Unity, Emotion Mark Wihan Quartet’s Bohemian Program

From Prague, the Wihan Quartet--named for the cellist Hanus Wihan, who started the Bohemian Quartet in 1892--made its West Coast debut Friday night to open the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College Doheny Mansion Soirees series. A glance at the program indicated that this concert was going to be a bit unusual; staunchly traditional in language perhaps, yet relying entirely upon Bohemian composers. And within 10 seconds, you could draw this young quartet’s sonic profile, a remarkably unified, dark, polished-hardwood blend; at times, they sounded like four violas.

But no, this does not mean that the group merely coasts on its luscious sounds. Certainly not in Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 (“From My Life”), where from violist Jiri Zigmund’s extremely rough-hewn opening solo, there was tension and even violence in the ensemble, with phrases pulled expressively about and stretched. They tore into the folk dances in the second movement with a lurching yet solid rhythmic vigor, and the tremolos and that searing high-E that the first violin plays as a signal of Smetana’s emerging deafness in the Finale were as penetrating and as intense as I’ve heard. Chamber musicmaking doesn’t get more emotional than this very often.

Earlier, the Wihans brought forth a String Quartet in C by the Moravian-born 18th century composer Franz Xaver Richter, a lively, life-affirming piece straddling the transition between the Baroque and Classical idioms. There were fewer expressive tempo fluctuations in the Dvorak String Quartet in F (“American”) than in Smetana, but also good, tight fugal playing and mobile energy.

As for the all-Bohemian theme, well, the encore departed considerably--a flashy, effects-loaded arrangement of Paganini’s 24th Caprice.