MUSIC REVIEW : QUARTET COURTS AUDIENCE, HUMOR

Most classical musicians have such a need to be taken seriously that they dare not appear playful or jocular before their audiences. Because much of their art aspires to the sublime, they leave the ridiculous to a specialized minority: the slapstick burlesques of P.D.Q. Bach and the witty satire of Anna Russell.

In Sunday afternoon’s chamber concert at the California Western School of Law, L’eau, a decidedly heterogeneous quartet from Los Angeles, gave a splendid example of how to infuse a modicum of humor into the musician’s uniform without appearing foolish. Composed of viola, bassoon, double bass and vibraphone, the ensemble’s name is a groaning bilingual pun on these predominantly “low” instruments.

For the occasion of performing in the downtown law school’s Moot (mock) Court, bassoonist John Steinmetz composed a piece titled “You Be the Judge.” Steinmetz turned the members of the audience into a percussive “gavel chorus”--10 tiny gavels were handed out to select audience members, while the rest were encouraged to tap in time with their pens. Seated on the judge’s bench, percussionist David Johnson conducted his gavel chorus with mock judicial sobriety.

Though a description of this quaint quodlibet may sound a trifle daft, it worked with surprising coordination and proved to be more musically rewarding than a mere audience participation stunt.

This is not to imply that L’eau was all play and no work. Their Bach G Major Trio Sonata, BWV 530, rippled with earnest counterpoint and stylish phrasing, and three movements arranged by violist Roland Kato from Prokofiev’s “Music for Children,” Op. 65, exuded the piquant charm of the composer. Part of this ensemble’s ability to exercise the comedic muse stems from its polished, assured reading of more familiar repertory.

Except for the works that Steinmetz himself writes for the ensemble, their repertory is transcribed from other sources, spanning the gamut of Western music history. A secular song by the Renaissance master Josquin Despres took on a slightly jazzy feel, especially with the vibraphone taking one of the themes, while “Fall,” a jazz piece by Wayne Shorter, shimmered with a subtle, Impressionistic tonal wash.

Steinmetz’s “Buckhorn Canyon Suite” proved to be a tour de force for Kato, who gave a brilliant virtuoso account on the seldom heard viola d’amore. Composed in the style of an Indian raga , the suite ebbed and flowed over drones sustained by bassist Janet Johnson and Steinmetz on the vibraphone, while David Johnson lent authentic rhythmic accompaniment on the tabla.

The L’eau program was Silver Gate Concerts’ final offering of chamber music presented in historical locations throughout the county. This inaugural series was presented with the cooperation of San Diego’s Save Our Heritage Assn. The grandiose Moot Court of the law school building, originally the San Diego Elks Lodge designed in 1929 by architects Charles and William Quayle, turned out to be a superb concert hall.

With warm, friendly acoustics--the type that seem to elude most contemporary architects--the Moot Court allowed the audience to feel the deep vibrations of L’eau’s lowest registers. It was a fitting, albeit whimsical, completion of a welcome addition to San Diego’s chamber music scene.