An uneven program of modern works

A great reputation carries with it a big responsibility: Living up to your own best work. Cellist Joshua Roman, the 24-year-old principal cello of the Seattle Symphony and one of the region's brightest classical-music stars, has made such a fine impression in his previous outings at Town Hall that meeting his own standard is no easy task.

On Thursday, a chamber program in the "TownMusic" series (which Roman directs) didn't match the high level of Roman's earlier performances in the venue: a stellar recital last spring and a pair of three-concerto evenings with the Northwest Sinfonietta that drew big audiences and rave reviews. Another large crowd followed Roman and his guest artists to Town Hall for Thursday's "Quartet" program of 20th- and 21st-century works — but this time the rewards were a little more uneven.

The big classical work on the program was Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," a landmark composed when Messiaen was interned in a German prison camp during World War II. With its alternately agitated and serenely otherworldly movements, and its virtuoso writing for the four instruments, this quartet isn't an easy piece to pull off. Roman was joined here by pianist Grace Fong, violinist Amy Iwazumi and clarinetist Bill Kalinkos. While there were some lovely moments (notably Kalinkos' extended clarinet meditation), the quartet as a whole was less than impressive.

Roman, normally the most reliably excellent of cellists, didn't maintain the steady bow, the smooth returns and the sustained focus required in the work's many long-held tones and diminuendo passages; Iwazumi had the same problems.

Composer Dan Visconti, a Cleveland Institute of Music classmate of Roman's (and several of the other performers), was represented by the piece "Fractured Jams," an intermittently entertaining work that erupts in fits and starts and explosions of sound. Finally, there were selections from the British rock group Radiohead, with the players joined by drummer Doug Marrapodi, instrumentalist John Osebold and singer Sarah Rudinoff (belting in a voice that disappeared in its upper register). As the players took turns on various instruments, the performances began to sound self-indulgent and under-rehearsed.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com