Pacifica Quartet Made Listening a Joy August 1, 2000 By Zachary Lewis Mount Gretna has already been host to a number of excellent violinists so far this season. Another quite unique one may now be added to the list. Simin Ganatra, along with her fellow members of the Pacifica Quartet, brought bountiful passion and almost aggressive warmth to Sunday night's program of Mendelssohn, Piazzolla and Beethoven. It was an evening highly communicative and full of praiseworthy musical virtues. The judges at the 1998 Naumburg competition must have heard something quite similar. Take, for example, the spacious main theme of Beethoven's F Major Quartet, Op. 59 No. 1. Pacifica treated it with just the right measure of vigor and forward momentum, a tactic that allowed the idea to breath fully and clearly.In the third movement Adagio, Ganatra applied an unusually rich, singing tone all carried over an exquisitely crafted arch. The others, each commendable, supported her throughout with an unbuttoned, supple pulse that lent the movement a special dimension of weightlessness. None of this would have worked nearly as well as it did without careful rehearsal or musicians as innately in tune with one another as those at Mount Gretna Sunday night. In this work and elsewhere, there was a palpable sense of how solidly each part was prepared before any definite ensemble work began. Collective phrasing balanced with sharply articulate individuality were just some of the signs. The spirit of Mendelssohn, too, figured nicely into Pacifica's combination of strengths. Under their bows, the A minor Quartet, Op. 13 (nicknamed "Ist es Wahr?" - "Is it True?") revealed its deeply spiritual inner gears and connective tissue. The first movement, in which the work's plaintive motif is initially stated, was enveloped with propulsive energy and probing nuance. Glasslike delicacy and nimble gestures made for a charming Intermezzo. There are only a few moments in the string quartet repertorie that speak so genuinely and unobtrusively to basic human emotion as the slow movement of this work. Pacifica seemed aware of this, and explored its corners with captivating surety of expression. This surety carried over into the altogether different "Tango for Four" by the Argentinean Astor Piazzolla. Though in a brief address to the audience Lockwood mentioned the difficulty with some of the work's unusual requirements, the quartet approached the piece with zest and drive comparable to anything else in the concert. The work bustles with scratchy, tingly effects. So many notes, hang indistinctly and blur rapidly into one another from one glissando to the next. Sultry in character, Piazzolla's beloved tango added an effective, spicy contrast. All told, it was one of those pleasant instances in which a music critic is better off letting go of his usual function: realizing it is wise for him to stop scrambling for words to describe what he has just heard. It was simply a joy to listen to. Here's hoping for a return visit by Pacifica next season.