The Classical Beat: String Quartets Fill the Region With Music
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Calidore String Quartet will play a Father's Day concert at Music Mountain in Falls Village, Conn., a lovely place to listen to music. |
In my two preceding columns, I previewed the musical offerings at Tanglewood in Lenox, Tannery Pond in New Lebanon, N.Y., and the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y.
This week, I’ll turn the spotlight on South Mountain Concerts in Pittsfield and Music Mountain in Falls Village, Conn.
If, like me, you’re a devotee of the string quartet, and music for solo strings generally, you will want to attend programs at the two venues in the region that specialize in this repertoire. The quartet medium is, to my mind, the purest and most elegant genre within classical music. And as we know, it possesses a regal musical lineage that extends all the way back to Haydn and stretches in a direct line through Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Dvorak and Brahms into the 20th century, with Schoenberg, Berg, Bartok, Carter and beyond.
Indeed, your “Classical Beat” reporter has composed 18 string quartets himself!
South Mountain Concerts
South Mountain Concerts is an historic institution, dedicated to the classicist art of intimate chamber music for strings and piano with strings. Founded in 1918 by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, and presented in its purpose-built historic hall, South Mountain has, over the years, presented many of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles and soloists.
It continues in this tradition, with performances this fall by long-time favorite ensembles the Kalichstein, Laredo, Robinson Trio (Sept. 6); the husband and wife duo of cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, and joined by the eminent Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer (Sept. 20); the Emerson String Quartet (Sept. 27); the Escher String Quartet and violist Daniel Philips (Oct. 4) and the Dover String Quartet and pianist Menahem Pressler (Oct. 11). All five concerts are Sundays at 3 p.m.
Why go? The hall has outstanding acoustics. Though the musical fare is on the conservative side, with the emphasis on certified masterpieces (Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Franck, Mendelssohn), the occasional 20th century work pops up (in this case Bartok’s Fourth Quartet on Sept. 27) and a premiere (Sept. 6). Equal in quality to Marlboro Music, South Mountain presents the finest ensembles performing signature works of the classical canon.
The South Mountain concert hall is located on Routes 7 and 20 (South Street) in Pittsfield, approximately two miles south of Park Square at the center of the downtown area. Tickets can be ordered by phone at 413-442-2106 or online at southmountainconcerts.org. Tickets purchased in advance by check will be mailed during July; purchaser must provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Music Mountain
Music Mountain, located in Falls Village, Conn., on a backcountry road, is the setting for the acoustically superb Gordon Hall, which seats 335. Founded in 1930, Music Mountain will be celebrating its 86th anniversary season, making it one of the oldest continuous presenters in the country. Seventeen concerts, each Sunday at 3 p.m., from June 21 through Sept. 27, will present stellar ensembles – a festival, as it happens, featuring string quartets and solo strings with piano.
Why go? As I intimated, the string quartet is the “queen” of classical music – chamber music in its most elegant form. Founded in 1930 as the permanent home for the Gordon String Quartet, one of the leading string quartets in its day, Music Mountain has a particular devotion to this medium, and it may well be the best place of them all to hear music composed for this combination of instruments. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 860-824-7126 or 860-824-7626 or online at musicmountain.org.
In case you missed last week’s (and several other) listings of regional classical venues, here’s their contact information:
• Tanglewood Music Festival: 888-266-1200; tanglewood.org
• Concerts at Tannery Pond: 888-820-9441; tannerypondconcerts.org
• Berkshire Choral International: 413-229-8526; berkshirechoral.org
• Park McCullough House Carriage Barn Concerts: 802-442-5411, parkmccullogh.org
• Marlboro Chamber Music Festival and Summer Concerts: 215-569-4690, marlboromusic.org
• Glimmerglass Festival: glimmerglass.org
Tune in next week for yet more area concert venues and musical highlights. The festival beat goes on ...
Tags: classical music,
