Delray SQ vividly brings Herrmann, Ravel to opener The Delray...is very much in its element, with sharply edged emotional contours and a lush armory of melody and harmony. The group played it very well, clearly enjoying it and reveling in its brilliant coloring. The beautiful first movement was by turns tender and mysterious, then explosive at the climax, and well-navigated by each of the players. The slow third movement, on the other hand, was excellently done... the quartet walked the highly perfumed world of Ravel’s exotic garden with surpassing sensitivity and lovely solo playing in particular from Cotik and Fleischman. The quartet brought huge and unified energy to the finale, with its odd time signature handled with expert ensemble, and the contrasting music in the middle, which recalls the atmosphere of the neoclassical opening of the work, played with a feeling of distant, pale memory that contrasted nicely with the rest of the movement. Greg Stepanich