Ensemble Music Society's delayed celebration of the 19th-amendment centennial worth waiting for

The fight for women's suffrage in the United States stretched out over decades, so it was fitting, if inconvenient, for there to have been a one-year delay in Ensemble Music Society's carefully planned centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment.

The right to vote for women, constitutionally guaranteed in 1920, had certifiable, if oblique, justification in the achievements of 19th-century American women in many fields. Among them was the prolific Amy Beach (1867-1944).  Long known as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach in deference to her husband, she had established a prodigious reputation in her youth as composer and pianist. A tireless advocate for publication and performance of her music in a male-dominated culture, she "leaned in" long before Sheryl Sandberg came up with the female self-help slogan. Beach's Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, op. 67, was the summit of Wednesday evening's thematic program, titled "19th Amendment Centennial Plus One," at the Indiana History Center .

With Lydia Artymiw at the piano, the  Cassatt String Quartet performed the work with mighty rapport and relentless commitment to its kaleidoscopic demands. Romantic effusiveness, solidly constructed a la Brahms, quickly characterizes the first movement, whose quiet ending makes an effective contrast. Beach's familiarity with French romanticism also seems evident, but the total escapes derivative dead ends.

Named for an American impressionist: Cassatt String Quartet

The performers matched dynamics and phrasing outstandingly in the second movement, which featured a glorious outburst from the piano at the climax, setting up a lengthy denouement. All sorts of riches were scattered about the finale, starting with Ah Ling Leu's lovely playing of a viola melody and quickly flowering into a propulsively energetic ensemble, which ascended toward a fugal episode introducing a brilliant, sometimes suspenseful ending. The performance's rapturous reception by the large audience was both predictable and well-deserved.

The distinctive voices of the Cassatt got displayed in the first half, especially in the late Mozart string quartet, K. 559 in B-flat.  The group's attractive way of easing into the first movement was soon fused seamlessly into the more emotionally vivid body of the music. Elizabeth Anderson made the most of the cello's prominence in the Larghetto movement. Capricious independence of the instruments produced a unified effect in the third, with the slight exception of some challenging string-crossing passages for first violinist Muneko Otani. All four voices (the second violinist is Jennifer Leshnower) made sturdy contributions to the finale, in which the writing carries hints of an operatic vocal ensemble and even the kind of individuation found in madrigals. 

Composer Victoria Bond was on hand to lift the special quality of the women-focused program as her "Blue and Green Music" (2020) was performed. In remarks to the audience, Bond made it clear that Georgia O'Keeffe's painting of the same title was not only an inspiration but a kind of shaping force for her string quartet, a commission from Chamber Music America. The musical motifs identified with the two colors of the title are laid out in tandem in the opening movement. The middle movements take up each color in turn: "Green" is rambunctious, with dotted rhythms prevailing. Its spirit is turned into a different kind of drive in the finale, "Dancing Color," featuring lots of sprightly pizzicato and syncopation. I was unable to detect any traces in Bond of "Blue in Green," a beautiful number on Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," an all-time jazz bestseller. So color coordination between the works must be pure coincidence.

Georgia O'Keeffe, "Blue and Green Music" (1921)

"Blue" is the slow movement, a kind of respite except for its gathering intensity. Its overlapping phrases  wove an impressive tapestry, hinting at the way painters organize shades on their palettes. Particularly for this movement, I wished that a slide projection of the O'Keeffe painting had remained on the hall's lowered screen. It was distracting enough to sit through the hum of the screen being raised before the Cassatt could start playing. Normally I'm suspicious of any kind of visual accompaniment competing for attention with music, but in this case, it would have been an aid to understanding and enjoyment. 

That aside, a kind of joy in the contributions — both creative and performing — of women to art music was evident both in what we heard and what we saw in this final Ensemble Music presentation of 2021. When the season resumes in January, may it already be evident that the pandemic has become no more than endemic — something to be cautious about but no longer able to severely hobble artistic activity around the world.