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March 10

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CHRISTOPHER HYDE

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A capacity audience assembled at Round Top in Damariscotta on Friday night for the final concert of the Salt Bay Chamberfest, one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking in recent memory.

Its centerpiece, ''Howl'' for String Quartet and Tape (1993) by Lee Hyla, based on the famous poem by Allen GInsberg, provided the thought-provoking aspect. Or maybe it was catharsis, sitting in a steaming hall listening to a cry of agony from the 1950s.

Hyla's music, intensely played by the fine Brentano Quartet, takes its cue from the cascade of images in the poem and its rhythm, set by the number of words a human being can utter with a single breath. It assumes equal billing with an amplified recording of ''Howl'' and ''Footnote to Howl'' read by the poet himself.

The volume level of both is generally equal, making it difficult to concentrate on either the music or the text (thoughtfully provided by Salt Bay). The way to listen to it is the same as that for viewing a 3-D image without colored glasses or a stereopticon: Try to bring both images together by focusing between them, until the three-dimensional picture appears as if by magic.

It works sometimes with the quartet too, creating a new vision of a familiar landmark. ''Howl'' borrows heavily from both Whitman and Rimbaud, without Whitman's universality or Rimbaud's musical use of language. Unlike many great poems, it seems to need music to make it complete.

It also divides naturally into four quartet movements -- a prelude, a diatribe against Moloch, a lament for a friend, and a less successful resolution into universal love (the ''Footnote'').

''Howl'' was preceded by another, more accessible piece of Americana, ''The Dream Rags'' for Solo PIano by William Albright (1944-1998). As played by Thomas Sauer, they were absolutely irresistible. Albright has done for ragtime what Chopin did for the mazurka, the polonaise and the waltz, raising them to a fine art form without losing any of their characteristic flavor -- in fact intensifying it.

The three pieces could be called the apotheosis of rag. Every mechanism, new idea, harmonic change or syncopation, from Scott Joplin on down, is explored, toyed with and glorified. Joplin, who always maintained that ragtime was a native art form, would have loved it.

The rags, like Stravinski's, are hugely difficult, especially ''The Nightmare Fantasy Rag (A night on Rag Mountain)'' with its occasional rapid stride bass, but Sauer managed it brilliantly, with a real feeling for the form.

The final work on the program, the Mozart Quintet for Clarinet and Strings (K.581) sent everyone home happy. The familiar Quintet, arguably the most delicate and light-hearted Mozart ever wrote, could not have been performed better. Clarinetist Burt Hara seemed to have a natural rapport with the quartet, and the cheerful interchange of themes among instruments was a joy to hear.

Making it all possible was an almost uncanny control of dynamics, a smooth transition from the softest pianissimo to a sounding forte and back. The excellent acoustics of Darrows Barn, especially when crowded, didn't hurt either.

Christopher Hyde's Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram. He can be reached at classbeat@netscape.net.