The Attacca Quartet at St. Finian’s Lutheran Church, Thursday 27th February.

The Attacca Quartet was in Dublin’s St. Finian’s Lutheran Church for the first of six dates around the country. The New York-based quartet, all former students of that city’s famous Juilliard music school, brought a fresh and lively take on a fairly eclectic programme spanning two centuries, from Adams to Beethoven. At its best, music for string quartet can be something like a conversation, a theme that runs through the programme. Introducing the concert, violinist Keiko Tokanuga talks of the way we can tell stories through music, and how tonight’s set is all about “How differently composers can choose to do so.”

It’s with the music of John Adams that they get things underway – a selection of pieces from that composer’s John’s Book of Alleged Dances. The first of the four works, Toot Nipple, is energetic, nearly frantic. That energy never lets up, the playing precise and controlled throughout. The longest of the four, Pavane, is the most measured – the four instruments blending beautifully in the small room.

That room plays a big part in shaping the sound – close and clear, it’s an intimate space that’s well suited to the music. Beethoven’s String Quartet in F, Op. 18 No. 1, is probably best known for its second movement, the darkly lyrical Adagio. Violist Luke Fleming introduces this, telling of how Beethoven tried to bring to life Romeo & Juliet’s tomb scene, as the other three play snippets of what’s to come. When they do get to play it though, the music speaks for itself – that intimate and dry acoustic lends the piece a real sense of dramatic intensity.

The last work of the programme is Leos Janacek’s String Quartet No. 2, also known as the Intimate Letters quartet. Passionate, with dark moments, it’s a romantic set of pieces. The strong tones of Fleming’s viola cut through the opening Andante movement – his playing brings just the right amount of emotion, without straying into sentimentality. Andrew Yee, on cello, is busy too. He gets more animated as the performance goes on, with a very physical playing style. The fourth and final movement is stormy and the four attack it from the start. Violinist Amy Schroeder, whose playing has been top class all night, draws a beautifully sweet tone from her instrument, as the powerful sound of Yee’s cello keeps the whole thing grounded.

An encore comes in the form of the last movement of Haydn’s Op. 33, No. 3. Nicknamed The Bird, it’s a fast and flighty thing – and it looks like the quartet have as much fun playing it as the audience do hearing it.

Programme

Adams –  John’s Book of Alleged Dances – Toot Nipple, Stubble Crotchet, Pavane and Alligator Escalator

Beethoven – String Quartet in F major, Op. 18 No. 1

Janá?ek – String Quartet No. 2, ‘Intimate Letters’