Seriously, Schickele with Armadillo String Quartet
Honestly, they haven't changed
MUSIC REVIEW
The Armadillo String Quartet members are a bunch of show-offs. They regularly wear black suits with outrageously colorful ties. When they take their seats and begin to play, they more than casually demonstrate that they are the top chamber ensemble in Los Angeles. They say they are “one-of-the-” premier chamber music groups and that may be true, but their consistent playing which is due in part to the length of time members have been together, is the best.
The Armadillos (that is what they call themselves) have been playing together since 1980 and their association with composer/satirist Peter Schickele goes back to 1991. Last Monday’s concert at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena was their 19th consecutive meeting to play Schickele’s music. Schickele was on hand (as I believe he has been over all the years) to explain himself. He began his remarks before the first number, “After Hearing Bach, for oboe, violin, viola and cello” started. Due to his well-known character P.D.Q. Bach, audiences anticipate that he will be humorous. Not being taken seriously as a composer is a hazard of his success in entertaining audiences who have enthusiastically embraced his stage antics. The opening piece here, which added guest artists Keve Wilson, oboe and cellists David Speltz, was a five-part composition that begins with a Brandenburg-ish take but moves to a distinct modern idiom.
That was followed by the somewhat mis-named “Holiday for Strings for string quartet” arranged by the quartet’s violinist, Barry Socher from a 1993 brass quintet work. Twelve “holidays” are given individual treatment, but because at least one month, August, has no holiday, Schickele was forced to make one up—which he did for other months as well. Schickele’s bright and understandable take on Memorial Day, which seemed to me to take American composers to task, and the Doo-wop inspired Independence Day Parade, are only two of the dozen. Fantasy holidays included Income Tax Day for April and Dude Ranch Vacation for the vacation-filled, but holiday-less, August. But make no mistake; Thanksgiving is a hymn and Alone on New Year’s Eve, moving. Socher’s arrangements and the group’s playing accentuated the thoughtful score.
Before intermission, concluding the somewhat lengthy first portion, was the fourth movement of Schickele’s String Quartet No. 2 “In Memorium” written in 1987. The Armadillo Quartet selected this as a tribute to their friend and colleague, cellist Larry Corbett, who died in December of last year. Schickele’s music had echoes of Shostakovich. The music, as written and played, and the memorial to Corbett, was moving.
The final number was Schickele’s String Quartet No. 5 “A Year in the Country”, composed in 1998. In eight parts, the composition offers musical sketches of New England countryside. Guest cellist Roger Lebow, a founding member of the Quartet, joined Barry Soccer, Steve Scharf, violins, Raymond Tischer, viola, and Armin Ksajikian, cello, to provide the strong and muscular sound needed for Schickele’s music.
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