Biava Quartet impressive in debut

You might be tempted to call the Biava Quartet a young ensemble, what with the members all still in their 20s.

But the quartet that includes Greensburg native Mary Persin on viola formed in 1998, and the four have had nearly as much time together as quartets with much older members.

Indeed, the Biava Quartet's Pittsburgh debut, presented by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, revealed a veteran sound - ensemble you expect from a group who has extensive experience together - combined with youthful energy. But Saturday night at the New Hazlett Theater, it was not youth or experience that defined the group, but great playing.

The concert opened with a reading of Shostakovich's Eighth Quartet that left my jaw on the floor. So many groups exaggerate the harrowing features of this work that allegedly chronicles at the oppression and fear of life in Stalin's Russia. But Biava played it in such a musical way, letting the score do that work for them. No drawn out dissonances or manipulated phrasing here, but a flowing performance that used a steady tempo and connected the themes with a catlike agility. The ensemble was helped by the fact that the group stands for performances. With the exception of the cellist Jason Calloway, who was on a short platform and often looked down at his music, eyes were locked on each other throughout. But this did not preclude strong individual playing. This is not a group striving for equality in tone, but of quality of play. Persin plays the viola with the aggressiveness of a violin, while Calloway has a very round tone. Violinists Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko standout from each other, but it is a strength because one hears the separate lines clearly, even as they brilliantly coalesce.

David Stock jokingly commented in a pre-concert Q&A that he had been "sandbagged" by the quartet for placing the premiere of his new quartet directly after the eminent Shostakovich opus. But actually, the proximity did Stock's work - also an Eighth- good by establishing a agitated mood quite similar to its own.

Opening with nervous tremolos skittering across the strings and crunchy chords halting the music's forward progress, the music fit the title, "Restless," but also hinted a something more troubling beneath the surface. The second movement calmed things with imitation of a lyrical eight-note melody that Stock harmonized still with a tinge of sorrow. The emotion here was striking, with Stock asking for quiet intensity, compressing energy in a potential state that exploded in a fugue in the finale.

Stock's fugue subject took none other an abbreviated form of Beethoven's famous "Grosse Fugue." It was to me, too close of a borrowing, but it was intriguing to see the different directions that Stock took and his ability to make a lighter and positive ending with this heavy subject.

The Biava Quartet concluded with a stunning performance of another emotionally charged work, Mendelssohn's Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80. Those who missed this stellar group have hope: it returns May 30, with a different program.