Review: Georgian Chamber Players return to cozy confines of Eddie’s Attic

Starting the new season off in the same venue where the previous season ended, the Georgian Chamber Players returned to Eddie’s Attic Wednesday and continued its goal to take classical music to non-traditional venues.

At first it was a bit surreal to see classical musicians in elegant evening wear taking the stage in a room usually reserved for acoustic guitars and mellow songs.

For the robust audience packed into the homey Decatur venue it was an opportunity to appreciate the compositional intricacy and dazzling virtuosity of the classical world with a degree of up-close detail not normally available. The Georgian Chamber Players — violinist David Coucheron, pianists Elizabeth Pridgen and Julie Coucheron and violist Zhenwei Shi, along with frequent collaborator Charae Krueger on cello — were able to showcase their prodigious chops in a space that showcased each array of sounds in a fascinating collage of auditory detail.

The evening commenced with the Coucheron siblings performing Tomaso Antonio Vitali’s Chaconne in G minor. The piece is built around a deceptively repetitive foundation with the same eight-bar chord structure quietly evolving but always gently pulsating in the background. The violin provides an equally haunting melody that dances on the outer perimeter of the gentle, insular piano phrases. That minimalist formula felt right at home at Eddie’s Attic, where folk balladeering often showcases similarly hypnotic chord patterns.

David Coucheron’s impassioned playing was as richly detailed as it was emotive, and the immediacy of the space gave listeners a rare glimpse into the full tonal depth of his instrument. The nearly 300-year-old Stradivarius — one of only around 1,000 of its kind — more than lives up to the elite heritage the name implies. Experts have speculated for years as to what combination of chemicals, geometry and engineering gives the Stradivarious its superior sound. But whatever the reason, that extraordinary tone was on full display in this intimate setting to such a degree that even minute changes in bowing and finger pressure were readily apparent. 

Julie Coucheron was joined by Elizabeth Pridgen for one of their signature duets on piano four hands, this time an arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s “La Valse.” While the work began as an enjoyable though complicated waltz, it devolved into a chaotic smorgasbord that threatened to puncture the delicate membrane of the evening’s gentle sonic world. The duo’s technical skills are par excellence, and it is thrilling to watch Coucheron execute a blistering glissando without interrupting Pridgen’s chordal ostinato. But that sort of adrenalized display simply wasn’t the order of the day.

Shi joined Pridgen for Zoltan Kodaly’s adagio, and it was quickly apparent that he owned the night. Shi has been an increasingly frequent presence in the Atlanta classical scene in recent years. He always makes a fine showing but seems equally consumed with a sense of professional restraint. The gloves finally came off Wednesday night, and he laid into the adagio with a brazen, emotional nakedness that made the stage’s intimate setting seem almost voyeuristic. Shi’s tone transcended the sonic confines of the instrument to give the viola the kind of haunting aura normally achieved only by the human voice.

There are rare moments in the world of live music where listeners become aware that they are hearing a musician come into his own. The humble artifice of mere professionalism drops away from the player, to be replaced by a transcendent, angelic presence that is as enthralling as it is demanding of worship. Shi is a seasoned veteran and has likely given such performances countless times, but his appearance on Wednesday stands as definitive proof that his artistic emergence has occurred. 

The evening finished with Krueger joining the Coucherons for Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.1 in D minor. It was a pleasant close to the evening and one that allowed all involved to showcase their technical capacities in a manner that never went beyond the evening’s implied boundaries. The work itself has a social quality to it — the dialogue between violin and cello feels light and friendly, with the piano providing the cheerful background noise against which such conversations occur. 

The Georgian Chamber Players may have a musical pedigree that extends back decades, but its current incarnation seems committed to ensuring that the ensemble never becomes the stuff of dull conservatories. The Eddie’s Attic performances have demonstrated that this is a fiery and dynamic ensemble with the chameleonic ability to adapt to unusual surroundings. Atlanta classical enthusiasts can only hope they continue to branch out further.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.