October 25, 2023
The Temple
Atlanta, GA – USA
“Fervor: A Journey Back in Time From Buenos Aires to Germany”
Temple Chamber Players. David Coucheron & Juston Bruns, violins; Josiah Coe, viola; Roee Harrán, cello; Julie Coucheron, piano.
Astor PIAZZOLLA: Primavera Porteña
Felix MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio No 1 in D minor, Op. 49
Robert SCHUMANN: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44
Mark Gresham | 25 OCT 2023
Atlanta’s newest chamber music ensemble made its debut at The Temple on Peachtree Street in Midtown this past Sunday.
The Temple Chamber Players launched their inaugural season with a benefit concert supporting emergency relief in Israel in the wake of brutal surprise attacks by Hamas on the country on October 7 from the Gaza Strip and the ongoing war on multiple fronts in its wake. Some of the proceeds from the concert will go to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national organization for emergency medical services and blood donation.
The Temple’s state-of-the-art media infrastructure was utilized in the program, playing pre-recorded interviews before musicians took the stage for each half of the program, along with live-streamed close-ups during the performance itself. The plan is for this approach of mixing media with live performance not to be a one-time thing but a hallmark of the series, which has several more concerts scheduled at The Temple later this season.
But before the first video began, a welcome and introduction to the program took place, which included standing and singing Hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה, “The Hope”), the national anthem of the State of Israel, in Hebrew; those who did not know the song stood in silent respect.
After the first video, the concert opened with a trio version of Primavera Porteña (“Spring”) from Astor Piazzolla’s Estaciones Porteñas (“The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”), a lively tango performed by violinist Justin Bruns, cellist Roee Harrán, and pianist Julie Coucheron.
Swapping places with Bruns, David Coucheron took the violinist seat in the next trio, Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op.49, one of the composer’s greatest and most popular chamber works, performing it with Harrán and his sister Julie.
After intermission, violist Josiah Coe joined the Coucherons, Bruns, and Harrán for the final work on the program, the Piano Quintet, Op. 44 of Robert Schumann. The performance emphasized well the work’s exuberantly extroverted character.
Together, these five distinguished Atlanta musicians performed the entire concert at a distinctively high-quality level. That sums it up without having to go into detail about each of these familiar pieces. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
The Temple Chamber Players will present two more inaugural season concerts in the Spring of 2024: on Sunday, March 17 and Sunday, April 21. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Temple Chamber Players: the-temple.org/tcp
- The Temple: the-temple.org
- Magen David Adom: mdais.org
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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