Budapest String Quartet

The Budapest String Quartet played three entirely different types of quartets in Sanders Theater yesterday afternoon, and when the program was over, it played Schubert's Quartet Movement in C minor as an encore. This concert was the nearest thing to musical perfection I have ever heard.

On the program were quartets by Mozart, Hindemith, and Brahms. The first piece required a light and smooth approach to show off its classical symmetry; the second had to have an almost completely opposite interpretation for its rhythmically and tonally restive nature; the Brahms quartet, being late romantic, required thick texture for its heavy Germanic style; and for Schubert the players had to revert to a light and delicate style to express the tunefulness of the composer.

Most chamber groups never try such a varied program, or if they do, they play everything in one style. The Budapest String Quartet showed its true greatness by playing each of these pieces exactly as it should be played.

But along with the feeling and thought that went into the playing of all these numbers the technique displayed by the musicians, was nothing short of extraordinary.

Precision and dynamic control by the members of the Quartet was noticeable from the very beginning, and it never slackened. Throughout the entire concert, and especially in Hindemith's Quartet, they performed as one musician.