From New York Times

Is it even possible to hear Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, composed in 1936, without being reminded that its second movement — a spare, melancholy sequence, simply marked “Molto adagio,” that climbs and descends in arch form — went on to have a better-known second life? As “Adagio for Strings,” the movement became a powerful, effective signifier of public lament used in state funerals and Hollywood motion pictures alike.

In a performance of the complete work by the Shanghai Quartet on Saturday night at Bargemusic, one couldn’t help being reminded of those extramusical associations, especially given the view through the window behind the group: a panorama of Lower Manhattan, with the night sky pierced by twin shafts of light emanating from the former site of the World Trade Center.

After a charged opening movement notable for its aggressive attacks and sudden dynamic shifts, the Shanghai players presented an Adagio that peaked in the manner of a full-blown threnody, at times sacrificing tonal luster in the process. It may not have been precisely what Barber had in mind, but there was no denying its effect.

That kind of emotionalism and excitability extended to the rest of the Shanghai Quartet’s program: a collection of attractive novelties and one hardly overexposed masterpiece, Ravel’s String Quartet in F, which closed the concert. It would be difficult to imagine a performance that took better advantage of the expressive potential in Ravel’s youthful work.

The opening movement flitted and surged willfully, with the barge itself bobbing and dipping precipitously on the East River swells in seeming sympathy. The third movement, a bluesy lullaby marked “Très lent,” benefited from the sumptuous tone of the violist, Honggang Li.

Two brief, picturesque works opened the concert. The Shanghai players offered their lushest performance in Joaquín Turina’s “Matador’s Prayer,” finding more music in that Impressionist salon miniature than it actually contains. The richly singing sound of Nicholas Tzavaras’s cello was especially impressive.

“Song of the Ch’in,” by the Chinese-American composer Zhou Long, called for an imposing catalog of special effects to evoke the sound of an ancient seven-string zither. In multiple recordings of the piece the Shanghai members have offered an impressive exactitude; this evening’s performance may have been an iota less precise by comparison, but it gained much from heightened spirits.

Throughout the concert the quartet, completed by the violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, played with a generous sound and an enviable unity of gesture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/arts/music/11barg.html? _r=1&ex=1158638400&en=6c26fce9995da38c&ei=5070&oref=slogin

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