Cypress String Quartet

Disturbances don’t phase Cypress Quartet in Montevallo, Ala., concert

Alabama Live
By Michael Huebner -- The Birmingham News

Four stars out of five

CYPRESS STRING QUARTET

Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violinists; Ethan Filner, violist; Jennifer Kloetzel, cellist.

Tuesday, LeBaron Recital Hall, University of Montevallo

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Classical musicians are a focused bunch.

So absorbed were members of the Cypress String Quartet in Mozart's String Quartet in D major, K. 575, on Tuesday, they never missed a beat despite the carryings-on of a rambunctious youngster in the back of the hall.

A piercing glance from second violinist Tom Stone in the direction of the offending toddler did nothing to quell the disturbances, so they continued for much of Dvorak's "Cypresses" (the San Francisco-based quartet's namesake). The musicians remained unruffled.

But if audience members at University of Montevallo's LeBaron Recital Hall were half as engaged as the quartet, they would have noticed the San Francisco-based ensemble's unanimity, bold expressive qualities and big sound, produced on some very fine instruments.