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The Classical Beat: Chamber Concerts Blossom Throughout Region
By Stephen Dankner, Special to iBerkshires
01:21PM / Wednesday, August 26, 2015
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The Kalichstein, Laredo, Robinson Piano Trio will perform as part of the South Mountain Concerts series on Sunday, Sept. 6.

Labor Day marks the conclusion of the summer music festival season, and so the local classical music scene coalesces, as presenters favor intimate spaces for chamber music.

This will become the dominant genre of music making to be found until next June, when the warm late spring weather invites us to share massed performances outdoors at Tanglewood and other venues, large and small.

Looking ahead, you’ll find a variety of concerts presented in churches, chapels, small auditoriums, halls and the like throughout the region. Even Tanglewood’s acoustically superb Ozawa Hall is really too big for a string quartet or piano trio to be heard to best advantage; a venue with 300 seats - or even smaller - is better.

This is good; chamber music sounds best in - what else - chambers, not enormous spaces, and flourishes, as the intimacy of small spaces invites us to listen ever more closely. The confessional nature of chamber music bestirs us to derive solace as it nourishes and invigorates our spiritual selves. Chamber music reminds me of the old aphorism: “Good things come in small packages.”

Here are three series that fill the bill admirably.

 

Concerts at Tannery Pond

Tannery Pond – that pristine series in New Lebanon, N.Y., bordering Pittsfield on Route 20, will be presenting two final programs. As always, this exemplary venue showcases amazing talent performing both classic and 20th century music in a gorgeous setting.

• Saturday, Sept. 5, 8 p.m.: Clarinetist Todd Palmer, pianist Giles Vonsattel and cellist Ed Arron present a program of Beethoven, Debussy, Poulenc, Messiaen, von Weber and Henryson. The Beethoven and von Weber feature all three performers, while the remaining selections presents the artists in solo and duo configurations.

• Saturday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m. (note the early time): Violinist Aleksey Semenenko and pianist Inna Firsova present a duo recital of sonatas and solo works by Beethoven, Balakirev, Tchaikovsky, Sarasate and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Tickets are $30 and $39. Tannery Pond is located on the grounds of Mount Lebanon Shaker Village and Darrow School, New Lebanon, N.Y., one and a half miles east of the town center on Route 20. Tickets can be bought online.

 

South Mountain Concerts

Only the most well-regarded ensembles are invited to perform at this revered institution in Pittsfield. Perhaps only Music from Marlboro can lay claim to presenting such exalted and seasoned talent and, as well, attracting the most dedicated and knowledgeable audience in the Northeast for chamber music. Attending a South Mountain concert is always an unforgettable experience.

Next Sunday, Sept. 6, the Kalichstein, Laredo, Robinson Piano Trio are the featured artists. In future weeks, you can look forward to hearing the trio of pianist Wu Han, cellist David Finckel and violinist Philip Setzer (Sept. 20); the Emerson String Quartet (Sept. 27); the Escher String Quartet (Oct. 4) and the Dover String Quartet with pianist Menahem Pressler (Oct. 11).

All concerts are on Sundays at 3 p.m. but some weeks now have only un-reserved seating available. South Mountain is located two miles south of downtown Pittsfield on Routes 7 and 20. For tickets, call 413-442-2106. For more information, visit online at southmountainconcerts.org.

 

Close Encounters With Music

Close Encounters' Artistic Director and cellist Yehuda Hanani began presenting thematic concerts of chamber music with commentary 22 years ago — at the time a novel and innovative format that has since become ubiquitous in the concert hall.

This premiere series is one of the crown jewels of classical concert life in the Berkshires. The series offers seven concerts in South County (Lenox and Great Barrington) from October 2015 through June 2016 that are unequaled for their diversity of thematic programming.

Cellist/Artistic Director Hanani is a master of thematic invention, combining composers and their works in innovative, yet logically meaningful and satisfying ways to create a uniquely well-rounded concert and intellectual experience for his devoted audience.

The concerts this season, from fall to next spring, are:

• Sunday, Oct. 24, 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center:  “Grand Piano Quartets – Brahms and Dvorak.”

• Saturday, Dec. 12, 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center:  “Dually Noted – Piano Music for Four Hands.”

• Saturday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m. at Ventfort Hall, Lenox: “A Mid-Winter Fireside Concert – ‘Some Enchanted Evening.’” A baritone and piano vocal recital.

• Saturday, March 19, 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “J.S. Bach and sons – Legitimate and Otherwise” – Baroque string orchestra, oboe and cello (Y. Hanani.)

• Sunday, April 17, 3 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “Fiddler OFF the Roof” – Strings, piano and clarinet perform Eastern European and klezmer-inspired music.

• Sunday, May 14, 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “The Art of the String Quartet” - The acclaimed Dover String Quartet performs Beethoven, Dvorak and Alban Berg’s Quartet, Op. 3.
 
• Sunday, June 11, 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “Music That Shook the World” – Music of the 1920s avant-garde for piano, violin and cello with narrator.

• Sunday, May 1, 12:30 p.m. at Blantyre in Lenox:  Special event: CEWM’s Annual Luncheon Musicale Benefit – A superb formal luncheon with live chamber music accompaniment.

For tickets to all Close Encounters With Music events visit cewm.org online or call 800-843-0778.

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