Glory, hallelujah – I was finally able to make it to one of Chamber Music Charleston’s fabled “House Concerts” last Monday, thanks to a last-minute vacancy — and the kindness of director Sandra Nikolayevs in letting me know about it. Pardon my delay in reporting on it – but (as you’ll see in Wednesday’s City Paper), it was a very busy musical week, with three concerts that I just couldn’t pass up.
Several times each season, this very capable alliance of musicians (mostly from the Charleston Symphony) put together dynamite chamber programs and perform each one in several different private homes in the Charleston area throughout the season. This is chamber music as it should be: enjoyed by small bunches of aficionados in intimate surroundings.
Only trouble is, you can’t fit big crowds into most living rooms, so local chamber nuts snap up subscriptions to most of the scarce seats very early in the season. What’s a chamber junky to do?
Well, thank goodness this group also does some larger-venue concerts, too – like in their impending “Holy City” series, offered in various historic churches. Their first will be at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday the 28th, at the First Baptist Church. Check out the possibilities at their website, HERE.
The program I caught was a very unusual, but effective one – featuring string quartets by two of the greatest composers to ever write them: W. A. Mozart and Dmitri Shostakovich. While many performers prefer to schedule works of contrasting mood and spirit in the same concert, both of these terrific pieces were rather dark and gloomy. The Shostakovich No. 3 was the composer’s desolate musical wrap-up of WWII: full of foreboding, fear, violence and grief. Mozart’s K. 421 — one of only two quartets he wrote in a minor key – was a far cry from his usual bubbly optimism … but it still breaks into brief rays of sunshine. Mozart could never stay depressed for long.
The musicians – Megan Allison and Frances Hsieh, violins; Nonoko Akada, viola; and Tim O’Malley, cello – were fabulous. Their deft playing and sense of ensemble brought both pieces to vibrant life. But they managed to capture the bleak spirit of the Shostakovich especially well: a palpable sense of grief hung in the air after it was over. It’s a good thing they played it first: even one of Mozart’s darkest creations seemed joyous by comparison, and offered some sense of relief.
Until the College of Charleston’s “Music Fest” chamber program gets going after Christmas, these folks offer the only regular chamber series in town. By any but illegal means, you really need to hear these worthy musicians.
