MUSIC REVIEW : Southwest Quartet Finishes Beethoven Cycle

In time to celebrate Beethoven’s 225th birthday, the Southwest String Quartet, drawn from the ranks of the Southwest Chamber Music Society, dared to present the complete Beethoven string quartets over the last several weeks. The series was an ambitious undertaking to be sure, a grand nod to one of the indisputable landmarks of western music.

Thursday’s finale of quartets 14 through 16 was performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and left a strong impression, despite some ragged edges and a fragile sense of ensemble identity.

It may be that this ad hoc quartet, with first violinist Peter Marsh, violinist Susan Jensen, violist Jan Karlin and cellist Leighton Fong, rushed into dangerous terrain prematurely in tackling the Beethoven cycle. There was no lack of heroic effort here, just a lack of pristine effect, as intonation and textural cohesion periodically sagged.

Still, any competent reading of the late quartets, with their depth of feeling and breadth of structure, rewards close listening. The String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor benefited from the bounding energy of the Presto, with its wry pizzicato transition spilling into the rueful luster of the Adagio. In the Quartet No. 15 in A minor, a quality of muted serenity gave way to a dicey march cadence: In these works, Beethoven bridged not only musical epochs, between Classical and Romantic eras, but a mercurial human emotional index as well.

In terms of performance, the best came last, as the Southwest Quartet maneuvered the Quartet No. 16 in F with an expressive ease and unified sound missing earlier in the concert. The group traced a fruitful path over the relatively tranquil landscape of this work, through the lively Vivace section and on to the affirmative, resolute note of closure by quartet’s end. It was a long and hardly seamless evening, but the power of the music prevailed.

* This program will be repeated tonight at 8, Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, $10-$20. Information: (800) 726-7147.