The Lydian String Quartet, comprised of music Profs. Judith Eissenberg, Mary Ruth Ray, Daniel Stepner and Joshua Gordon, played a spectacular concert to a packed house in Slosberg Recital Hall on Saturday.The concert was made up of three main pieces, by Mozart, Persichetti and Beethoven, respectively. Each piece had a large range of dynamics in various sections, going from slow and mournful to upbeat and powerful.

Opening with the "Quartet in B-Flat Major, K. 589" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Lydians started with a bang. Especially impressive was Gordon's cello performance in this piece, because the part is extraordinarily high for a quartet arrangement. The music rolls along quickly, making it difficult for all musicians to keep up with such fancy ornamentation. Nevertheless, the Lydians hit each note swiftly and precisely.

Continuing with the lesser-known "Quartet No. 3" by Vincent Persichetti, there was a pleasant surprise in store. Perhaps the most interesting and varied of the three works performed, the Persichetti work had a more seamless pace than the other two. Whereas there are distinct fast and slow movements in Mozart and Beethoven's works, Persichetti blends the various sections so that the listener must pay close attention to discern any tempo changes. This made for a more aurally stimulating performance and also called upon the players to concentrate on the volume at which they were playing. For the most part, they were successful, although occasionally one could hear some players slowing down or performing a decrescendo at a different pace than the others.

Finally, returning to the traditional structured quartet, the Lydians ended with "Quartet in E Minor, Op 59, No. 2" by Ludwig van Beethoven. In the first and last movement of the piece, it is easy to hear the distress and passion that Beethoven often conveyed in the works of his later life, similar to his Fifth Symphony. Executed with vigor, the ending was so dramatic that after the final note, one could hear everyone in the audience breathe in with wonder, appreciating the power of the passionate range of classical and more modern string quartets.