Category Archives: Chamber Music

Bent Frequency: Lines, Broken

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Last night’s Bent Frequency concert, “Lines, Broken,” was among the best that I’ve had the pleasure of attending. Originally scheduled to be held at Eyedrum’s downtown space, because of the fire it was held at the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta in Candler Park. I recall how the space seemed to mute the sound somewhat at a Chamber Cartel performance that I attended there back in 2015 but, for some reason, the sounds of last night’s performance resonated throughout the intimate venue quite well.
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ASO: Robert Spano and Stephen Mulligan with Jennifer Johnson Cano and Jorge Federico Osorio

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Although I attended the Saturday concert, I went to the chamber music performance that preceded the Thursday concert. I had to make a huge effort to leave work on time and then, to avoid feeling rushed, I stopped at a Moe’s near the Woodruff Arts Center to have an early and decidedly unsatisfying supper. If I’m completely honest, I’m not sure that it was worth the trouble. Each of the three pieces had at least one performer without whom the works would have sounded a lot better and I wasn’t that fond of the first two pieces on the program.
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Stephen Tharp

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I’ve never really been a fan of the organ. There was even a time when I actually disliked it. I’ve been making an effort, though, and over the years I’ve come to appreciate it more and more, finding that I particularly like the more contemporary works composed for the instrument. Even now, however, I still generally only go to organ concerts when I have nothing else to do and really want to get out of the house. I’m glad that I made it to Stephen Tharp’s recital at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer last night because his both playing and his programming were both excellent.
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Neophonia: Tête-à-Tête

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I’m almost embarrassed to admit that my favorite pieces on a program of new music were all over thirty years old. Then again, I am also over thirty years old and I’m your favorite, right? Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed Neophonia’s “Tête-à-Tête” at the Rialto last night. It was a woodwind-heavy program with fewer works by French composers than I’d have expected for a concert that was part of France-Atlanta 2017. With two world premiers and some very engaging music and should have been much better attended given the fact that it was free. Then again, maybe people wanted to steer clear of anything involving the French embassy after the French government’s Romani ethnic cleansing program at the beginning of this decade.
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ASO: Ludovic Morlot with Ray Chen

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Thursday’s concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was a good one. The program was made up of four wonderfully mad pieces from the 20th century, composed on either side of WWII. It also featured a less impressive chamber concert before the main performance that I’d have been okay with missing.
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Ensemble Chaconne: European Masters in 18th Century England

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There were so many concerts going on this afternoon that it was hard to pick one. I ended up going to hear Ensemble Chaconne, a HIP baroque trio, at the the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Midtown who played a program that focused on the concert music that could be heard in Restoration period London. The trio consisted of a flautist, a bass gambist, and a lutist who doubled on English guitar. Each of the three at some point introduced the works being performed and, at times, spoke about the history of their instruments, adding a bit of welcome context to the music.
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Sonic Generator at the High

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I was so happy when, earlier in the week, I got an email from the High about their First Friday event for September that said that Sonic Generator would be performing. Their website was taken down from the GA Tech servers some time ago, the FB group for them was renamed to “Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology,” and they’ve only performed a few times since the Sherwoods left for Cleveland, so I figured that they were no more. But, yes, they are still more! I didn’t see Jason Freeman there, so I’m assuming that they’re continuing with just the remainder of the ensemble and are no longer affiliated with Tech, but I’m perfectly happy with that as long as I get to hear them play now and then. I do hope that they develop some kind of way to let people know of their concerts, though: I very nearly missed this one.
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