By Ken Keuffel Jr.
The Arizona Daily Star
Just last week, The New York Times referred to the venerable Guarneri String Quartet as ``a once-stellar ensemble.'' If the 35-year-old group is in decline, there was no evidence of that last night.
Certainly, if nothing else, the Guarneri was responding to the more friendly environment that is sunny Arizona. Nearly 100 people, for instance, waited in vain to buy an unsold ticket.
Those who did get into Leo Rich Theatre greeted the group warmly.
Other factors explain the group's success last night.
For one thing, it performed pieces reportedly never heard at past Arizona Friends of Chamber Music concerts - and made all of them worth hearing.
The works included Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga's Quartet No. 2, Kodály's Quartet No. 2 and Grieg's G-Major Quartet.
Of these, the Arriaga wins the highest marks for curiosity value. Written by Paris-trained Spaniard who died at 20, it might well have disappeared into obscurity. But with the coming of 19th century Spanish nationalism, Arriaga gained cult-hero status and his works have enjoyed a fairly wide popularity.
The Arriaga sounds like less-than-fully-mature Haydn. You hear that most clearly in the unexpected pauses during unresolved harmonic progressions, as well as the trio, which features sparkling conversations of the first and second violins amid a droning cello.
The tight-sounding Guarneri made this work sound like serious fun.
From there, it was onto Kodály, which program notes writer Nancy Monsman aptly described as a ``fusion between his (Kodály's) personal utterance and the spirit of folk music.''
The Guarneri captured the earthy energy of the second movement, which relies on dancelike material to make several points. (It's astonishing how much material the Hungarian composer could pack into a single movement.)
In the Grieg, the Guarneri took full advantage of the composer's tunefulness, playing each statement of the ``Minstrel's Song'' cyclical motto with varying degrees of subtlety and color. In the Romanze, they persuasively drew contrasts between sweet lyricism and agitated fragmentary writing.
Before last night's concert, Jean-Paul Bierny, president of the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, said ``They (the Guarneri) are in their 35th year of beautiful music-making. They may yet beat the Rolling Stones.''
I wouldn't doubt it. And lest we forget: The Stones include only three of five original members. The Guarneri has never changed its personnel.