Brief Reviews

Music at Emory presented a recital by Timothy Albrecht playing the Schwartz Center’s Daniel Jaeckel Opus 45 pipe organ with fifty-four stops and 3,605 pipes in a cherry-wood case. Albrecht is Emory’s University organist.  The program included works ranging from Bach to Keith Chapman.  The highlight was Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor.  This piece demonstrated the power of the organ in a warm acoustical environment.  Liszt’ Hexameron also was a showpiece, especially for the bells and birds of the organ.  Albrecht is talented and the program was satisfying.  Given the quality of the playing, I can forgive Albrecht’s red tie and matching red socks. 

“Music on the Hill” at Atlanta’s Northside Drive Baptist Church is a hidden gem.  The most recent concert included the Piano Trios of Beethoven, Turina and Schumann, play by Olga Shpitko, Violin; Sarah Kapps, Cello; and Peter Marshall, Piano.  The Beethoven was wonderful.  The second movement is dark and cloudy, giving rise to the Trio’s subtitle “Ghost.”  The surprise of the program was the Trio No. 2 in B Minor of Turina.  He is an unappreciated and underrepresented composer who lived until the middle of the last century.  His music is colorful and rather impressionistic.  The Trio bears a resemblance to Debussy’s music, but that comparison diminishes the inventiveness of Turina. The Schumann was also skillfully played.  The Trio No. I in D minor is a good example of the composer’s romanticism.  The chapel at the Northside Drive Baptist Church is perfect for chamber music.  The sound is strong, yet warm and reverberant.