About a month ago I complained about the dismal and insulting program offered by the New York Philharmonic in their only appearance this summer at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Completely opposite from that travesty is the Shadelee Music Festival — concerts of chamber music in a charming 150-seat pavillion just a few minutes drive from Livingston Manor in northwest Sullivan County. Although the performers may not be well known, the actual music is intelligently selected and quite often well played, and no fireworks are required as enhancements. Often my favorite concerts of chamber music mix the familiar with stuff I've never heard before, and that was true for all three Shandelee Music Festival concerts we attended last week. On Tuesday, cellist Andrey Tchekmazov appeared with pianist Cullan Bryant in a program anchored by the first and last of Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano. The concert began with Beethoven's first cello sonata, Opus 5 Number 1, which (like it's Read More...