Galliard Quartet gives rousing performance

By Ruth Bingham
Special to The Advertiser

•	Chamber Music Hawaii Galliard String Quartet "3,4,5" Schubert Trio, Beethoven Quartet, Dvorak Quintet Doris Duke Theatre 7:30 p.m. tomorrow $20 524-0815, ext. 245

The Galliard Quartet, composed of violinists Claire Sakai Hazzard and Hung Wu, violist Mark Butin, and cellist Karen Bechtel, presented a crescendo of works: Schubert's entertaining String Trio in B-flat Major, D. 471; Beethoven's ambitious Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 16; and Dvorak's masterful Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 18.

Schubert's one-movement Trio is light and charming, the epitome of works intended for home use by amateur musicians. Although that market flourished in the early 1900s, Schubert never published the piece and it remains little-known, overshadowed by his monumental later works. Monday's performance offered a rare opportunity to hear it.

A youthful work composed when Schubert was 19, the Trio is almost wholly Classical in style with hints of the traits that later made Schubert famous: an easy, vaguely wistful lyricism and a style that is lighthearted on the surface, yet tender/vulnerable beneath, all spiced with startling wit. In the Trio, Schubert's wit showed up in surprising chords and sudden arpeggiated drops that fell just past expectation.

Wu, Butin, and Bechtel performed the Trio with expert grace, highlighting Schubert's humor giving full rein to his diversions into melancholy.

Beethoven's Piano Quartet, although composed 20 years earlier than Schubert's Trio, is strikingly "older," a reflection partly of the fact Beethoven was older (all of 26) when he composed it, but mostly of their differences in intent: Schubert was composing for an intimate group of friends, while Beethoven was proving his genius to the world.

The Quartet is a flashy, public work designed to impress, which it does with ease. Innovations abound and the four instruments interact as full equals, yielding a highly contrapuntal texture.

Pianist Yee, playing the part Beethoven would have, filled his focal role well, anchoring the ensemble and inspiring musical dialogue. Expressive and sensitive, Yee played with great clarity, using the pedal judiciously and allowing his voicing to emerge.

Pianists, of course, rarely get to perform on their own instruments, and the new baby grand at the Paliku Theatre has some settling in to do. Its tone at the moment is bright but slightly muffled. That may have been the result of where the piano was placed: half-in, half-out of an opening between curtains with a large empty space behind.

Dvorak's Piano Quintet, using the full ensemble, provided both climax and close. One of the masterworks of the 19th century chamber repertoire, the Dvorak was the only fully mature work presented.

Individually and as a group, the entire ensemble shone. Yee and the Galliard Quartet followed every twist and turn of Dvorak's schizophrenic passions, from fiery outbursts to bel canto melodies. The musicians seemed to inspire one another, their communication, artistry, and energy reaching new heights.

Hazzard played with real emotional warmth, fully engaged with the music and the ensemble. It was a distinct pleasure to hear both Wu and Butin, principals with the Honolulu Symphony, as soloists: their technique and fine artistry added depth to melodies as well as to inner lines. And Bechtel was, as always, excellent throughout, grounding the ensemble musically as well as harmonically.

Each of the works presented was a gem, and yet each surpassed the one before, so that the concert built to a thoroughly satisfying climax.