The afternoon began with works one might have difficulty identifying without prior knowledge. Mahler's Klavierquartett is a single movement of an early work, written when the composer was merely 16. Pianist Arlette Felberg said that she had heard it used recently in a film by Martin Scorsese. An engaging work of late Romanticism, it is pleasantly free of the well-known Mahlerisms of his later works.

The Largo from Chopin's Cello Sonata, Op. 65, followed. Again, there is little easily identifiable in this late work by the composer. Cellist David Schepps performed it admirably with a warm, appealing tone, accompanied by Arlette Felberg.

Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 95, "Serioso" must have been very odd-sounding to its first listeners. It is still a rather unusual piece. In many ways it can be seen to begin the series of highly experimental and idiosyncratic quartets which comprise Beethoven's last entrees in the genre. One can easily identify the composer here, if nothing else for its blatant unorthodoxy.

The fury of the opening motive contrasted with the sweet melody of the second theme. Oblique chromaticism filled the Allegretto ma non troppo with an almost alien serenity. The ensemble ended the work with a jaunty rendition of the coda, which, as cellist James Holland put it, may be seen as Beethoven thumbing his nose at us.

Barber's Adagio from his String Quartet, Op. 11, may well be the most recognizable piece of American classical music. It can be found in a variety of arrangements (tasteful and otherwise), but this movement for string quartet is its original form. The ensemble wove its long lines in an ever-increasing texture which eventually crystallized into a white-hot climax, thrilling yet fundamentally introspective in nature.

One could sit back and luxuriate in the opulent harmony of Schumann's Piano Quintet, especially the Allegro brillante. On paper the Scherzo would seem to be little more than scales, yet they become characteristically Schumann's scales with only a few master touches. The final Allegro too uses a classic form, the fugue, yet it is no slavish imitation of Bach. It is easily heard as Schumann's own version of a fugue.

Here was an exhilarant performance of perhaps the greatest of all the piano quintets, bringing the listening audience appreciably to its feet.