett, Wentzel’s “I Bought Me a Cat” by Aaron Copland, with Skoog and DiSimone joining for Richard Rodgers “People Will Say We’re in Love.”
The Ready For the World Music Series continues on Sunday, March 24, with a focus on Bulgaria.
