Aviv String Quartet

Between the Sacred and the Profane - Menachem Wiesenberg

Quartet in D minor K421 - Mozart

Quartet in D minor (Death and the Maiden) - Schubert

To celebrate Israel's Independence Day, the Aviv Quartet gave a recital on Wednesday night in the Masonic Hall, Molesworth Street. The members are in their mid-20s and have been playing together for two and-a-half years.

It is rare to hear such a young group show complete command of every fundamental aspect of quartet technique. They certainly did justice to the testing piece which opened the concert, Menachem Wiesenberg's Between the Sacred and the Profane. It is based on Jewish liturgical music and secular song, and although indebted to Bartok, is made individual through the character of that material.

Throughout Mozart's Quartet in D minor K421 and Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, also in D minor, the Aviv Quartet played with a range of colour, volume, vibrato which seemed infinite. Even though phrasing and tempo were often highly flexible, ensemble was so consistently perfect that one started to take it for granted.

There was nothing flashy about this remarkable parade of technique, for everything was purposeful and fitted into beautifully shaped, goal-driven phrasing.

There was one limitation, of the sort which might be dealt with as the group matures. While impressive resources were applied with good taste, the overall result stopped short of the deeper, poetic aspects of the music. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Aviv Quartet is one to watch.