SPRINGVALE— I was not able to catch the Central4 Piano Quartet in their appearance at the Historical Museum in Springvale last year and I looked forward to hearing them there this year.  Let it be said at the outset that they are an extremely talented professional group of instrumentalists. The group includes:

Timothy Durkovic who hails from Guatemala City and received his training at Juilliard and other schools.  Among his accolades, he is an official “Steinway Artist.” On the basis of what I heard last night he has earned that honor.

The other members of the group include Seattle native Elizabeth Hedman, violinist. Among other posts she is the Associate Concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony and records for film, TV and CD’s. 

The violist, Meredith Crawford is a Maine native and an Oberlin graduate.  She is the assistant principle viola in the Pacific Symphony and also performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. During the past two summers she has performed at the Lake Canandaigua  Chamber Music Festival.

The cellist of the group, Paula Fehrenback grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin  and received a doctorate at USC Thornton School.  She is a member of the Santa Barbara Symphony and is on the faculty of Pasadena City College.

The group has a busy summer touring schedule and will make an appearance in Portsmouth the day after their Springvale concert.

This reviewer will now divide the remainder of this review into two parts: namely an evaluation of the performance of the various works performed and a modest harangue about the works performed.

I cannot praise the performers enough singly and also in ensemble for their program. Their intonation was precise, their attacks crisp, the tone of the strings, especially the viola was full and sonorous.

The pianist, Timkothy Durkovic has a marvelous technique which served him well in this difficult program. He had a great command of dynamics and his rhythmic sense never deserted him. Each of the string players was involved at all times in the performance of the various works on the program.

The program included the following: Phantasy by Frank Bridge, Quartet for Piano and Strings by Aaron Copland, Piano Quartet by William Walton and the 3rd movement from a Piano Quartet by Robert Schumann.

The composer Benjamin Britten described the Bridge work as “Brahms happily tempered by Faure.” (To which I would add not nearly tempered enough!) If the group had performed only the Bridge piece, or for that matter only the Walton work on their program, dayenu, it would have been enough.  As it was, (for me) the program was an example of overkill with unrelenting and unremitting (if sonorous) sound. 

As for the Copland … He is justifiably known as one of America’s greatest composers.  His reputation based on the three ballets written for Martha Graham, his 3rd symphony, his film scores will forever underline his place. BUT, if someone had put forth the idea that he was mentally unhinged when he wrote this piece in l950 and put forth the 2nd movement of this piano quartet as evidence, I could not counter that proposition.

This piece seemed a lot longer in time than it actually took. To the members of this group I would plea to go a bit easier on the ears and musical sensibilities of your audience in the future. You have the ability to perform this work. Not many of your colleagues do. But being able to do something is not always reason enough to do it.

Why play only the 3rd movement of the Schumann instead of the whole work? You would have gained a lot more friends I believe. I look forward to hearing this very talented group again next year. I would hope that the program they play will be less challenging to the listener. 

Other groups performing at the Museum this summer will include: Venti Cordi on Aug. 12 and the Cedar Mountain Bluegrass Band on Aug. 18.

Dr. Gold is a composer/conductor, retired educator and a reviewer for the Journal Tribune.