MIX-AND-MATCH CHAMBER CONCERT

Here’s a new concept for the normally tradition-heavy concert arena--tag-team chamber music. Tonight in Ambassador Auditorium, two internationally respected ensembles will share the bill. In one corner, the Guarneri Quartet; in the other, the piano trio of Joseph Kalichstein, Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson. One half of the program will find each group playing as a unit, while in the other half, the ensembles will swap players.

For Guarneri first violinist Arnold Steinhardt, such a scheme is “all very intriguing because, as far as I can tell, there is no precedent.”

While the Los Angeles-born musician could not recall just how and when this unique idea was germinated, he indicated that the Guarneri-KLR teaming was no random pairing fabricated to attract attention. “I don’t think we would have entered into this if all of us didn’t feel we were on the same musical wavelength. We all know one another, some went to school together. We’re good, working colleagues.

“One thing I think we’ve all gained from this experience is a new set of jokes.”

But that, apparently, is not all. Original plans, Steinhardt pointed out, were for one season of about a half-dozen concerts. Evidently, this coupling of players has caught the public’s fancy, since a second tour (1987-88) is now in the planning stage.

Even though the bulk of the Guarneri’s season remains firmly rooted in string quartet repertory--as it has with such consistent success for more than two decades--why endanger that winning combination at all, by injecting new voices? That, said the violinist unhesitatingly, is just the point.

“It’s wonderful to get someone from the outside who can contribute fresh ideas. It upsets the apple cart. It forces you to do a lot of practicing you wouldn’t otherwise have to do, in order to reach a satisfactory agreement.

“Certainly the string quartet repertory occupies very special ground, but there is also a varied range of chamber music (for other instruments) that cries out to be heard.” By example, Steinhardt pointed to the “mix-and-match” portion of the Ambassador agenda tonight: the string sextet setting of Schoenberg’s “Verklaerte Nacht” and the G-minor Piano Quartet of Brahms.

Coupling those works with a Haydn piano trio and Beethoven’s Opus 95 String Quartet makes for a program “on the long side,” the violinist admitted. “People will get their money’s worth, however.”

The bottom line, he stressed, is that this is all for fun. “Rehearsals have been very enjoyable, and I expect that to carry onto the stage. A lot of musicians are very serious in performance these days. Like with baseball--you watch the players’ intensity and you forget that it’s really just a game.

“That approach is something we got from recording with Artur Rubinstein. He didn’t just enjoy himself when he sat at the piano, but his playing reflected that enjoyment. It was a product of his personality.”

Amazingly, the Guarneri retains that joy of performance after 23 years with no personnel changes--an American record. Is it really all just fun and games for Steinhardt, John Dalley, David Soyer and Michael Tree?

“Oh, I think we feel the pressure any musician feels when you want to do your best. There is a fight to maintain that standard of excellence. Remember that our instruments are not ‘user-friendly,’ to borrow a computer term. Making music is all very difficult work.

“To compound things, so often the chemistry isn’t right in a group. It’s a tough life: traveling, rehearsing, just being together so much. You have to love what you’re doing, and that’s still the case with us.

“We think we’re kids sometimes, a young group just starting out. Then, I look around, and I suddenly see all this gray hair--or no hair!”