Music Small and Large, Boston, Fall 2009, by Charles Warren

Harbison

John Harbison, Composer/Conductor

Boston is full of excellent musicians who give concerts in various configurations of established chamber music groups, early and new music groups, and orchestras of various kinds other than the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and of course in solo recital. For musical performance and presentation of a great range of music, we are blessed in Boston. In early October I attended my first concert by the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, playing at the Goethe Institute on Beacon Street, where the large high-ceilinged double parlor makes a great venue for music, with a rich, resonant, vivid sound right to the back, though with small chairs all on one level and on this occasion a packed house, it was hard to see. I was attracted by the program, featuring the Debussy Cello Sonata and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. I just wanted to hear these works—it had been a while. It was a splendid concert, and too bad for me just coming to the Chameleon group, which has been thriving here for a dozen years. The concert opened with a Mozart violin/viola Duo, K. 423 in G Major, beautifully played by Kristofer Tong and Scott Woolweaver. This elegant, intricate music made a good opening to the rest of the program. Mozart mattered to Chopin and to the French in a way that Beethoven and others in the Germanic tradition did not.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review for the Arts.

Michael Miller
Editor/Publisher
The Berkshire Review for the Arts

Visit our new social network, Berkshire Artsnet: http://berkshireartsnet.ning.com.