In an era when lovers of classical music often lament the apparent shrinking interest in this form of music, one can only be impressed with the number of first-class string quartets before the public today.

Thanks to the energies of The Calgary Pro Musica Society, lovers of string quartet music in Calgary have, over the years, been able to hear many of the world's great string quartets in live performance. Now there is another to add to the list: the Pacifica Quartet.

Originally from California, the Pacifica Quartet has made the rounds of various quartet competitions and has worked as quartet-in-residence at various universities, all the while maintaining a significant touring schedule.

Still to be counted among the younger quartets, the Pacifica Quartet nevertheless plays with the refinement and finish present only in the very top professional quartets.

This refinement, sensitivity to tonal balance, tuning, and unity of artistic purpose was evident at the outset in the opening string quartet by Mendelssohn, Op. 44, No. 2, in E minor. The darker emotional hues of the music were eloquently realized, and everywhere there was a fine sense for the sinuous melodies that have made this composer's works so generally enjoyed.

The playful scherzo movement was grace itself and was followed by a lyrical slow movement performed with the greatest taste and tonal poise. This was really first-class Mendelssohn in every way, and I quickly snapped up their recording of the complete quartets from the table in the lobby before they were all gone.

The Pacifica Quartet's reputation has, however, largely been made in the arena of contemporary music. On this concert, the group featured the fine young saxophonist Erik Ronmark, who performed American composer Ellen Taafe Zwilich's Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet.

Zwilich's music is certainly modern, but not avant-garde in any sense. The Quintet proved an attractive, somewhat conservative work with strong musical ideas and is well written for the instruments.

One might have preferred the saxophonist's part to have been written to more obviously demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument, but it was the composer's manifest purpose to treat the saxophone as if it were just a member of the larger group.

As a performer, Ronmark was as fine a player as the other members of the quartet with an exceptionally focused and attractive tone. He blended well with the others, the total texture smooth and refined, the performance convincing and polished.

Beethoven's great String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, concluded the program. Here, the performance, while eloquent and satisfying in many ways, was not quite on the same level as the earlier part of the program. The best playing came in the framing movements, especially the last, where the music moves naturally.

The slow movement, one of Beethoven’s most beautiful, is also very hard to pull off in live performance. For my taste, the tempo was perhaps a trifle slow: it is an all-too-short distance between heavenly expansion of tempo and boredom. For all its many fine qualities, this performance was right to the edge.

The quartet's basic musical personality appears to be centered in geniality, unity of ensemble and refinement, qualities that often work well in the recording studio.

This is music that can certainly be performed in many ways, and the Pacifica Quartet's playing of Beethoven, tending toward smoothness and gentleness, made a persuasive case for this approach to Beethoven. It was clearly much enjoyed by the large audience.