
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992                   TAG: 9203240100
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON  SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

AUDUBON QUARTET GETS HALL IT DESERVES

The Audubon Quartet sounded terrific during its Saturday night Schubertiad this weekend at Virginia Tech's Squires Recital Hall. Though the quartet has performed here before, a sizeable fraction of the sell-out crowd as well as this reviewer had never heard the group in the new venue.

What a revelation! The combination of a world-class quartet and the kind of acoustic space the Audubon deserves (finally) made for one of the most enjoyable evenings in years.

Maybe the Audubon Quartet has turned in better performances in other locales, but I have never heard it sound better than Saturday night. Impeccable balance, precision, glowing tone - it was all there. Instruments seem louder in this room, which allows players to project a vivid sound with - seemingly - almost no effort.

No room is acoustically a 100 percent free lunch, of course, and the Squires Recital Hall in no exception. One unfortunate lady suffered a coughing spell and attempted to unwrap a cough drop. She would have been nearly inaudible in the barn-like Burruss Hall auditorium, but here it sounded like she was undoing a gift-wrapped Volkswagen.

First on the program was Schubert's String Trio No. 2 in B-flat Major, D. 581. David Salness sat this one out and first violinist David Erlich took the violin part. The performance was marked by warmth, clarity and fine ensemble. Doris Lederer's lovely viola solo in the third movement was a thing of beauty.

The full quartet next performed Schubert's String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 125, No. 1. Again, it was almost like hearing the Audubon for the first time, with a sensuous aria-like melody in the final movement.

The big work of the evening was the beloved "Trout" quintet, the Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 114. Filling out the unorthodox instrumentation on this one was guest pianist David Oei and guest bassist Timothy Carter (who also is a professor of microbiology at St. Johns University). Several other composers have written for this combination, perhaps hoping that lightning would strike twice, but only Schubert's quintet has made its way into the repertoire.

This time David Erlich joined the audience and second violinist David Salness took the violin part. Salness has no problem with more prominent roles, and he plays with a noticeably thinner but more brilliant tone than Erlich. This "Trout" was clearly fun for the instrumentalists from beginning to end and it would be hard to find anything wrong with what was a happy and colorful performance.

David Oei slightly muffed the opening piano figure in the third movement, but the playing was generally almost flawless. In fact, when cellist Tom Shaw launched into the second theme of the first movement - one of the most serenely happy tunes Schubert ever wrote - there were audible sighs of pleasure all around me. There were lots of satisfied customers for this "Trout." There were three curtain calls, but no encore.

by CNB