VIEWPOINT

By Richard Clark

Several years ago, I became ill with a flu that raised my temperature to uncomfortable heights. As if a doctor had prescribed it, I pulled Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht from my record collection, and I played it over and over. During the night that wonderful masterpiece of the late Romantic era became a musical mantra that graced me with a transfiguration of soul, leaving me with a distinct feeling of having been cleansed and refreshed upon arising the next morning.
As I listened to four Western Washington University teachers perform Webern’s Langsamer Satz at the Blaine Performing Arts Center Sunday afternoon I knew it was of the same genre, therapeutically potent as Verklärte Nacht. It’s a long and slow composition but oh so delicious with chromatic drifts that creatively integrate meaningful dissonances with flowing harmonies. Next time I catch the flu, I should invite Quattro Maestri to perform by my bedside until I’m well, or else grant me the gift of a happy death.
One needn’t reach beyond Whatcom County to discover skilled musicians like Walter Schwede, Grant Donnellan, Joseph Gottesman and John Friesen.
Anyone desiring to absorb the spirit of 18th century classicism would be well advised to begin by hearing Haydn’s quartets. The Quinten, Opus 76 No. 2 in D minor, was so named because the first
movement opens with skips in fifths. Because all four movements were composed in the same key, there is a subtle connection between each of them, which also explains why it is inappropriate for an audience to applaud between movements. It fractures the continuity.
The metamorphosis of Beethoven’s middle period was underscored by a clean interpretation of his Opus 95. The well-crafted fugato blesses a composition otherwise symptomatic of an experimenter seeking a post-classical window for his works. By the time he reached the coda, Beethoven seemed downright confused. The audience, which by this time realized it’s not nice to clap between movements, might just as well have applauded. With Beethoven, each movement of Opus 95 is a world of its own.
But the audience was sparse. Quattro Maestri deserved more!
No music reviewer should overlook the ambience of the audience – a significant part of the total concert experience. Given the role of the Blaine Performing Arts Center, a public auditorium on the Blaine school campus, it’s appropriate to avoid segregating the audience. At first, as I sat immediately behind the section reserved for those holding season tickets, I thought of the 1940s, when white people sat in the front of the bus. Later, I realized I was in the seat better suited for hearing a string quartet.
Brian Majors’ art display was delicious. It deserves a review of its own.
Congratulations, Quattro Maestri; may you and Brian return soon.

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