October 15, 2024
Eddie’s Attic
Decatur, GA – USA
Georian Cvhamber Players (David Coucheron, violin; Zhenwei Shi, viola; Elizabeth Pridgen, piano; Jule Coucheron, piano); guest artists: Helen Hwaya Kim, violin; Charae Krueger, cello.
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Piano Quartet in E-flat major
Johann STRAUSS/arr. Greg Anderson: Blue Danube
Peter SCHICKELE: Quintet for Piano and strings, No. 2
Jon Ciliberto | 30 OCT 2024
The Georgian Chamber Players returned to Eddie’s Attic for a program combining high virtuosity, almost-slapstick piano, and a far-ranging American work.
One of my earliest jobs was working as a busboy in a newly converted space at the top of an old building on the square in Decatur. The place was called The Upstage Cafe, and later it became Eddie’s Attic (which it still is). Waiters (probably not busboys) were instructed that the vibe of the place should encourage them to break into song or other theatrical flare while working — something that was “just what you would expect to find in Greenwich Village [but in 1988] surprising for Decatur.”[1] I never saw that happen, but I felt a Proustian sense of the spirit while listening to the Georgian Chamber Players perform at Eddie’s, on October 15.
The sound of ice tinkling into drinking glasses at the bar and the scent of french fries delivered to a table inches from the stage intermingled with the opening notes of Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, and far from disorienting, captured something of chamber music’s intimate and social nature. The high level of virtuosity quickly made it easy to forget the setting.
The Georgian Chamber Players are a superstar ensemble “formed by principal players of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1984” and currently composed of Julie Coucheron (piano and Artistic Director), David Coucheron (violin), Zhenwei Shi (viola), and Elizabeth Pridgen (piano). For the performance at Eddie’s attic, the group was joined by Charae Krueger (cello) and Helen Hwaya Kim (violin).
Johan Strauss’s Blue Danube, a fantasy arranged for piano four hands, presented a bit of physical comedy at the (single) keyboard — both Julie Coucheron and Elizabeth Pridgen sat on the piano bench together in a maximalist rendering of this familiar waltz. The two had to contrive and contort in all sorts of ways to share (or fight over?) the keyboard, including over the shoulder and around the back maneuvers.
The arranger notes that the work “attempts to illustrate the striking parallels between four feet traversing a dance floor and four hands navigating a piano keyboard.” At times, the dance floor felt a bit crowded, and I think that was somewhat the intent, yet the work moves far beyond physical novelty, exploring unexpected modulations and ideas. Coucheron and Pridgen were energetic and theatrical, drawing stunned and enthusiastic applause.
Peter Schickele’s Quintet for Piano and Strings ranged through many American idioms, initially with big, rounded themes that had structural echoes of minimalism, to some (purported) boogie-woogie, hints of jazz, and finally a full-blooded bluegrass hoedown. Hearing each of the classically trained “fiddlers” take a turn at soloing was rather delightful. There was a good amount of toe-tapping in the room.
Between this work and the Strauss fantasy, Mozart was almost the outlier.
All works displayed the ensemble’s effortless ability to convey energy and life through music. It might be that the non-standard setting helped create a less confined mindset — for performers and audience. That said, great musicians can play beautifully anywhere. ■
Drawing by Jon Ciliberto.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- [1] “Decatur’s After dark Quiet Upstaged by Art/Bar/Cafe” | Southern Voice, Sept. 15, 1988: gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn61311684/1988-09-15/ed-1/seq-7/
- Georgian Chamber Players: georgianchamberplayers.org
- Eddie’s attic: eddiesattic.com
Read more by Jon Ciliberto.
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