The Washington Post
Monday, April 11, 2005; Page C07
by Joe Banno

Borromeo String Quartet: A Thrill a Measure

"Safe" is a word that probably has never entered the Borromeo String Quartet's vocabulary. The ensemble's stylistically varied program at Dumbarton on Saturday -- Haydn's Quartet in E-flat, Op. 64, No. 6, Bartok's Quartet No. 3, and Dvorak's Quartet in G, Op. 106 -- was unified by the no-holds-barred excitement it brought to everything it played.

Some ensembles bring a tea-table politesse to Haydn; the Borromeo made the composer sound like a life-loving creature of hearty appetites and generous wit. Bartok's score, for all its nocturnal weirdness and raw nerve endings, possessed an earthiness and compulsive drive that were far removed from modernist objectivity. And the Dvorak, while lacking nothing in surging romanticism here, also tumbled along with the rollicking spirit of the Haydn and the surprise-a-minute quirkiness of the Bartok.

What seemed to count most for these musicians were strong characterization, compelling narrative flow and a kaleidoscopic range of timbral color. Yet nothing was applied from outside the music: Every teasing slide in the Dvorak or eerie clutch of upper-string harmonics in the Bartok was true to the flavor and demands of the score, only enlivened by emotionally invested phrasing and stoked with tremendous reserves of energy.

The quartet sounded terrific, too. No matter how wild the ride, the ensemble's tone was handsome, rhythmic accents were sharp as tacks, inner voices could be clearly heard, and the sense of spontaneous creation was palpable.

A Celtic Christmas
By Joseph McLellan

After 18 years, the Dumbarton Concerts' "Celtic Christmas" has become a Washington holiday tradition as established and beloved as Handel's "Messiah" and Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker." The uniquely popular event has five performances in a series that usually presents only one per program. Saturday, before a capacity audience in Georgetown's Dumbarton United Methodist Church, the five members of the Barnes & Hampton Celtic Consort fully justified that popularity.

Linn Barnes, who co-founded the series and plays lute, guitar and Uillean pipes, likes to talk to the audience between numbers, strengthening bonds between players and spectators. On Saturday, while he was going through the rather complicated process of preparing the Uillean pipes, he gave a little talk on this Irish instrument, operated not by breath but by an elbow-activated bellows, lighter and more lyrical than the Scottish bagpipes, which were originally used on the battlefield. Then he gave a couple of delightful performances (the Irish tunes "The Parting Glass" and "The Joy of My Life") that perfectly illustrated the instrument's special qualities.

Allison Hampton gave essential ensemble work and an occasional solo on the Irish harp. Drum virtuoso Steve Bloom punctuated the music (particularly the dance numbers) with the deep, throbbing rhythms of the bodhran, and Joseph Cunliffe frequently carried the melody on a variety of flutes. Between musical numbers, Robert Aubry Davis (who also played guitar) gave readings of seasonal material -- notably a very early Christmas hymn by the Roman poet Prudentius and a segment of Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales" that called the author's voice and style vividly to mind.