PCMS presents the Calidore String Quartet

It is the only explanation for the group’s extraordinary ability to coordinate rhythm, dynamics, and expression with such ease.

In Prokofiev’s 1941 Quartet Opus 92, intricate scale passages and tricky rhythms are passed from instrument to instrument. During the work’s sudden changes in dynamics and texture, the players switched seamlessly back and forth, creating a unified arc of infinite dynamic shading.

The range of texture traveled from the strident drones of Kabardinian folk tunes to the gentle lullaby of the Adagio to a sound almost like a train, with the viola sounding the whistle.

From today...

Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte (2011) and First Essay: Nimrod (2016) were played without break, but contrasted distinctly in style. Shaw is a reflective composer who is also a professional violinist and singer. She wrote Partita for 8 Voices for her singing ensemble Roomful of Teeth, and it made her the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2013.

Entr’acte is modern, but you can hear the classical minuet form of the Haydn quartet which inspired the work. With intricate patterns of rhythms and missing beats, the piece retains the dance-like feel of its model, yet is sparkling and innovative.

First Essay: Nimrod gave cellist Estelle Choi a chance to play her instrument like a lute. Shaw also incorporates a solo theme with the other instruments accompanying the cello line until their pitches slide into a blurry, otherworldly harmonic reverie. The piece moved into a pizzicato frenzy before Ryan Meehan’s second violin played a lilting melody with high-pitched harmonizing from Jeremy Berry’s viola.

...to yesterday

Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, completed in 1903, was the oldest piece on the program, but in the hands of the Calidore, it certainly wasn’t staid. The lovely melodic lines Ravel dedicated to Gabriel Fauré were unfurled with delicate care. The smooth bowing and subtle gestures of first violinist Jeffrey Myers led the quartet almost invisibly — or is it extrasensory perception that enables them to accelerando and decrescendo as if they were a single player?

Jeremy Berry’s viola supplied golden sound as melody throughout the quartet. Soaring easily above the second violin in the third movement, it ended with the viola playing the top note of Estelle Choi’s rising cello scale in a surprisingly matched timbre and pitch. The fourth movement, “Vif et agité,” was a thrilling ride ending with a glorious fortissimo finale.

The excitement of the Ravel had the audience on its feet with insistent applause. Their enthusiasm was rewarded with an encore of the second movement of Johannes Brahms’s Quartet Opus 51, No. 1 (“Romanze”). The lush tones of the Brahms served as the dessert after a sumptuous musical meal.