The Serenata Chamber Musicians are 17 artists from the Greater Boston area who play classical chamber music. A few of their concerts are available as online albums from Jamendo thanks to ARTSomerville, an organization devoted to nurturing and promoting the arts in their local community.
There are three albums available. Actually there are four but June 20, 2007 and July 20, 2007 have the same program and personnel. The performances are crisp and fresh. Their choice in material is good although a little conservative for my taste. Still, those classical music fans who disdain the modern will enjoy these concerts.
May 6 and 11, 2007 features clarinetist Kiera Thompson and Pianist Itamar Ronen on Robert Schumann’s “Fantasy-Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73″. Flautist Orlando Cela joins Itamar Ronen on another Schumann work, “Three Romances for flute and piano, Op.94″ and Saint-Saens’ exquisite “Three Romances for flute and piano, Op.94″. Finally all three musicians join together in the “Trio Sonata in B flat Major” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
June 20, 2007 has two excellent duo performances. The “Sonata in F major” by Felix Mendelssohn is played by Monica Mitchell, violin, and Margaret Cheng Tuttle, piano. Haydn’s “Arianna a Naxos” is performed by mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo and pianist Timothy Blalock. There is also a trio playing selections from Max Bruch’s “Eight Pieces, op. 83″ featuring Melanie Maz on violin, Jessica Lipon on viola, and Timothy Blalock on piano.
Winter Solstice Concert 2007 features too many musicians and works to list separately. It is a seasonal festival mix of classical and new age music. Much of it appears to be original music. It is a very nice concert performance but I prefer the classicism of the first two albums.
The albums are available in VBR mp3.
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Winter Solstice Concert 2007
June 30, 2007
May 6 and 7, 2007