A cello piece -- and pdq at that

Peter Schickele is the comic genius behind the works of composer P.D.Q. Bach -- the fictional, long-forgotten, “last and least” of Johann Sebastian Bach’s numerous offspring. He’s also a versatile, serious composer.

It’s as the latter that Schickele wrote “Three Cellos,” to be premiered by the Pacific Serenades chamber ensemble in its “We are all mortal” concert Saturday at a Brentwood home (address sent with tickets), Sunday at Pasadena’s Neighborhood Church and June 5 at the UCLA Faculty Center.

Still, a little humor creeps into the conversation anyway. The piece was partly inspired by a friend of Schickele’s, cellist Armen Ksajikian, who “says his last name loses about one letter every generation,” Schickele observes.

But seriously, folks.... “Armen is one of my favorite musicians, and he’s a very passionate kind of guy,” the composer says. “He’s brought out the passionate, almost Brahmsian side of me.”

Schickele will attend a rehearsal as well as performances, “because before premieres, I almost always do some fiddling. I don’t get everything right the first time.”

The composer doesn’t suffer from writer’s block, but he had an unusually productive summer in 2006, writing the cello piece “in a fevered rush” while on steroids for a medical problem affecting his lower extremities.

“It didn’t help my feet and legs at all, but it absolutely affected my fertility as a composer. I could not stop writing music. I mean, I’d be composing in my head while watching a movie.”

At age 71, Schickele has cut back his touring schedule to six months a year -- “I think I spend most of my non-performing and rehearsing time on the road taking naps now” -- but he continues to perform his full slate of satiric P.D.Q. Bach shows: “The Vegas Years,” “What’s Your Sign?,” “P.D.Q. Strikes Back” and “The Jekyll and Hyde Tour.”

Not to mention “40 Years of Musical Mayhem,” Schickele points out, featuring a staged version of P.D.Q. Bach’s one-act opera, “A Little Nightmare Music.”

“Three Cellos” was commissioned by Pacific Serenades as part of its John F. Kennedy-inspired season theme, “Common Link.” The concert also includes works by Schubert and Boccherini. Joining Ksajikian on cello are father-son duo David and Brook Speltz; also performing are violinists Connie Kupka and Roberto Cani, and David Walther on viola. (For information, see www.pacser.org)

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-- Lynne Heffley