The world famous Portland string Quartet appeared in concert on Sunday, Dec. 3 at Woodfords Congregational church. The quartet consists of violinists Dean Stein and Ronald Lantz, violist Julia Adams and cellist Patrick Owen. Of the four, only Lantz and Adams have continuously been part of the quartet since its founding 49 years ago.

This theme of this particular concert was a “Tribute to Two Distinguished Maine Composers” Peter Re and Elliott Schwartz, both of whom died in 2016. Re was a teacher, pianist and conductor at Colby College and Schwartz was the Robert K. Beckwith professor of Music at Bowdoin College. It may only be a coincidence, but Re and Schswartz were born and died in the same year and both taught at Maine colleges.

I was a colleague of Re in the choral conducting program under the late Hugh Ross. When I came to Nasson College I showed him my setting of Psalm 98 and he kindly invited me to Colby to premiere the piece. It was both kind and gracious of him to do so and I will always recall this selfless act of generosity on his part.

He was also a student at Yale with the great Paul Hindemith and his teacher’s influence was apparent (to me) in the string quartet he wrote for the Portlanders in l987. The quartet by Schwartz was composed as a tribute to his late wife Dorothy Feldman Schwartz. The program consisted of the following: Quartet No. 3 (1987) by Peter Re (1919-2016); String Quartet No. 7 in E flat Major (1945) by Paul Hindemith 1895-1963); String Quartet No. 3 Portrait for Deedee (2016) by Elliott Schwartz (1919-2016). After intermission the sole work that was performed was the Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 “Serioso” by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).

On the one hand I must salute the Portland String Quartet for programming the music of Re and Schwartz. These two spent most of their adult life in Maine and if the Portland String Quartet, known (justifiably) the world over as this state’s premier musical group, did not pay tribute to these leading Maine composers one would have to ask “why not?” Therefore I think they should be praised for doing so. Also, since Hindemith was one of Re’s principal teachers and one of the 20th centuries greats, there was justification for including him in this concert. However, while there were great stylistic differences between the compositions by Re and Schwartz, the same cannot be said for the works by Re and Hindemith. Both subscribed to the school of linear counterpoint and when they said what they had to say, it ended a movement within an improbable sounding major triad.

The music in all three works made horrific technical demands on each member of the quartet which I am only too happy to relate they handled not only brilliantly but with aplomb and great artistry.

They more than lived up to their reputation. After intermission we left the complex world of the 20th century for the complex mind of Beethoven. In this relatively short quartet of four movements, I must single out the third movement as one that angels in heaven must have created and given to Beethoven to transcribe for humankind. While the musicians showed their technical virtuosity in the first half, they rose to the musical heights musically demanded by Beethoven (and perhaps the angels as well) in their performance of that third movement. The small but knowledgeable audience at the church gave the group sustained applause for their efforts. It seemed to me that the applause was a bit more sustained after the Beethoven and with good reason.

The next concert which will be presented by the Lark Society for Chamber Music will feature violinist Ronald Lantz and pianist Laura Kargul in a Valentine’s Day-themed program on Feb. 18 at Woodfords. I have had the pleasure of hearing them previously and look forward to their concert that will feature works by French composers of the early 20th century, Jacques de la Presle and Joseph Canteloube. These composers wrote beautiful works that are not often heard. I look forward to this concert.

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