Music in the park

Last night I enjoyed a free outdoor concert in Volunteer Park, provided by the Seattle Chamber Music Society -- the traditional precursor to their annual (indoors) summer festival.  I say annual, but -- thanks to the pandemic -- this will be their first summer season since 2019.  

Unlike prior outdoor concerts, this one was presented from the stage of "The Concert Truck" -- a van with a side that opens out into a small stage.  The Concert Truck, apparently an independent entity that has worked together with the Society this year, has been visiting various areas of the city, offering free concerts to audiences who might not otherwise have exposure to chamber music.

If I can offer an opinion -- thank you, I will -- I much prefer the open air stage to the Concert Truck venue.  The performers looked cramped on the tiny stage, and the acoustics sounded odd.  I suppose that instruments are always amplified in outdoor concerts, but they sounded peculiarly amplified, especially the piano, last night.  

The program was somewhat different from that announced on the Society's web page.  With a couple of exceptions, each piece played was a duet between piano and an instrument, or a piano for two hands.  One exception was one movement from a Bach cello suite transcribed for solo viola.  The other was a well-received performance of all four movements of the Dvořák Piano Quintet. 

Aside from the Bach and the Dvořák, the various duets emphasized African-American composers, or other Americana.  

The five players of the Quintet appeared uncomfortably crammed together on the tiny stage, but their playing was, as expected, excellent.

Outdoors performances have their advantages and disadvantages.  The primary disadvantage last night was the decision of Sea-Tac's Air Traffic Control to direct incoming flights over Voluntary Park seemingly about every ninety seconds (well, to be fair, as they probably do every night).)

The advantages of an outdoor performance on a pleasant summer night are obvious.  The ambience of a beautiful park.  Friends and families stretched out on the lawn, many accompanied by extremely well-behaved dogs.  Kids dividing their time between rapt attention, and running around the periphery, working off excess energy.

Entertainment not to be overlooked was the somewhat surreal appearance in the distant background, while a duet was playing on stage, of  the Society's artistic director and violinist James Ehnes.  He was wandering through the park, amongst kids playing games, warming  up his violin for his upcoming part in the Dvořák.  I'm not sure anyone besides me noticed -- but it brought to mind a scene from a Fellini movie.

Enjoyable evening, and a happy crowd.  Hope this tradition continues every year.