As part of their “Music at the J” concert series, the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine welcomed the Portland String Quartet (PSQ) for a varied program that leaped centuries and styles in bringing much good music to an otherwise quiet February afternoon.

The Allance’s somewhat nondescript auditorium on outer Congress Street in Portland was warmed considerably by a shaft of late afternoon sunlight that made its way through large windows at one corner of the hall and even more so by a large turnout and the gracious hospitality of Alliance members.

Titled “PSQ III” to mark the quartet’s third concert of the season, the program featured works by an interesting variety of composers, past and present. The major work presented was Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 which is known as the first of the “Razumovsky” quartets in honor of the Russian ambassador to Vienna who commissioned them.

PSQ’s first violinist Dean Stein noted by way of introduction that the Razumovsky works are considered to herald Beethoven’s middle period where he broke away, to a considerable extent, from the influence of Haydn and Mozart. Indeed, though Beethoven was never a slouch at any point in his career, the PSQ brought out the almost overflowing melodicism and wealth of musical ideas within this 40-minute work.

Cellist Kelly Knox, a guest artist, figured prominently in the early going but each of the PSQ regulars, including Stein, second violinist Callie Brennan, and violist Brianna Fischler, contributed to a rendition that more than brought out a spirit of uplift within the extraordinary piece. By the time the famous Russian theme emerged from within the last movement, the overall success of the performance was already confirmed.

The afternoon began with a performance of the String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 1 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745- 1799).

Bologne was a man of many talents who had to struggle with the limitations placed on him by society’s reaction to his biracial identity. Getting a long overdue reassessment in recent times, his music is now recognized for displaying unique qualities.

The short, two-movement Bologne work performed on Sunday afternoon crossed period formal elements with a measured tastefulness and charm that suggested a pleasant, light-hearted spirit within the composer’s approach.

More contemporary compositional concepts were evinced in a performance of “Break Away,” a brief five-movement work by Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981) which was given an agreeably casual, if slightly jumbled, spoken introduction by Fischler.

Stretching from Anton Webern-inspired modernist austerity to called-for improvised elaborations from the PSQ members, the piece suggested a composer with a lot to say about communities of creation, though doing so here in relatively brief bursts of sound. Facial expressions, as well as the playing, indicated that the PSQ had fun with the piece.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

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