Grace Belies Youth of Pacifica Quartet

There’s no point in predicting future greatness for the young Pacifica String Quartet. That future is already here, as demonstrated by the three-part program sponsored by the Music Guild afternoon at the University Synagogue in Brentwood.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1996, the group is graced with depth and unanimity that are all the more remarkable given that two of its members--violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson and violist Masumi Per Rostad--joined original members violinist Simin Ganatra and cellist Brandon Vamos only within the last two years.

Any of the three works, Haydn’s Quartet in F, Opus 77, No. 2; Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A, Opus 13; and Beethoven’s first “Rasumovsky” quartet (Opus 59, No. 1) could provide abundant evidence of the ensemble’s subtlety, refinement and engagement. But Mendelssohn’s opus--composed, according to the program notes, when he was 18 and in the flush of young love--turned out to be particularly special.

Inundated with pop culture images of raging hormones, we can easily overlook the idealistic aspect of first (and not so first) love. The Pacifica captured Mendelssohn’s embodiment of that awesome, urgent response to the beloved, from ardor to calm to emotional quickening to jealously and turbulence. In their hands, the work became as complex and gripping as a 19th century novel.

The quartet members haven’t forgotten their adolescence, and we’re all the richer for that.