The Lydian String Quartet gave an uneven but exciting performance Saturday night as part of their "Around the World in a String Quartet" series, featuring works by composers from around the globe. This particular concert showcased three works: two traditional string quartets by the masters Haydn and Schumann and an innovative, modern piece for string quartet and recorded sounds by Franzigh Ali-Zadeh, a contemporary composer from Azerbaijan.The concert started out strong, with an enthusiastic performance of the Quartet in G Major, Op, 76, No. 1 by Franz Joseph Haydn, a composer considered by many to be the father of the string quartet. Excellent communication, high energy and extremely sensitive dynamics characterized every movement of the piece, and by the end of the final movement, the audience was laughing with delight at the musicians' high-spirited virtuosic acrobatics.

The second movement, despite its slower tempo and less athletic technicality, easily matched the rest of the piece for energy and passion; its lush lyricality could all too easily have fallen into drippy sentimentality, but thankfully it was played with the quiet drama and dignity that it deserved.

The very brief Menuet: Presto was the best-received theatrical movement, full of dynamic surprises and unpredictable pauses, it was an instant crowd-pleaser.

The only thing to sour the audience's enjoyment of the Haydn was a persistent tuning problem that afflicted the whole ensemble and was unfortunately most noticeable during several of the first violin's otherwise triumphant high notes.

Fortunately, this problem did not plague the remainder of the evening, which continued with Ali-Zadeh's inventive and vibrant 1998 piece Oasis.

The piece began with the recorded sound of water dripping, to which was gradually added the live sound of plucked strings as each instrument in turn joined the growing deluge. From there, the quartet turned to an arid depiction of the punishing desert heat, full of piercing and wavering notes that built to a furious peak, evoking the merciless onslaught of a sandstorm, with each instrument almost attacking the others, before returning at last to the sound of water droplets. Although both the program notes and the lecture beforehand stated that the piece would use other recorded sounds, including a soprano voice and the sound of many men's voices chanting, these sounds were either intentionally so subtle as to be subliminal, or they were unintentionally drowned out by the live performers. Either way, the piece did not seem to suffer from their inaudibility.

The Schumann was the last piece in the concert, during which the performers seemed, understandably, tired and less energetic than they had during the concert's first half. They rallied during the piece's second movement, the slow and graceful Andante, quasi Variazioni, exuding a feeling of slow awakening, of luxuriant warmth and unhurried contemplation. Unfortunately, by the last movement of the Schumann, the musicians were obviously flagging, and the punishing speed and virtuosity of the music led them to neglect the ends of phrases and sapped the energy and emotional connection that made the concert's first half sparkle.

The Lydian String Quartet delivered an engaging and challenging performance, especially given the demanding and unconventional program they had set for themselves. The quartet's next concert will be on Nov. 10, when they will play music from Argentina and Germany, as well as a piece by Brandeis' own Prof. David Rakowski (MUS), who has garnered a wealth of prestigious awards for his pieces, including an Academy Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.