Skeletons, ghosts, and haunting music come together for “Chamber Music at the Pearl”

Chamber Music Charleston continues its newest concert series, “Chamber Music at the Pearl,” on Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7pm at the West Ashley Theater Center (1401 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. #11, West Ashley). Chamber Music Charleston violinist Frances Hsieh, cellist Timothy O’Malley, and pianist Irina Pevzner embrace the spirit of the autumnal season with a program of music evoking the spirit of Halloween.

The hour-long program begins with Camille Saint-Saëns’ iconic Danse Macabre for violin and piano, a piece brimming with eerie brilliance. Originally inspired by a poem of the same name, the work was first composed in 1872 as a brief song for baritone and piano. Saint-Saëns later expanded it in 1874 into a tone poem for solo violin and orchestra, weaving in spine-tingling elements to amplify its supernatural atmosphere. In the orchestral version, the xylophone mimics the unsettling clatter of skeleton bones. Both the orchestral and violin/piano versions feature the frequent use of the tritone—referred to in early music as the “diabolus in musica” or “devil in music.” Adding to the ghostly mood, Saint-Saëns incorporates the Dies Irae, the solemn Gregorian chant from the Requiem Mass, a motif often used by composers to evoke images of death and judgment.

After a brief foray into the world of cello virtuosity with the “Requiebros” by Spanish cellist and composer Gaspar Cassadó, the program concludes with Ludwig van Beethoven’s renowned Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1, famously dubbed the “Ghost.” The trio’s eerie slow movement is reminiscent of the ghost scene in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” providing a fittingly spectral conclusion to the evening’s performance.

Nestled within Ashley Landing in West Ashley, the Pearl Theatre of the Charleston Stage offers a dynamic venue with two dance and rehearsal studios and a 130-seat performance space known as “The Pearl” or the Pearlstine Theatre, named in honor of a generous contribution from the Pearlstine Family.

Tickets start at $25 ($5 for students/parents) and are available in advance online at https://www.chambermusiccharleston.org/pearl/