The Current

Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: Maria Jenkins UM-St. Louis performers play at the Sheldon on Tuesday.

Media Credit: Maria Jenkins The performance took place Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

Media Credit: file photo Barbara Harbach

UM-St. Louis music professor and composer Barbara Harbach paid tribute to pioneer women in an Oct. 23 concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Among the musicians performing Harbach's compositions was UM-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George.

The concert was part of the Sheldon's "Notes From Home" Series. The series features the best regional talent performing all styles of vocal and instrumental jazz, classical, folk, blues and gospel music.

"A Tribute to Pioneer Women: The Music of Barbara Harbach" featured four compositions of original music by Harbach. A variety of musical combos performed selections devoted to women who were pioneers in some sense. The program was topped off by a short jazz-inspired piece. Each musical selection was introduced by the composer Barbara Harbach.

"Freeing the Caged Bird" honored groundbreaking women with St. Louis roots. In four movements, Harbach pays tribute to four authors born in St. Louis. The composition was performed by the Equinox Chamber Players, with Carole Lemire on French horn, Paula Kasica on flute, Ann Homann on oboe, Dana Hotle on clarinet and Donita Bauer on bassoon. The composition was especially written for this ensemble, and they played it splendidly.

"Maya" was inspired by Maya Angelou's book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," one of the most acclaimed books by one of the nation's most respected and beloved modern authors. The tuneful music captured the struggles against adversary in the book. The style of the music could be described as American, in the manner of Aaron Copeland - hopeful, melodic, lively and rising.

The next movement was "Sara" inspired by Sara Teasdale's poem "Sunset: St. Louis." Teasdale was from an old St. Louis family and was much honored for her poetry. This piece was more languid, even pastoral in tone.

"Kate" is a tribute to author Kate Chopin and her groundbreaking novel "The Awakening." "Kate" was a leisurely movement, but embroidered with trills and musical cascades in descending runs.

The last movement, "Emily," was based on Emily Hahn's book "Hong Kong Holiday." It was a return to the lively pace of the first movement and had the feel of some one outward bound.

While the first selection was all instrumental, Harbach brought in vocals for "Pioneer Women: From Skagway to White Mountain." Soprano Laura Medendorp sang melodies with lyrics drawn from the writings of four women, accompanied by Barbara Harbach on piano and Diana Haskell on clarinet. Chancellor Thomas George, who is also Harbach's husband, served as page-turner.

The music was crafted to capture the spirit of the diverse women and Medendorp sang beautifully and with great feeling.

Catherine van Curler detailed the difficult journey she and her husband made from Skagway to Dawson.

Cordelia Noble was a young divorcé who moved to Nome in the early 1990s to start a new life and wrote letters to her mother describing Alaska as an adventure.

Margaret Murie, an early environmentalist, wrote passionately in favor of preserving the wilderness. Lastly, Gertrude Fergus Baker was a nurse who spent two years in Alaska in the mid 1920s, an independent single woman.

This music was more modern, with elements of dissonance replacing more of the melodic aspects but very well done.

In "Frontier Fancies," violin and piano dance and spar through three playful selections. John Grosso of UM-St. Louis' artists-in-residence Ariana String Quartet played violin to Ruth Price's piano.

"Fiddleflirt" is a playful competition, with first one instrument, then the other racing ahead with the melody. "Twilight Dream" a sweet and gentle tune that evoked visions of floating down a river.

"Dancedevil' picked up the pace again, a tuneful and appealing dance. In her introduction to the segment, Harbach noted that it was inspired by the high desert and wheat fields o f Washington State.

The last major selection of the evening, "Abigail!" was a tribute to Abigail Adams, based on her letters to her husband John, from their earliest courting days, through his days during the American Revolution to her death, was the basis of this piece.

Soprano Laura Medendorp sang the excerpts from the letters, with a nice dramatic flourish. The instrumental accompaniment was performed by the largest ensemble of the evening, with Paula Kasica on flute, Paul Garritson on clarinet and bass clarinet, Donita Bauer on bassoon, David Gillham on violin, Robert Meyer on viola and Kurt Baldwin on cello. Ayako Watanabe on harp added an extra depth. James Richards conducted.

The first movement "Miss Adorable" recounts the couple's courting days, with John's nickname for Abigail. "Lady Adams" covers their days as a leading couple an her growing interest in women's rights and attempts to win her husband to that cause.

"Remember The Ladies" has a flirtation and seduction Abigail trying to charm John into including the women's vote in the Constitution. "My Heart Is Light" captures the personal peace of her final days.

The evening was capped off with "Twenty First Century Pioneer,' which Harbach described as a tribute to her husband Chancellor Thomas George's favorite music, jazz. She described it as her first jazz composition by it was really more of a blues piece, belted out with enthusiasm by vocalist Nancy Kranzberg, with piano by Chancellor George. .

The composer and the closed the evening with a grace note by inviting the audience to join them for a reception in the adjoining Sheldon gallery.

"A Tribute to Pioneer Women: The Music of Barbara Harbach" offered a wonderful, full evening of Harbach's music.

If you are interested in sampling the composer's work, she has several CDs. You can learn more at http://www.barbaraharbach.com.

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