Quartetto Espressivo

I admit that I'm not really familiar with string quartets. I don't listen to recordings of it and I can't recall if I ever watched a live performance before. But since then, I've gotten acquainted with the members of the Quartetto Espressivo composed of Joseph Brian Cimafranca (violin 1), Sara Maria Gonzales (violin 2), Rey Casey Concepcion (viola) and Gerry Graham Gonzales (cello). And when they invited me to come over the GSIS Museum to watch their concert, I did so without any second thoughts.

The weather during that afternoon seemed ominous but the opening piece of the concert, Franz Joseph Haydn's Quartet No. 43 in G Major, Op. 54 No. 1, somewhat provided some cheer to block the thoughts of the threatening rain outside. I'm not a huge fan of Haydn's happy music but I'd take anything to counter the gloomy weather outside.

The next piece they performed was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Adagio and Fugue K. 546. I was very much pleasantly surprised by this piece since the Adagio sounded very dark which I didn't expect from Mozart. I never liked fugues before but the introduction made me like the fugue part that followed it.

The last piece they played was Ludwig van Beethoven's Quartet No. 3, Op. 59 "Razumovsky". I've never heard this piece before as well as the other pieces that they played but this was the one that brought me through many different moods. But the one thing that stood out during this performance was the way that Sara Gonzales' face lit up during the final bars of this piece. It was such a delight seeing her face in triumph as she savored the last moments of the performance. She knew that they performed well and the audience did so too.

For an encore, the quartet played a Cebuano medley and it was then when they appeared to be relaxed and just focused on enjoying playing this encore. This piece was quite fitting since with the exception of Concepcion, the other three members all hail from Cebu.

One thing that I really liked about this concert was the spiels done by Jeffrey Solares who hosted the event. He provided some background information regarding the pieces to be performed which really sparked my interest. And he even commented on an Amorsolo painting that was displayed at the gallery to provide some insight on how western music has been embraced by the Filipino people. And proof of that is the Quartetto Espressivo and the much improved audience attendance at the GSIS Museum that night.

Quartetto Espressivo