Chamber Music Society (Lincoln Center)

[rockitman]

Well today I finally saw my first classical performance...a chamber music performance in the front row dead center. Literally 10' from the musicians...similar to my current listing arrangement at home. While the best recorded chamber music comes close on my system, it just can't match the live performance seated in the sweet spot. Actually the sweet spot may be a few more rows back. In any event, this is what I saw/heard:

Venue: SPA Little Theatre, Saratoga Springs, NY (Summer Home of CMS)

Beethoven - Quartet in G major for Strings, Op 18, No. 2 - Performed by the Danish String Quartet

Grieg - Sonata in A minor for Cello and Piano - Jakob Koranyl, Cello (Looked like Janos Starker back in the day), Juho Pohjonen, Piano

Schubert - Quintet in C major for two Violins, Viola and Two Cellos, D. 956, Op. 163 - Danish Quartet and Koranyl on secpond cello.

What an experience. I have two more CMS shows in the next week and a half...In the Spirit of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky's Idol.

[Bill Hart]

That's a great way to hear live music- small scale, rather than full symphony orchestra, so you can hear much more of the individual instruments (particularly sitting that close). I love the sound of cello in real life- what we think of as upper bass or lower mids is really like a gut punch with the draw of the bow and the resonance of the instrument- it almost goes through you.
And piano- well, it is the rare recording that reproduces the thing anywhere close to what it sounds like in real life. The sheer weight of it and the lingering harmonic overtones.
These organizations need all the help and support they can get-- what was the demographic of the audience? All older?

[rockitman]

I never saw so much gray hair and walkers at a concert in my life. I was the young punk there at 55...lol
If I had to choose between large orchestral and chamber music, chamber wins. I do love the power of the orchestra though. Glad I don't have to choose.

[Bill Hart]

Yeah, well, pretty soon, some of those legacy rock band audiences are going to be sporting "walkers" too.

[tima]

Yes, roughly two octaves below middle-C to one-and-a-half octaves above - try the first Musical Nuda album.

[MylesBAstor]

Well today I finally saw my first classical performance...a chamber music performance in the front row dead center. Literally 10' from the musicians...similar to my current listing arrangement at home. While the best recorded chamber music comes close on my system, it just can't match the live performance seated in the sweet spot. Actually the sweet spot may be a few more rows back. In any event, this is what I saw/heard:

Venue: SPA Little Theatre, Saratoga Springs, NY (Summer Home of CMS)

Beethoven - Quartet in G major for Strings, Op 18, No. 2 - Performed by the Danish String Quartet

Grieg - Sonata in A minor for Cello and Piano - Jakob Koranyl, Cello (Looked like Janos Starker back in the day), Juho Pohjonen, Piano

Schubert - Quintet in C major for two Violins, Viola and Two Cellos, D. 956, Op. 163 - Danish Quartet and Koranyl on secpond cello.

What an experience. I have two more CMS shows in the next week and a half...In the Spirit of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky's Idol.

Sounds like a fun time!

Gotta love all the summer festivals all the way up to Tanglewood (something I suggest for all. It's a beautiful spot in the Berkshires in addition to getting to hear wonderful music!).

[JCOConnell]

that must have been wonderful concert