The earnest side of a real wiseguy

Now into its 13th year, the Armadillo String Quartet’s annual concert of music by Peter Schickele is more than a just habit or a gig. The atmosphere at the Zipper Hall on Wednesday was collegial, and the composer expressed awe that the group was so dedicated in a situation in which “nobody is getting paid.” A kindly wiseguy and the man behind the satirical PDQ Bach, Schickele offered verbal program notes and affable banter in a bemused voice familiar from his long-standing public radio program “Schickele Mix.” This evening’s mix reminded listeners that Schickele’s music tends to be clear and warm to the touch but never merely accessible for the sake of accessibility; fresh ideas and subtle tensions line the way.

The gifted Armadillo Quartet gave its considerable all. The group was fragmented for the Duo Caprice for violinists Barry Socher and Steve Scharf, and “River Music” for violist Raymond Tischer and cellist Armen Ksajikian. Both works dipped eclectically into rock ‘n’ roll as well as affecting touches of melancholy, also a prevailing character of Schickele’s String Quartet No. 2, moving from the wild verve of its scherzo through the rueful stillness of its elegy.

His 1981 piece Serenade for Eleven Instruments is a blithe concoction with occasional washes of bluesiness and sudden whizzing unison lines. “Dance Music” -- from his first quartet, “American Dreams” -- plays like a highbrow hoedown, ending with a mad canon.

At encore time, the quartet surprised the composer with a rambling fugal exercise based on his melody for “The Seasonings” (which the Pasadena Symphony will perform, as part of Schickele’s composer-in-residence stint this season).

Next, Schickele brought out an ink-still-wet piece, singing lyrics full of goofball wit and shameless punning. Only a Schickele concert would combine serious musical explorations with this closing line: “You should never arm a dillo.”