Category Archives: Chamber Music

Chamber Cartel: Prajñā

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I think that this is the first Chamber Cartel concert that I’ve attended in a venue that has climate control. Thinking back, I know that they’ve performed in a few other places, but the only times that I’ve been able to attend their shows have been in the various Goat Farm venues. Fortunately, given the heatwave, the Goat Farm opened up the Warhorse for tonight’s show. It proved to be a pleasantly intimate venue for chamber music, if a bit cramped. I had a comfortable seat but many did not. It wasn’t a particularly long concert, though, and there were no epically long pieces, so I’d probably not have been terribly upset if I’d have had to stand.
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Chamber Cartel: The Stone Tapestry

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When an entire concert consists of one piece that I’ve never heard before, I always feel a little wary attending. Fortunately, Herron has good taste and does a good job of selecting works for Chamber Cartel that are not only interesting and enjoyable but also well suited to the ensemble. Tonight’s production of “The Stone Tapestry” by Jeff Herriott was definitely interesting and enjoyable and Chamber Cartel with the guest musicians of A/B Duo performed it well.
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ACP: Glass, Gresham, Debussy, & Ravel

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After feeling under the weather for much of the day, I managed to feel more like myself this evening by the time that I went to the Atlanta Chamber Players concert at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. Not that I’m glad that I didn’t feel well enough to go into work this morning, but it was great going to a weeknight concert without being drained by traffic.

Despite having a ticket to sit on the floor, I decided that I’d be better seated in the balcony. The problem with the New American Shakespeare Tavern, which is also one of it’s boons, is that it’s also a restaurant so the floor and box seats are all tables and they are usually filled by the people who are going to be eating there a good hour before a show starts. The empty seats that remained by the time that I arrived were all at awkward angles or behind where the cellists would be sitting, which wouldn’t serve me terribly well when compared with a seat in the center of the balcony. It’s such an intimate venue that even the balcony seats give a good, personal perspective of the stage and I consider the price for the floor seat a very reasonable price for the concert in any seat and have no problem with either ACP or the New American Shakespeare Tavern making a few extra bucks off of me.
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ECMSA: Hayden, Beethoven, & Janacek

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One of the things that I really like about the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is the way that their concerts are generally programmed with some kind of thread that connects the various pieces being played. The programs often span multiple musical periods but always manage to remain coherent, with some kind of conceptual or musical thematic connection. Tonight’s program for the Vega String Quartet was no exception; the evening began with a piece by the Classical composer Hayden, ended with a Romantic era piece by his student, Beethoven, and sandwiched in-between was an early 20th century modernist piece by Janacek that references a Beethoven sonata.
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