The Rhythm Method: Hidden Mothers

MUSIC
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021
7:00 PM

Morris Museum
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, New Jersey

$50 for up to two people
https://morrismuseum.org/events/rhythm-method-hidden-mothers/

Reactionaries like to claim that the current efflorescence of programming of pieces by non-white and/or non-cis-male composers, both past and present, forces audiences to works of lesser quality in further of sociopolitical posturing. That's patent bullshit: all you have to do is listen. But that doesn't mean that everything that's uncovered is great: to me (if no one else), Florence Price (featured here) is just more of the boring post-Romantic music I don't like anyway, even if in her case it boringly (over)elaborates African-American folk themes rather than European ones. (OTOH, there's no reason in the world she shouldn't be played just as much as all that other boring post-Romantic music is!) Often, though, the uncovered stuff is great: Elizabeth Maconchy (also featured here) was simply one of the best British composers of the last Century, and her relative neglect is a blight on the music world. And if the need to find music by a more diverse composer base forces staid institutions to program contemporary classical, that of a non-cis-male like violinist Leah Asher (also featured here) is as good as anyone's of any orientation — a win for everybody. Not that the vital quartet The Rhythm Method needed any pushing in this direction: it's good that now they get expanded exposure as well.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The only place in Morristown that anybody outside Morristown knows is Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen — and it won't reopen for onsite dining until the end of the month.