The Cambridge Quartet

The Cambridge Quartet, a vocal ensemble, brought the local concert season to a close last Tuesday with a program of unfamiliar music by well known composers as well as some often-heard works given new vitality by authentic and highly sensitive performances. French chansons by Lassus and Debussy provided some striking and not dissimilar harmonic colorings; and two selections by Ravel displayed a sophisticated yet exuberant treatment of folk-like parables.

But the heart of the program consisted of six Haydn songs and both sets of Brahms Liebeslieder waltzes. These works were originally intended for vocal quartet, though they are often sung by choruses. The Cambridge Quartet showed, however, that a performance by only four voices has the advantage of a more distinct transmission of the text, a subtler grading of nuances, and the lighter tone quality which keeps such richy-harmonized music form sounding overly-lush.

The Haydn songs were gems. Works of his maturity, they are joyous without being flippant, poignant yet optimistic. The first of the two sets of Brahms waltzes is the more widely known, perhaps because it has fewer solo passages and thus is more often performed by choruses; perhaps also because it maintains a gayer, more spontaneous mood than the second set, composed five years later. It is this second set, however, which left the more profound impression. Its gloomy, anguished texts convey a dramatic unity not present in the other and the musical treatment is appropriately more intense. Although all the numbers are still in triple meter, the light-hearted waltz spirit is no longer so pronounced; in its place appears a new profundity culminating in an epilogue which is no longer a waltz but set in the more complex form of the chaconne.

The Cambridge Quartet include Phyllis Curtin, soprano; Eunice Alberts, contralto; William Hess, tenor; Paul Matthen, bass. All except Mr. Hess are local musicians and have frequently appeared as soloists in Boston. A mediumsized audience responded to the group's superb artistry as well as to its evident enthusiasm in performance by one of the warmest ovations I have witnessed this season in Sanders Theatre.