Thursday, October 5, 2000

Ralph O'Dette
For The Dispatch

The Guarneri Quartet is on every chamber-music lover's short list of the finest ensembles ever devoted to that musical genre. Last night the Columbus Chamber Music Society presented the Guarneri at the Southern Theatre to open the society's 53rd season. The program, featuring music of Mozart, Mendelssohn and Smetana, was dedicated to the memory of the late Frances Jastram, longtime champion of the chamber group and many other area musical organizations.

Among its many distinctions, the Guarneri, founded in 1964, was the longest-running string quartet in the world without a membership change until cellist Peter Wiley replaced founding member David Soyer last year. The other original members are violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley and violist Michael Tree.

For any newcomer to chamber music -- and one hopes there are hundreds at every concert -- the evening made clear why the Guarneri is held in such high regard by so many.

There was absolute perfection of execution and almost superhuman polish. The quartet produces an exceptional variety of sound -- soft, loud and every level between -- with perfectly judged tempos and dynamics, perfect balance and phrasing that convinced the hearer there was no other way. One occasionally had to verify that the music emanated from strangely shaped wooden boxes and that every nuance had been planned and remembered.

There were special moments: the slow movement of Mozart's Quartet in D major, K.575; the Canzonetta of Mendelssohn's Quartet in E-flat major, Op.12; and the middle two movements of the Smetana.

The Mozart is a remarkable example of beauty and optimism arising from pain and suffering. The composer was in dire straits during the composition, but it never shows. The Guarneri stressed the relaxed, even-tempered side of the score.

Some say Mendelssohn rarely rose above his youthful masterpieces, of which this quartet is one. The Canzonetta has echoes of The Midsummer Night's Dream Overture written just a year or so earlier. The quartet's uncanny control was nowhere more apparent. Superb would be an understatement.

The Smetana Quartet No. 1 in E minor, subtitled by the composer From My Life, was obviously intended to be autobiographical, but one need not know the details of Smetana's life to respond to the emotionally charged music. The Largo was a restrained, deeply felt love song to his first wife who died young.