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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2019)
8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM CLASSICAL UP CLOSE Quartet performs concert in total darkness, trio performs works from new album By KATHERINE LACAZE FOR COAST WEEKEND T he Liberty Theatre in Astoria is going dark Friday night, but for a good reason. The Portland-based Pyxis Quartet uses the absolute lack of light as a blank can- vas for its bold, spellbinding performance of George Frie- drich Hass’s “String Quartet No. 3 „In iij. Noct.” “The darkness is the easel, if you will, for the piece,” violinist Ron Bless- inger said. “When your ears are dilated by total darkness, you just listen in a different way.” The concert by the Pyxis Quartet – a member ensem- ble of the 45th Parallel Uni- verse ensemble – is one of three performing at the Lib- erty Friday-Sunday. On Saturday evening, the Hermitage Piano Trio will perform a concert to cele- brate and preview its debut album, which was released in May. The following after- noon, Russian pianist Ilya Kazantsev, from the Her- mitage Piano Trio, performs works by Beethoven, Cho- pin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff in recital. ‘Total Lack of Light’ Hass’ 3rd String Quartet, published in 2001, is subti- tled “In iij. Noct.” in refer- ence to the Roman Catholic Tenebrae service conducted during Holy Week. Dark- ness, for both that religious ritual and the musical per- formance, becomes a key theme, evoking an allusion to the night before Jesus Christ’s Resurrection and complete disconnection from God – hence the piece’s cate- gorization as spectral music. “There are specters in the air, there are ghosts, there are dialogues in sound and color and noise,” Blessinger said. “It’s a different kind of music-making.” IF YOU GO PYXIS QUARTET When: 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 21 Where: Liberty Theatre, 1203 Commercial St., Astoria Details: $35. Purchase tickets at: libertyastoria.showare.com/ HERMITAGE PIANO TRIO When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 22 Where: Liberty Theatre, 1203 Commercial St., Astoria Details: $35. Purchase tickets at: libertyastoria.showare.com/ ILYA KAZANTSEV PIANO RECITAL When: 4 p.m., Sunday, June 23 Where: Liberty Theatre, 1203 Commercial St., Astoria Details: $35. Purchase tickets at: libertyastoria.showare.com/
