This is a group of highly talented and extremely well-rehearsed young musicians that have recently reaped success all over Europe
By URY EPPSTEINMusic good 88(photo credit: )Sounding Jerusalem
Meta 4 Quartet
Augusta Victoria
Compound
June 17
The Sounding Jerusalem chamber music concert series, sponsored by the Austrian Music Encounter; the European Commission Technical Assistance Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the Representative Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ramallah; the Barenboim-Said Foundation; and several more illustrious institutions, presented Finland's Meta 4 Quartet in one of the program's first concerts.
This is a group of highly talented and extremely well-rehearsed young musicians that has recently reaped success all over Europe - and justifiably so. The members' perfect coordination, subtle nuances, exuberant temperament, intense involvement and youthful vigor make their performance an impressive experience, such as more mature ensembles do not always achieve.
This program was dominated by an intimate theme: Janacek's String Quartet "Intimate Letters" and Sibelius's String Quartet "Voces Intimae." These works are seldom performed, and one owes a debt of gratitude to the performers.
Janacek's work is agitated, sounding like an emotional tempest, and occasionally it is also profoundly melancholic. It expresses an extroverted intimacy that one does not always associate with the sentiment.
Sibelius displays a different brand of intimacy. Though more introverted, it is no less poignant, until it becomes forcefully dramatic toward the work's conclusion. The players conveyed these emotions with powerful conviction.
