What in the world? The Tetzlaff Quartet?!

The Tetzlaff Quartet (not to worry, I never heard of them either) performed at the Library of Congress last night, and the wonderful wife and I had seats about 12 feet from the cellist. Just about now, 10 p.m Saturday, they should be finishing up their Carnegie Hall performance of the same program. Lucky people at Carnegie Hall -- and lucky people at the LoC last night!

The program began with the second of Mozart's Haydn Quartets, if that means anything to you. You can't go wrong with Mozart, right? The wonderful wife certainly says "Right!" But I thought it was long, repetitive, uninteresting, and almost annoying. Who'd'a thunk that could be possible with Mozart?

It wasn't an auspicious beginning, because the other pieces were by Alban Berg (Schonberg's disciple, 12-tone all the way, and notable -- according to the program notes -- mainly because the piece was dedicated to his mistress of 10 years) and Jan Sibelius. Despite the fact that 12-tone music is screechy, scratchy stuff that sets my nerves on edge and despite the fact that Sibelius's orchestral music drives me up a wall, I was curious to hear both pieces -- though my expectations were not high.

In the event, both pieces were fabulous. Berg's "Lyric Suite" really was lyric at times. More important, it was fascinating from beginning to end. I know I wouldn't be able to listen to it on CD for more than a couple minutes, but it was wonderful to sit there watching these people make those weird and wonderful sounds -- the first violin swaying and rocking and swooping, the violist literally (that's literally!) bouncing out of her chair, the cellist looking like a girl just out of high school who was working like the devil (successfully!) to keep up with the grown-ups, and the second violin sitting still and calm through it all, smiling often, as if this remarkably difficult piece was just a stroll in the park.

Sibelius ("Voces Intimae") was everything Berg was not: warm, lush, melodic, and, at the end, frenetic. I'll still switch the radio station -- quick -- if I ever hear "Finlandia" announced, but from now on I'll perk my ears up if someone mentions Sibelius and chamber music in the same sentence.