MUSIC REVIEWS : Generous and Flowing Program From Colorado Quartet

IRVINE —  Returning to Orange County, and to the aegis of the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society, the Colorado Quartet again showed the extent of its gifts and the vigor of its accomplishment.

This time, however, genuine and deep polish characterized all its performances.

At the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and with Santiago Rodriguez as guest artist, the New York-based ensemble--violinists Julie Rosenfeld and Deborah Redding, violist Francesca Martin and cellist Diane Chaplin--brought instrumental virtuosity and structural comprehensibility to a generous but flowing program devoted to Schubert’s A-minor Quartet, Opus 29, No. 1, Ravel’s F-major Quartet and, with Rodriguez, Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A, Opus 81.

In readings both driven and probing, the four musicians seemed to achieve each composer’s abundant exterior messages in conjunction with his rich subtexts, balancing both in playing of technical breadth and dynamic finesse in the Friday performance.

Schubert’s kaleidoscopic score had detailing and passion, sweep and repose, as appropriate. The full range of Schubertian emotions, and its flow, seemed here brought together, without either grandstanding or timidity, and in direct relation to the listener.

The half-tints, subtle inner relationships and aqueous murmurings in Ravel’s masterpiece emerged similarly, yet without any hint of preciosity.

Few contemporary quartets can play this softly, but this ensemble never overuses its advantage: Its pianissimo , like its fortissimo, is one of many expressive tools; its communicative quietude never approaches inaudibility, just as its loudest passages never become strident.

Pure and mostly uncomplicated pleasure was the achievement in the Colorado’s romp through the Dvorak Quintet, a happy, if not always many-faceted, performance with the technically brilliant, musically astute, effortless playing of Rodriguez leading the way. With good reason, the sold-out house greeted this finale with cheers and smiles.