The Lydian String Quartet's concert on Sunday night provided a perfect capstone to Brandeis' annual Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts. The concert was also the Lydian's 30th anniversary performance. The Quartet undertook a largely contemporary and unconventional program, a choice that stayed true to their reputation and was fitting for the festival's theme: "Art is All Around." All four pieces they performed were unique in musical construct and style, and the Lydians made each selection relatable, stimulating and beautiful. Lydian violinist Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS) commented in an e-mail interview with justArts, "Every day we sit together and try to come to some agreement on how to express ideas in sound, ... how to articulate them in a way that will connect and move our fellow humans. It is at times an excruciating process, but worth it-for the moments of deep joy that we share with each other and for those who listen with us."

Besides Eissenberg, the Lydian String Quartet is comprised of Prof. Daniel Stepner (MUS) on violin, Prof. Mary Ruth Ray (MUS) on viola and Prof. Joshua Gordon (MUS) on cello, with guest pianist Geoffrey Burleson.

Eissenberg wrote, "We wanted a special program as it is part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, ... a diverse program with a sense of exploration."

The Lydians opened with Leonard Bernstein's "Agathon" from Serenade after Plato's "Symposium." Bernstein was instrumental in creating the first Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis, and he composed the Serenade during his time here as a professor in the Music department. It is a work based on Plato's Symposium, in which the various characters discuss different facets of love at a party.

The piece was written as a violin concerto, and Stepner transcribed it for a string quartet. It lends itself to this more intimate presentation, as each instrument's voice plays a clear role in telling part of the narrative. The varied textures, rhythms and harmonies combined to create a dramatic exploration of the concept of love. Despite the piece's complexity, each musical component served specifically to tell a story and convey these deep emotions. With their precise technique and elegant control, the Lydians seamlessly moved from moments of mounting tension to tranquil beauty. Like love itself, each aspect of this exploration was vital and compelling.

Vincent Persichetti's "Quintet for Piano and Strings, Op. 66" concluded the first half. Though written as a single movement, the piece comprises four sections, each like its own movement. When the strings played alone, they were often at odds with each other through playful, deliberate staccato notes, or with a darker, more ghostly sound. When the piano joined in, the strings would suddenly coalesce, and the quartet's unity and combined strength helped create a formidable opponent for the piano's distinct and highly rhythmic themes. Each bout of tension built upon the last until a final moment of turmoil, punctuated by the cello's incisive gestures, gradually dissolved into silence.

After the Persichetti piece, Mohammed Fairouz's "Lamentation and Satire," completed in 2008, was performed. Fairouz attended the concert to hear his piece. The lamentation was somber, delicate and contemplative, and the satire that followed was fiercer and more violent. Fairouz created a raw sound, exploring each instrument's capacity to produce a wide range of tones and timbres. The Lydians approached each part, from delicate vibrato to a distinctly Eastern-sounding sawing noise, with an interest and wonder that allowed the audience to appreciate the piece in full. Once the final low cello note dissipated, Gordon's arms fell from his cello in a dramatic sigh-like gesture, and a silence lingered as the piece's final sound.

Claude Debussy's "String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10" provided harmonious relief to the audience after the previous piece's more austere quality. Debussy was a French Impressionist composer whose rich harmonies and elegant lyricism permeate every measure of the performance. Eissenberg described it as "a piece with a sensuous and soulful center that ultimately bursts into flame in the last movement." If the first three pieces showcased the power of the individual instrument's voice, this piece was a celebration of the sheer beauty instruments create in the compilation. The piece's character varied from vigorous and animated to expressive and full of yearning. It culminated, four movements later, in a crisp, succinct two-note cadence that brought the piece to a powerful close. The Lydians maintained a full, resonant sound throughout.

The quartet played with vigor, tending as carefully to each note as to each larger narrative. In this concluding event of the Festival of the Creative Arts, the Lydians used great care and proficiency to create beauty in each of these unconventional works. In keeping with the theme of the festival, they truly explored artistic possibilities in their own medium of expression, creating provocative, inspiring and simply beautiful art.