Venue: Walter Hall, University of Toronto

Twentysomething Philippe Sly wields an impressive voice. Like the mythical John Henry’s hammer, it rings like silver in the upper register, the middle shines like gold, and his bass is firm as iron. From the second line of Henri Duparc’s “Chanson Triste” Sly interested with his way of rolling out phrases, englobing lines in cavernous spaces.

This concert by England’s Tippett Quartet, their debut in Canada, was about time. The Quartet came together in 1998, the year of the passing of their namesake, Sir Michael Tippett. Their first musical offering of the afternoon was Tippett’s Fifth and final String Quartet (1991), with Anna Smith filling in for Jeremy Isaac on second violin.

Three of the composers on the program of this 115th season of the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto are linked in a significant pattern of numbers. Felix Mendelssohn was born in 1809, the year Joseph Haydn died. Paul Schoenfield was born in 1947, one hundred years after Mendelssohn died. Haydn’s Piano Trio no.

Never hold back – this would serve well as a motto for the St. Lawrence String Quartet. The quartet has been concertizing for over two decades and has seen two member changes, but the intensity and bravery with which they approach music-making has not waned in the slightest.