When Alan Chapman greets the Chamber Music Palisades audience to deliver his pre-concert notes, it’s more fireside chat than dense analysis. Known by many classical music lovers for his mellifluous voice as host of KUSC’s afternoon show, Chapman also provides pithy insight on the content of the local chamber series, co-founded by pianist Delores Stevens and flutist Susan Greenberg, Now embarking on its 9th season, Chamber Music Palisades has managed to explore an expansive set of musical resources built around a given group of instruments, piano and flute. “Part of what dictates the program is personnel, which is the wonder of Chamber Music Palisades,” Chapman says. “If you have an established quartet, it becomes the core of what they do, but here the only constants are Dee and Susan. If it suits their purposes for a singer or string quartet, they’ll do it.” Chapman has provided commentary on the programs from the outset. “I knew Susan through the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,” says Chapman, who produced the L.A. Chamber’s concerts and hosted that group’s pre-concert comments for 13 years. Different from the format of the Pacific Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, for which Chapman previews the entire program at the outset, with CMP, he comments on each composition before it is played. He stands casually in front of the audience with a hand-held microphone and provides a context for the piece, a way of approaching the music that will make listening to it a better experience. “I’m tipping you off, opening the door on this piece for you. I’m the connector between you and the piece. “From time to time, I am approached by people who are offering no money or not enough, and think I talk off the top of my head,” Chapman says. “I could do that, but I don’t want to do that.” Indeed, his comments, anecdotes and insights belie a thorough and scholarly preparation. Although Chapman has been involved in music since his childhood in Poughkeepsie, New York’he played piano, bass and guitar and joined the union at 16’he was more interested in math and science in high school. He went off to MIT, but rapidly changed his intentions, ultimately majoring in music with a minor in German literature and behavioral science. The next stop was Yale, where he earned his doctorate in music theory and moved to California with a lead on two job positions listed for a Ph.D. in music theory. He took the Occidental job, although years later he would be teaching at the other school, UCLA, where he currently teaches the art of listening. In preparing his commentary for the Chamber Music Palisades season, Chapman factors in an audience with a lot of experience as concert-goers and listeners. “The wonderful thing about this series is that it’s almost guaranteed that you will hear really good music that you’ve never heard before, apart from the commissioned works. When I’m out in the patio during intermission, people are talking about the music and there is a lot of enthusiasm, a great connection between the music and the audience. The audience is really there with it.” Chapman credits Stevens and Greenberg with putting together an incredible spectrum of chamber music. “They look at the cast of characters and figure out how they are going to be grouped. How are the colors going to be put together?” In preparing his comments, Chapman says that he tries to penetrate the soul of the music by asking “Why do a bunch of notes do something for you?” He offers two examples from the first concert on October 18, which features Haydn’s Divertissement III in C Major for flute, violin and cello; C.P.E. Bach’s Quartet in G Major for flute, viola, cello and piano; Gernot Wolfgang’s world premiers of “Thin Air” for violin, viola and cello and Dvorak’s Quartet in Eb Major, Op 87 for piano and strings. “C.P.E. was the second of the elder Bach’s 20 children, four of whom became noted composers. Had you been in Germany in the latter 18th century, people would have assumed you were talking about C.P.E. not J.S. He sits in an interesting position, spanning the baroque to classical period. He lives through it and is really part of a new school with new values on how music should function, and in terms of mood swings he’s all over the place. “Dvorak is one of my favorites,” Chapman continues. “His chamber music is supreme. This piece was written when he was no longer a young man, yet there is so much variety and energy, at times it gets orchestral.” Chapman sings high praise for great chamber music. “When you listen to great chamber music well performed, I marvel at how much is possible with so few people. Chamber Music Palisades maximizes the resources available. How could you get more content?” Chamber Music Palisades opens its 9th season on Tuesday, October 18, 8 p.m. at St. Matthew’s parish, 1031 Bienveneda. Subscriptions are $80; single admission is $25, and students with current ID are admitted free. For information, contact: 454-4024 or 459-2070.
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