The Rossetti String Quartet played a chamber concert in Newman Auditorium, revitalizing the spirit of those in attendance March 3.
Named after the Victorian-era artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the four-person ensemble, armed with two violins, a viola and cello, impressed and dazzled spectators with their potent music style.
Betsy Roberts, director of community education for SRJC, greeted the crowd to this edition of the chamber concert series, welcoming veterans and newcomers alike getting the evening underway.
As the foursome of musicians took their seats on stage dressed in shimmery black, they blended in with their black chairs as they disappeared behind black music stands, leaving their sleek polished wooden instruments to appear as floating apparitions against a black background.
With ease the power of music filled the room. Immediately the stringed instruments delivered the finest quality of dynamic tonal reverberations to the crowd. The first piece was a Mozart selection written for the quartet in C major. As the group fluttered through the notes, their mastery of musical craft was evident. For the audience, there was only music. It grabbed their attention while the quartet swayed gently, exerting notes with deceptive ease. The room seemed to hunger for every note.
The super group weaved a sonic tapestry of vibrant detail. The complex, shifting rhythms of Mozart took the audience for an adventurous ride to far-off lands with exotic companions. The music of these chamber musicians created a space through which the mind’s eye could see into eternity.
The soothing, calm tones emanating from the cello provided a grand backdrop upon which the two violins romped and frolicked, while the viola sprinted and darted with the high energy of a hummingbird.
Any troubles or stresses people brought in were banished while the music compelled the listener’s attention to center stage, engaging their imagination.
The Rossetti String Quartet, co-founded in 1996 by violinist Henry Gronnier and violist Thomas Diener, takes its name from the 19th century Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, for his artistic sense of color, poetry and naturalism, ideals embedded in the group’s own dynamic and masterful musicianship.
During the performance the crowd didn’t stir in their seats for fear they would break the music’s spell. Only in the brief pauses between movements did they collectively swoon, creak and shift to regroup as the masterful guides of harmony launched into the next leg of the journey.
At the evening’s end the artists elicited a partial standing ovation, and they responded with an unexpected piece by Felix Mendelssohn. A full standing ovation followed.
The concert in Newman Auditorium gave a tremendous value compared to a night in the city. It was intimate with nary a bad seat in the house, featuring quality performances easily rivaling the city without the expense, hassles or stuffiness.
The Rossetti String Quartet has a delightfully composed and refined sound quality, and as one might expect from classical players, they are easily marked as being of the highest caliber upon hearing them play. Clearly SRJC knows grand entertainment and has only the best performers showcased in this concert series, which will enjoy its final performance of the season April 12.
One last word of advice for any classical music setting: never be the first one to clap.
