Fry Street Quartet concert is stimulating

For its local debut Thursday, the Fry Street Quartet chose an eclectic but stimulating program of works by Ned Rorem and Johannes Brahms.

Mutually exclusive as the music of these two composers is, they nevertheless have much in common. Both have left distinctive works, which — especially in Brahms' case — are yardsticks by which other works are measured.

Rorem was represented at the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City's concert with his Fourth Quartet, and Brahms with his Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34, which the Fry Street Quartet played with pianist Eugene Albulescu. Both were individualists, and both wrote — and in Rorem's case, he still writes — music that doesn't necessarily fit into the accepted standards of their respective times.

A relatively young group, the group — comprised of Jessica Guideri and Rebecca McFaul, violins; Russell Fallstad, viola; and Anne Francis, cello — has just started its third year as quartet-in-residence at Utah State University. And the foursome's Salt Lake debut has been long overdue.

They demonstrated that they are a dynamic foursome, playing with passion and intensity, and exhibiting a finely tuned and refined ensemble form that one normally finds only among older, more established groups. The Fry Street Quartet is an ensemble to watch.

The first half of the concert featured the Rorem quartet, which was played magnificently. They recently recorded the piece, and their performance Thursday showed that they have an affinity for it. Their reading was intelligent, insightful, emotionally charged and dynamic. They played it with conviction, capturing the boldness of the music vividly, with large strokes and sweeping lines.

Rorem's Fourth Quartet, written a decade ago when the composer was 71, is a 10-movement work, with each movement (some quite brief and others quite pungent) loosely based on a Picasso painting. But this isn't Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." This is Rorem putting his musical opinion on each painting.

The eighth movement ("Self Portrait") is the heart of the work. At its core is a searing cello solo, played stunningly by Francis, around which the other instruments wove a thin, sustained texture. The effect was extremely dramatic and poignant.

The Brahms quintet took up the second half of the concert. The Fry Street Quartet and Albulescu gave an impassioned reading of the work, one that conveyed the intensity of expressions and emotional forcefulness wonderfully. Their approach was bold, self-assured and direct. Brahms' sweeping gestures were captured in their radiant playing.

Albulescu opened the concert with Haydn's Piano Sonata No. 52. His interpretation emphasized the lyrical side of the work. Pianists all too often get caught up in the bravura writing, but Albulescu wisely didn't fall into that trap. It was a cohesive performance that was perceptive and articulate.

E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com

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