We stayed in Midtown Atlanta over the weekend for concerts at Symphony Hall.
Our suite at the Starling Hotel at 14th Street and Peachtree next to Colony Square offered a great view of Atlanta looking north toward our Buckhead neighborhood, which we were happy to learn will stay in the city after the Georgia State Senate defeated an absurd secession bill.
The window view made clear Buckhead's connection to Atlanta, linked by the spine of Peachtree, the city's central thoroughfare. Atlanta's growth north from the 19th century could be traced, a united vision that the Buckhead separatist movement sought to disrupt. For now, the outrageous attempt to dismember the city is dead.
On Friday night, we walked through soft rain to the Woodruff Arts Center to see Emmylou Harris, who gave an intimate show blessedly free from the pyrotechnics of big stadium concerts.
The notorious acoustics of Symphony Hall at times muddled Emmylou and her fine band, and her friendly banter between songs. She gave a rousing and energetic performance, her voice gaining strength during the hour and a half show.
Playing new material along with a selection of old favorites, she thrilled her audience of mostly longtime fans. One of the great country musicologists, she gave a tour of Nashville history with her renditions of Kitty Wells' "Making Believe," Bill Monroe's "Get Up John," Ralph Stanley's "Green Pastures," and Towns Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty," before which she gave a 90th birthday shoutout to Willie Nelson.
She also performed "Wheels," one of the signature numbers of Gram Parsons, with whom she recorded two memorable albums at the start of her career. Parsons' death from a drug overdose devastated her before she embarked upon her brilliant solo career, eventually moving to Nashville and connecting with country traditions.
In an encore, she performed the song that the audience had been waiting for "Boulder to Birmingham," which expresses her grief for Parsons. As she sang "I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham/If I thought I could see, I could see your face," her enraptured fans would make that same commitment, just to hear her voice.
The next night, after the return of perfect springlike weather, we returned to Symphony Hall to hear the marvelous pianist Awadagin Pratt perform with the Atlanta Symphony, led by resident conductor Jerry Hou.
Pratt's keyboard dexterity revealed the full range of young composer Jessie Montgomery's 17-minute "Rounds," a composition for piano and stings inspired by one of T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets."
While the piece at times appears derivative, depending too much on runs up and down the keyboard, Pratt highlighted its prevailing originality. Pratt along with the symphony's string section brought out the promise in Montgomery's work.
A scintillating rendering of noted composer Joan Tower's "1920/2019" opened the evening. Tower's concerto celebrates major advances in women's history with a range of musical passages.
The ASO's performance testified to Tower's stature as a major American composer. The piece deserves to receive frequent symphonic performances.
Closing with a virtuoso performance of Bela Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra," first performed in 1943, Hou and the ASO illuminated the composition's symphonic depths.
Several sections of the Hungarian Bartok's work reflect World War II's destruction of Europe, with a hopeful finish evoking the return of peace. The ASO performance gained contemporary relevance coming after the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the continued horror of the war.
Hou engaged the orchestra's full resources, from twin harps to brass and percussion as well as violins, cellos and other string instruments, to show why the concerto is a masterpiece.
In two days, we'd completed an expansive musical journey, carried out from the same small stage.
Our weekend stay in Midtown revealed our city's magic.