“I’m a happy woman, I’m a happy woman.” Meredith Monk’s sudden singsong was the first and only instance of actual words to be heard throughout an evening of vocal sound. This interlude, in which Monk’s voice was accompanied by soft piano chords, was one of the most touching segments of a Monk work that I have ever witnessed. Although at age 75, Monk’s voice is not sounding as smooth and precise as it once did, it seemed almost less self-conscious and unbounded. She didn’t shy away from the occasionally frayed or ragged note, letting them instead lend their textures to a multidimensional and fully expressive sound world—like wrinkles on a face that are not hidden behind makeup or plastic surgery.
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