MUSIC REVIEW : Fate Steps in for the St. Petersburg String Quartet

A fairy-tale quality pervaded a recent program at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Forty-five minutes before the start of Tuesday night’s concert, Seal Beach urologist William Sloan offered the violinists of the St. Petersburg String Quartet use of his Stradivarius and Guarnerius. After playing a few notes on the Stradivarius, first violinist Alla Aranovskaya reportedly burst into tears and gratefully accepted.

It was too late to rehearse with the instruments but, judging by the outcome, it didn’t matter. Aranovskaya, violinist Ilya Teplyakov, violist Konstantin Kats and cellist Leonid Shukaev found a rich blend while they unified works by Haydn, Prokofiev and Borodin with a single-minded sense of warmth and intimacy.

Everywhere, the group emphasized ardent lyricism. There was synchronic insistence to the driving rhythms of Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, but even the most aggressive sections beckoned with soft-edged songfulness. The fifth quartet of Haydn’s Opus 20, usually seen as representing the more tragic side of the composer’s personality, seethed with a dark effervescence as players caressed legato phrases with unhurried care. The fugue evolved with exact balance and a natural sense of logic.

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Borodin’s D-major String Quartet--better known to older Broadway musical lovers as having been bastardized for “And This Is My Beloved” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads”--oozed with the same melodic sparkle that prompted countless popular arrangements and quotations. In the hands of this ensemble, it surged invitingly--sure, focused and full of pastoral gentleness.

While receiving audience applause, Aranovskaya kissed the Strad and held it up, obviously reveling in her bit of Kismet on this evening. Then the quartet offered one encore, the good-natured, lead-footed polka from Shostakovich’s ballet “The Golden Age.”