Concerts on Kentmere: The Pyxis Piano Quartet

From left: Amy Leonard, Hiroko
Yamazaki, Meredith Amado, Jie Jin

When classical music comes to the Delaware Art Museum, it's an event not to be missed. For the most recent Concert on Kentmere, the world-class Pyxis Piano Quartet graced the museum's main entry space, under a new (to DAM) piece of artwork, Paul Bocuse's World (1977) by Red Grooms. The wit and whimsy of the giant shadowbox-style piece, set in a restaurant kitchen, both contrasted the music and conformed to it -- the concert series is, after all, "where magnificent art and music come together.

If you're not familiar with the Pyxis Piano Quartet, they are a chamber music ensemble performing traditional and contemporary sonatas, duos, trios and quartets. On this night, the four immensely talented women -- Meredith Amado on violin, Jie Jin on cello, Amy Leonard on viola, and Hiroko Yamazaki on piano, performed three pieces: A duo on viola and cello, a trio on violin, cello, and piano, and, finally, a quartet featuring all four together.

The first two pieces were relatively obscure and contemporary, and classicly avante-garde. American Walter Piston's (1894-1976) Duo (for viola and cello) is an optimistic piece laced with distinctively American half-steps. Russian Dmitri Shostakovich's (1906-1975) Piano Trio in e minor, Op. 67 is a haunting an complex tale of sorrow and hope, written in 1944, with references to Soviet oppression, the discovery of extermination camps in Poland, and the recent death of a friend. The powerful piece, in turns dark and folkishly upbeat, was a highlight of the evening.

The final piece was more well-known: Piano Quartet in g minor, K 478 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is chamber music at its finest, with an interesting backstory. The piece, written in a couple of days by Mozart for a paycheck, was a failure initially -- it was simply too complicated for the amateur musicians who played chamber music at home with friends for entertainment. Eventually, in the hands of more skilled musicians, it became one of Mozart's most beloved pieces of chamber music.

While visiting the museum for the concert, be sure to explore the open gallery. On this evening, guests could experience the wonderful State of the Art, Illustration 100 Years After Howard Pyle, featuring some of the most revered illustrators in contemporary art.

For information on upcoming Concerts on Kentmere, visit delart.org/prog_events/concerts_on_kentmere.
For upcoming Pyxis dates, visit pyxispianoquartet.com/concerts.html.

Pyxis Quartet at the Mainstay

It is so hard to get tickets for the Pyxis piano quartet Kentmere Concerts at the Delaware Art Museum that I traveled to Rock Hall, Maryland to hear them play in the Hedgelawn Classical Music Series at the Mainstay.

The Mainstay, a restored 105-year-old grocery store, may not be the ideal venue for a classical chamber series acoustically, but the homey chairs and sofas, the amiable and knowledgeable concert hosts and the charming atmosphere made up for the informality of the setting, and the Mainstay organization has their own small, well-maintained Kawai grand.

The quartet’s program was both ambitious and eclectic. A little known set of four pieces which Richard Strauss wrote in his teens provided the quartet with an opportunity to create characterizations - from the cello/piano introduction of the Stȁndchen (serenade) to the Middle Eastern rhythms and bowings for the Arabian Dance.

The second piece, the quartet by Joaquin Turina, put the string players to the test. Meredith Amado played very high violin notes effortlessly, with beautiful intonation and control. Jie Jen’s cello had a wonderfully rounded vibrato in the very romantic solo parts. Ms. Jen can make her cello soar to the extremely high registers required in the Turina with great ease.

The Piano Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 41 by Camille Saint-Saens was a showpiece for pianist Hiroko Yamazaki who glided through the complex fugue of the Andante maestoso ma con moto at a very high speed. Amy Leonard’s viola playing was a beautiful middle voice in the fugal writing for strings and piano. The weaving in and out of voices by each musician provided a beautiful tapestry of sound.

If you can get tickets for the Kentmere Series Concert at the Delaware Art Museum on Friday , February 17, this program is well worth hearing. The Thursday, February 16 concert has been sold out for weeks.

See www.delart.org

See www.pyxispianoquartet.com

Subs and heros

When you go to the Delaware Symphony, they do not list the extra musicians they hire for a performance. Last Saturday, I was delighted to see pianist Hiroko Yamazaki ready to play for the Kurt Weill Little Threepenny Music (Suite from the Threepenny Opera) – in other words, the jazzy suite which includes songs like Mac the Knife.

Most of the instruments had been cleared from the stage and Ms. Yamazaki ripped off ragtime/honkytonk sounds that blended seamlessly with the trombone, banjo, guitar and accordion. For a moment, it seemed we were in pre-war Berlin with Sally Bowles in a Kneipe enjoying a St. Pauli Girl in dim light.

But in the next piece, the pianist turned into an expert vibrationist, playing single sustained notes and holding the pedal so the plaintive string sounds in the Symphony of sorrowful songs by Henrik Mikolaj Gorecki could seek their reflected harmonics from the soundboard of the piano – a mysteriously rousing effect.

Whernever Ms. Yamazaki is playing – be it accompanying Twinkle twinkle, little star in a beginner’s Suzuki instrumental recital or zipping into a Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, she puts her heart into it.

She is a hero, not just a sub.

Pyxis Quartet at Grace United Methodist Church

The Pyxis Quartet is brand new, but you would not know it by their ensemble playing in their November 1 concert at Grace United Methodist Church.

This was the dedicatory concert for the brand new Mason and Hamlin grand piano, which the church has purchased in memory of Ruth McFarlane. The lid was fully open, but Ms. Yamazaki’s playing could get so soft it became a whisper under the strings.

First violinist Meredith Amado has a steely focus but her touch on the 1662 Nicolò Amati was so delicate that the high notes came out in silken tones – and yet had the power in crescendo to blossom forth without overwhelming the group.
Jie Jen had some lovely lines in the Brahms Quartet Opus 26 in A major that showed the strength and power with which she could play – sometimes dominating Ms. Yamazaki’s pianissimo sound and then smoothly quieting to let the piano, viola and violin back to the fore.

The entire concert was delightful, but the reverberating stone walls tended to blur the clarity of the Mozart. But that which was robbed from Mozart was paid to Brahms as the resonance of the romantic quartet brought many members of the audience to their feet at the end of the concert.

Encore, please!

See http://www.delart.org.