Bruce Hodges visits Philadelphia’s Perelman Theater on 28 January 2026 for the recital of Haydn, Borodin and Brahms
Audiences at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society must be among the most noiseless in the country. That quietude welcomed the New York-based Terra Quartet in its first PCMS appearance – for a crowd even more impressive given the sub-freezing temperatures and piles of leftover snow outside. From the audience response to the group – including a cadre of enthusiastic middle-schoolers in the balcony – the Terra will be back.
Haydn’s D major Quartet op.71 no.2 made for an ebullient start, with ultra-clean cutoffs and silences ringing clean in the Perelman Theater acoustic. The speed and nimbleness in the closing Allegretto were impressive, like a pirouetting sprite.
Next came Borodin’s glowing Second Quartet, the group bringing welcome warmth in the irresistibly sweet Nocturne. The finale was a highlight, with violinists Harriet Langley and Amelia Dietrich in counterpoint with the unisons of violist Chih-Ta Chen and cellist Audrey Chen.
The well-trodden strains of Brahms’s First Quartet in C minor seemed to test the ensemble slightly more than the initial half, with occasional minor intonation issues. But for a group of self-described storytellers, their cohesiveness made up for it. Once again, in a golden age of ensembles, it was a pleasure to encounter yet another one with distinctive timbre and style.
BRUCE HODGES
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Read: Prizes awarded at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition
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