Elegance Shines Through Quartett Berlin Program

In this tacky, tawdry world, real elegance comes too seldom. Yet it materialized at the latest Chamber Music in Historic Sites event Wednesday night when the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin played in the Grand Salon aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor.

Everything about this performance bespoke an exalted level of musical communication. And the setting--the series has visited the handsome Grand Salon before--gave the playing an extra glow.

The four members of the Berlin Philharmonic who make up the ensemble--violinists Daniel Strabrawa and Christian Stadelmann, violist Neithard Resa and cellist Jan Diesselhorst--displayed the highest standards of technical accomplishment and artistic single-mindedness. Their program, Mozart’s Quartet No. 14, K. 387, Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade and Schubert’s Quartet No. 15, had a stunning depth and enough variety to satisfy the exacting listener.

Except for some momentary roughness in Schubert’s slow movement, the quartet realized the expressive possibilities in his initially quirky, finally seraphic work. It did the same for Mozart’s aristocratic and similarly broad emotional canvas. In between, a different temperamental world came to life in the joys and jauntiness of Wolf’s single chamber piece, the irresistible Italian Serenade.