MUSIC REVIEW : Cavani Quartet at Ambassador

The Cleveland-based Cavani String Quartet, which left equivocal impressions on two previous Southland visits, further accentuated the negative at Ambassador Auditorium on Monday.

In the “Hunt” Quartet of Mozart--not heard at Ambassador since two nights earlier, when it opened the Guarneri Quartet’s program--the Cavani offered slow tempos, fussy dynamics, a barely audible viola (Kirsten Docter) and wayward intonation from first violinist Annie Fullard, the latter fact central to the ensemble coming painfully unglued during the finale.

Bartok’s Fourth Quartet strained the technical abilities of the group as a whole, although the darkly atmospheric middle movement achieved a measure of distinction through the strong, characterful playing--as was the case throughout the evening--of the excellent second violinist, Susan Waterbury, and the firm rhythmic underpinning provided by cellist Merry Peckham.

The best came last, with a generally well-tuned, energetic reading of Mendelssohn’s Quartet in D, Opus 44, No. 1, which reached expressive heights in the lovingly projected slow movement.