MUSIC BOX

It is customary to begin a review of a Budapest Quartet concert by launching into effusive praise of what has rightly been called the greatest string quartet of the twentieth century. A listener can only marvel at the Quartet's richness and clear, full tones, to say nothing of its amazing technical proficiency in all the intricacies of the string quartet.

Perhaps it was the infatuation with the sound of its own skill, however, that inspired the Budapest Quartet to provide such an unfortunate program as that of Friday night, as compared to the far superior program the night before.

At Jordan Hall they opened the evening with Mendelssohn's Quartet in E-flat Major, which even the most fervent Romanticist must realize is among fervent Romanticist must realize is among Mendelssohn's lesser works. Written at an early age, (Opus 12), it could only have been picked of the Quartet because of its opportunities for technical virtuosity. In deed, Cellist Mischa Schneider, perhaps the most impressive of he four, makes the most of his opportunity. The second movement, a Canzonetta, provides him with a superlative vehicle for pizzicato and upper register proficiency. Violist Boris Kroyt gets his chance to highlight the otherwise lifeless Brahms B-flat Quartet.

In Mozart's Quartet in F major (K590), the Quartet made a happy choice: a piece of music structurally unconventional, and, perhaps for that reason, seldom heard. This quartet, one of Mozart's last works, contains a surprising amount of agitation, considering its signature and the usual calm of Mozart's quartets.

Another surprising feature of this last quartet is that it contains no slow movements. Perhaps, however, the Budapest's slow playing of the allegretto second movement was justified, and provided a greater variety than if it has been played as originally indicated.

It is unfortunate that such a chamber music group as the Budapest Quartet, in its only Boston appearance of the season, should, when restricted to three quartets, play those of Brahms and Mendelssohn as showpieces, rather than the far superior works of Haydn and Beethoven. Even with such a deficient program, however, the beauty of the group's tone and their remarkably close collaboration makes this concert one of the greatest pleasures of any musical season. fps