ASO: Donald Runnicles with Kim-Lillian Strebel

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Robbie

I made it to Thursday’s pre-concert chamber recital program for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and took no notes at all. Then I went to see T. Lang’s dance piece at the High and, while waiting for it to start, I realized that much of it didn’t make enough of an impression to stick with me. The first piece was Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso arranged for two marimbas by ASO Principal Percussionist Joseph Petrasek. I remember thinking it interesting and then kind of getting bored with it, which is a shame because I generally love the timbre of marimbas, especially when played in duets, and I like the piece on piano. I did like the way that Petrasek and Michael Stubbart played together, though, and would enjoy hearing more marimba duets from them in the future.
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ASO: Robert Spano with Inon Barnatan

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Robbie

So, if you don’t know me and you haven’t read the About Me page on this blog, then let me warn you that I am neither a critic nor a journalist. This is really just where I dump my thoughts on some of the things that I go to so that I can remember them later. That said, I’m starting this blog entry with something whiny and unrelated to the concert itself.
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Neophonia: Tête-à-Tête

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Robbie

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: Donald Runnicles with Christina Smith

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Robbie

There were two concerts for which I originally had tickets but did not attend; one of them was canceled due to weather and the other I decided to skip: they had the poor taste to tack some obnoxious gimmicks onto the performance that were created by two artists who clearly would have nothing of interest to say about the music. That would have detracted too much from the music for me to be able to enjoy myself so I figured that I’d exchange the ticket for one of the concerts that I’d originally not planned to attend. As such, even though I wasn’t excited about the program, I found myself at this evening’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert featuring all French composers under the baton of Donald Runnicles. Of the three pieces on the program, I really only wanted to hear one of them, but that one really made it worth it for me to bother with the trip to Symphony Hall.
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ASO: Michael Francis with Benjamin Grosvenor

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Robbie

I’m not sure that I agree with the programming for this evening’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert. There were three pieces on the program: Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no. 2, and Vaughan Williams Symphony no. 5. I feel like either the Copland or the Saint-Saëns could work well enough with the Vaughan Williams, but the three together just seemed off. Even though I love the piece, I wish that they had picked something besides the Copland to start the concert.
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ASO: Thomas Søndergård with Alexandre Tharaud

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Robbie

Have you ever wondered what the works of the French Impressionist composers would sound like if conducted in a Wagnerian style? I sure haven’t but, thanks to Thomas Søndergård, I now know that it would sound pretty lame. Or was it just me? When an entire concert is this far off mark then I find myself doubting my own ears, so I guess that maybe there is a chance that this evening’s ASO performance wasn’t played like it was a program of late German romanticism and I’m just crazy. Take that as you will.
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ACP: Glass, Gresham, Debussy, & Ravel

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Robbie

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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