REVIEW: Quartetto Gelato

      Near the end of Sunday's performance, Claudio Vena, a member of the Quartetto Gelato chamber orchestra, announced that the quartet would be performing tonight in Cedar City, Utah.
      For the Las Vegans who missed the group's delightful performance at Ham Hall, it might be worth the trip.
      The talented but unassuming musicians showed versatility, whimsy, self-deprecating humor and enormous skill during their weekend show here. This was despite the fact that the crowd was, to be polite, quite modest.
      Lesser performers might have looked at the house and decided to take the afternoon off, at least figuratively. After all, this young quartet is used to playing sold-out shows. It has done so in venues across the country from New York to Los Angeles.
      But here they had to compete with Tiger Woods, sunshine and Sunday inertia.
      Nonetheless, those who attended were rewarded with two hours of chamber music perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon.
      Quartetto Gelato, from Canada, made its U.S. debut in 1994 and provided a varied program of classics, traditional tunes and melodies indigenous to assorted European countries.
      Each member does at least double duty. Cynthia Steljes plays oboe and English horn; Vena plays viola and accordion and arranges many of the group's numbers; George Meanwell plays cello, guitar and mandolin; and Peter De Sotto plays violin and mandolin and is the group's singer. He is such a strong tenor that it is at first surprising -- has another performer walked onto stage?
      The group opened Sunday's concert with Lazzarro's "Chitarra Romana" and moved to a stirring "Espana Capriciosso," composed and arranged by Vena.
      Perhaps they had not noticed the minimal crowd. They had -- but they were working with it. "I'm pretty sure the house was sold out," Vena said before introducing the third number. "But everyone must have lost their tickets gambling."
      Each member took turns introducing numbers, all demonstrating casual charm. "I'm really dependent upon good reeds," Steljes said, "which means my friends with rattan furniture don't invite me over much anymore."
      Later, she introduced Pasculli's Gran Concerto su Temi dall'Opera, inspired by Verdi's "I Vespri Siciliana." She described it as a piece that "takes beautiful songs and makes them virtually unplayable, since there are long passages to be played without breathing."
      She accomplishes this seemingly impossible feat through "circular breathing" -- blowing out of the oboe and breathing in simultaneously.
      Though it sounds difficult, she made it seem easy, offering a lovely, rich selection. Vena's viola was a strong complement.
      The performers sometimes changed instruments mid-selection, without aplomb or pause.
      Vena repeatedly showed that an accordion can be a sophisticated music-maker -- though even he made fun of it.
      He had heard that people who played instruments were more popular, he explained, "so I played the accordion. Actually, it's very cutting edge -- it's going in and out of popularity all the time."
      His short, poignant "Tango Solitario" showcased the accordion as a moody, wistful instrument.
      De Sotto introduced "Mattinata," featuring his rich tenor voice, by explaining, "Italians only sing about two things ... love or the love of life." In this song, about morning, he seemed to touch upon both.
      Meanwell was featured in Chopin's Etude Op. 25, No. 7, which he also arranged and introduced. "A cellist provides the foundation of the harmony," he said, "which means I never get the tune."
      This piece was the exception to that rule, demonstrating his skill in a piece that was low key but still engaging.
      The group offered a rollicking "Hungaria," as appropriate for a rowdy Budapest bar as it was for the concert hall, and concluded with a wistful "Danny Boy" featuring De Sotto.
      Perhaps they could not compete with a record-setting Masters golf tournament, an idyllic spring afternoon or simple April laziness. But Quartetto Gelato provided far more than a typical chamber orchestra concert in terms of skill and charm.
      Those who did attend were more than amply rewarded. Those who did not -- well, there's always Cedar City tonight.