Another season of Border Concerts ended on Saturday evening with a virtuoso performance by the Rastrelli Cello Quartet at Backus Auditorium. Despite their Italian name, the ensemble hails from Russia and they delighted the audience with an eclectic show that covered a wide range of musical genres — classical, jazz, folk songs, and even ragtime.
Sergei Drabkine, a member of the group, wrote the arrangements, achieving wonderfully lush harmonies as the melody line was passed from player to player. Whether performing the music of Saint-Saens, Gershwin or Dave Brubeck, the Rastrelli Quartet achieved a sound that was pure velvet.
In Drabkine's own composition, “Paganissimo,” a tribute to Paganini, the cellos sounded like violins, while they became a ragtime piano in the group's rendition of “Twelfth Street Rag.”
Much of the music in Saturday's show was familiar to the audience, but listening to it played by four cellos made it an entirely new experience. Jazz standards like “Night Train,” “Take Five,” and “Stardust” were not written to be played on the cello, but the Rastrelli Quartet gave them a unique and enjoyable sound.
This last concert of the series probably surprised many members of the audience. A performance by a cello quartet usually conjures up images of formal classical music. To the delight of the Border Concert audience, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet dispelled such misconceptions, proving that in the hands of gifted musicians, the lowly cello can rise to great new musical heights.
The quartet was given a warm and appreciative standing ovation and concluded the concert with a splendid arrangement of Leroy Anderson's “Syncopated Clock.”
Memberships for the Border Concert Association will be available in early fall, with the first concert slated Sept. 28.
