MUSIC
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019
8:00 PM

Ensemble Mis-en: Portrait of Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue, Murray Hill, Manhattan

$15
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/events/portrait-of-pelle-gudmundsen-holmgreen-by-ensemble-mise-en/

Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen was a real original.  I remember the first time I heard one of his pieces; I was at a New Music recital, and at one point someone came out on stage and started playing a potted plant -- or maybe it was a stack of crumpled paper (or maybe a potted plantand then a stack of crumpled paper) -- and I thought, "yes!"  People talk about New Simplicity, about going back to first principles, but Gudmundsen-Holmgreen does it.  In very good humor, without a shred of solemnity.  Open-minded audiences enjoy his sonic and conceptual shenanigans because it's so clear that Gudmundsen-Holmgreen is enjoying himself.  He's not trying to shock and offend -- he's trying to spread pleasure in the face of the existential abyss that obviously is at the forefront of his consciousness at all times.  Maybe you could say he's what Satie would have been if Satie had come after Cage rather than before him.  (I should note that, despite my use of the present tense here, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen died in 2016.)  If you're open to the unconventional, I urge you to attend this show.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  You could do a lot worse than the "Dinner and a Concert" deal offered by Smõrgås Chef's branch in the Scandinavia House.