Aphrodite Watches

The carved face of Aphrodite watches over the viola da gamba player’s performance.

I only know it’s Aphrodite because I asked. I’ve never seen a face or figure on the scroll of a stringed instrument.

I enjoyed a performance of Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque this afternoon. I listen to classical music most days while I’m in my office, and while I love the “classics” I really enjoy chamber pieces best, small combinations of musicians wherein I can hear all the details of the music.

I love new music, too, but baroque music has been a particular love of mine since I first heard Bach, then his contemporaries, teachers and students. It’s got to do with my love of nature, I think, because the gentle acoustics of baroque compositions, played on traditional instruments, remind me of the wind moving and leaves fluttering, water gurgling in a stream.

The three members of Chatham Baroque are like one performer in each piece, each so talented I was lost in the music and watching them perform.