Music Review
Young quartets combine for mature performance

Monday, April 2, 2001

Mary Hoffman
For The Dispatch

The final offering in the 53rd season of the Columbus Chamber Music Society series rocked the rafters of the Southern Theatre yesterday afternoon.

The youthful Ying and Cavani string quartets, two of the society's favorite ensembles, made an exhilarating joint appearance before a devoted, but less than capacity, crowd.

The interestingly varied program began with Ravel's String Quartet in F by the Ying quartet. The first half was completed with the playing of the Shostakovich Quartet No. 9 in E flat Major, Op. 117 by the Cavani quartet.

The eight dynamic players then joined forces for Mendelssohn's Octet, Op. 20.

Each piece was performed with distinction.

Founded in 1988, the Ying quartet is composed of siblings: violinists Timothy and Janet, violist Philip and cellist David Ying.

Formed four years earlier, the Cavani quartet is made up of violinists Annie Fullard and Mari Sato, violist Kirsten Docter and cellist Merry Peckham.

Along with Debussy's earlier string-quartet, Ravel's youthful work of 1904 took the genre in a new artistic direction. The sensuous interplay of two melodious themes in the lush first movement was rendered beautifully, as was the evocation of Spanish folk music in the second. Time stood still on occasion as the Ying quartet created the often-exposed, diaphanous texture of the score's slow third movement. The finale glowed in their hands.

The highly charged Shostakovich piece from 1964 combines five movements played without pause. At once robust and fragile, assertive and introspective, the piece, which included quiet, sometimes-searching moments of dark beauty, was a stunning vehicle for the Cavani quartet, which brought it off with exceptional skill and understanding.

After intermission, the key of E- flat major remained. After the tension-ridden Shostakovich work, the audience relaxed into the liberating beauty and energy of the 1825 Mendelssohn octet, a brilliant work by a 16-year-old. The combined quartets relished their participation, creating a consistently beautiful orchestral palette in the opening movement, lovingly shaping the elegiac second, creating the magic of the scherzo and sailing through the finale with an elan that brought the audience to its feet.

Each musician is to be applauded, but the first violinists of both quartets -- Timothy Ying and Fullard -- should be singled out for their contributions.

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