Kalamazoo Gazette, March 2010

"Fontana Chamber Arts presented the Enso String Quartet on Friday night in what can surely be deemed a significant and utterly compelling program."

"The program, called “Intimate Voices,” was indeed intimate in many respects. With the musicians seated in close proximity to the audience at the Wellspring Theater, the effect was as if one were in the midst of them, hearing every nuance and expressive gesture."

"The “String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56, ‘Voces Intimae’” (1908), by Jean Sibelius, was the centerpiece of the evening. Here, the quartet demonstrated an impeccable cohesiveness and an absolutely unified vision."

"Its brooding, emotional introspection was captured beautifully throughout, especially in the third movement, “Adagio di molto.” The second and final movements displayed a spectacular virtuosity from the entire ensemble."




MusicWeb International, September 2009

"The performances here by the Enso Quartet from America are quite staggeringly brilliant. I don’t think I have been so thrilled by the sound of a string quartet in a long time. These pieces could be a list of potential musical pot-holes with problems of intonation, ensemble, style, interpretation on every line. The Enso Quartet do not so much circumvent these problems as blaze their way through them as though they barely existed. It really is exceptionally fine quartet playing. The Juilliard Quartet were the premiere performers for the latter two quartets which probably explains why Ginastera felt there were no technical bounds—the Ensos are every bit their equal. "

"The Enso Quartet play as though all the hounds of hell were chasing them—playing that threatens the very limit of technical possibility and yet miraculously they storm through exultantly."

"I have enjoyed the music of Ginastera greatly before I heard this disc but I consider this a revelation—showing as it does a range and compositional technique of which, in my ignorance, I was previously unaware. I find it hard to believe that these magnificent pieces could be performed better than they are here by the Enso Quartet—seek out this group, they are clearly bound for greatness. If I could give this disc a standing ovation of one in my front room after listening to it I would!

String quartet playing of jaw-dropping prowess revealing masterpieces of the 20th century quartet literature. "




Houston Chronicle, November 2007

“The Enso set out the elements of its playing all evening: a warm ensemble sound, distinctive solo voices, a light aggressiveness that was clearly American in scope, and an easy-going communication that certainly won me over.”

“Ginastera's work was rhythmically intense, fueled by driving rhythms absorbed from his country's vibrant folk music, including that of the gauchos of the Argentine pampas. The exception to the seemingly nonstop energy came in the third movement, a haunting, moody segment based on a chord derived from the tuning of the guitar.

The Enso played the work with great élan and character, culminated by the rousing, joyful final movement.

That same sense of youthful conviction and communication made Ravel's familiar music equally enjoyable. As in the other two pieces, the Enso's playing wasn't so refined that it called attention to itself, but the vitality was infectious.”




San Antonio Express-News, October 2007

“The Enso's transparent, pure, weightless sound, its beautifully sustained lines and its moderation in matters of tempo and punctuation seemed altogether true to the Haydn aesthetic.”

“The Enso's precise teamwork showed off the fine craftsmanship of Alberto Ginastera's Quartet No. 1. Violinist Maureen Nelson delivered a poised account of the sinuous solo melody in the pensive slow movement. In general this was a spirited performance.”




The Charleston Gazette, October 2007

“The Enso played his (Haydn’s) Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, No. 1 smoothly, favoring a light touch over marked attacks while infusing the music with lots of creamy tone. The Menuet featured a sinuous pianissimo, which lent a courtly air. The slow movement was lyrical and intense with a very judicious use of vibrato. The final Presto — cue the rustic folk dancing — was fast and clean with accents that flitted like passing glances.”

“The Enso performance of his (Ginastera’s) Quartet No. 1 was a revelation. The violent shifting meters of the opening, an obvious borrowing from Argentine popular music, built an edge-of-the-seat drama that intensified as the piece unfolded. This rhythmic vitality was matched by vivid tonal colors ranging over the strings’ whole bag of tricks, harmonics, glissandos, playing next to the bridge, playing on the fingerboard and guitar-like strumming. “

“The cellist Richard Belcher’s extended solo in the third movement, later turned into a duet with the violist Melissa Reardon, brought a respite to the rhythmic drive without losing any emotional intensity. The finale had breakneck fiddling from Maureen Nelson and John Marcus.”

“The Enso found sweetness and amiability in the music (Dvorak Quartet in E flat, Op 51) and its shaping of the transitions in the “Dumka,” where the fast dance melts into the returning slow material, was pure elegance.”




The Charleston Daily Mail, October 2007

“The thing is, this quartet of immensely talented players doesn't need me to try to point out any of the usual terms I usually have to use to let you know how strongly I like or dislike a performance. Cutting to the chase, these kids are dynamite.”

“They also made me draw a small gasp with the first notes that they played in Franz Joseph Hayden's Quartet in E-Flat Major, as the beautiful sound just seemed to lift from their instruments with no mechanical hindrance.”

“Just allow the music to exist without bow sounds, instrument sounds, without anything more than the hearts of the players breathing the music. How simple it sounds and how rarely is it done. The Dvorak Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat was as light as a feather and as civil as this composer always seems to be. Enso played together. Stayed together. And later that evening I found them gathered at Soho's restaurant where they ate together.

I hope that their sponsor, the Charleston Chamber Music Society, will see fit to book them again for next season, so we might bask in their glory for another evening of music.”




The Washington Post, December 2006

“…the Enso players filled the Coolidge Auditorium with glorious sonorities, whatever they were playing.”

“Alberto Ginastera's String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26, received a thrillingly athletic performance, with chords that came in rough packs and solid waves, a quiet roller coaster of notes in the "Presto Magico" movement, aching solos from violist Melissa Reardon in rare moments of repose, and a perpetual-motion "Furioso" finale that never let up.”

“…the quartet played Antonin Dvorak's String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 51, with impeccable ardor…”

“…the "Romanze" movement swelled with lyrical feeling and limpid harmonies, and the robust stride of the finale was a tribute both to the Stradivarius instruments and to the people playing them.”




Houston Chronicle, October 2005

“In performing style, particularly the absence of vibrato, the quartet created a vinegary spareness right for the moment. Purcell's plain harmonies, simple, brisk counterpoint and brief form didn't demand complex listening.

Mozart's Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 added that complexity, while retaining a sense of musical discipline through its Classical style. Here the Enso's rhythmic élan emerged clearly. Interior elements, such as repeating notes and chords, had an edge-of-the-seat vitality few groups maintain throughout a performance. I particularly liked the sense of drama when the Enso members held single notes as long as they dared before sending the music on with careening but controlled energy. The musicians applied that sense of pace and rhythm to larger segments of music, as well. They unfailingly shaped and finished phrases and small sections with grace.”

“In Ravel's Quartet in F Major, the quartet impressively heightened the color, accents and special effects that make the piece such a striking and original work.”




Dave Brubeck, jazz legend

"You sound WONDERFUL!!!"

Town Topics/Princeton, August 2005

“…the Enso String Quartet demonstrated just how sublime a string quartet can be.”

“From the opening Allegro, the Enso Quartet's sound was very unified and not overly loud; this ensemble commands the attention of its audience by making them listen.”

“The concert took a Russian turn with Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in c minor. A quartet in which half the movements are in the tempo of Largo might seem ominous, but the members of Enso found musical variety and great diversity of sound within the five movements. Like many Shostakovich works, this piece tells a story, in this case inspired by the wartime remains of Dresden, which moved Shostakovich to dedicate the Quartet to "the victims of fascism and war," including himself. The opening cello theme, musically spelling Shostakovich's name and repeated fugally by the rest of the quartet, was played with an intensity and nuance. The quartet's playing of this particular section was without vibrato and full of pathos and tragedy. The players were not afraid of the silences and quiet within the piece, and the rather twisted Allegretto middle movement was full of musical effect.”

“…and the quartet once again showed its strength of mellifluous playing between paired instruments. In the second movement (of Beethoven Op 59#1), the interplay among the two violins and the viola could have been one instrument, their tone was so similar and the music flowed from instrument to instrument. This quartet excels at playing almost imperceptibly, thereby drawing the audience into their musical scope as they huddle together.”