Sunday’s Ariel Quartet concert at Maverick consisted of two distinct parts, each contributing to the season-long commemoration of the centenary of the death of Gabriel Fauré. In another beautiful example of curation, the two segments presented Fauré as a protean figure who made the transition from the old world to the new, from the 19^th century to the 20^th, from traditional to modern music.

The Ariel Quartet opened with Fauré’s only string quartet, the Op. 121 in E Major , a work completed shortly before the composer’s death in 1924. Fleet, sure-footed, and affectingly the Ariels dispatched with real commitment. The viola led the way, opening the work (and the afternoon’s business) with a gracious and inviting solo phrase that immediately drew us in and set the stage for an interpretation in which clarity of the various textures proved winning and winsome. Lengthy pizzicato phrases peppered the impassioned sweep of the lush bowed melodies, creating space and forward momentum.

Extravagant body movement indicated commitment of the individual players and the ensemble as a whole. Initially, we found it slightly distracting, but became caught up in unchoreographed but lively motions. The foursome clearly supported the subtleties with intensity and solidity.

The acclaimed Chinese American composer Tan Dun’s music has received many awards, including both an Oscar and a Grammy for his score for Ang Lee’s epic martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tan wrote Eight Colors for string quartet in 1986, shortly after his arrival in New York. Highly atonal and arhythmical, the work consists of eight very short sections, and is described by the composer as having “a kind of ritual performance structure.” This is music that demands intense focus from its players, and the Ariels had it well in hand. With formidable concentration they carried off the many textures and gestures with panache.

After the first intermission the concert turned to tonality, melody, and firmly delineated rhythm with Robert Schumann’s String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op. 41 No. 3. The Ariels gave it a glorious rendering, which the Maverick audience received with cheers and the thunderous foot-stamping for which the hall and its patrons are known.

Then pianist Anthony De Mare treated us to a “postlude,” with a series of short pieces by Fauré and Aaron Copland. Fauré’s Nine Preludes, Op. 103 comprise pithy character sketches. These little gems variously evoked distinctive moods: snappy and jazzy, chorale-like and chordal, a barcarolle, a sunny afternoon spent in the light of A major. De Mare then moved forward a decade or two to the music of Aaron Copland, who after World War One set up housekeeping in Paris to study with the great Nadia Boulanger. The young Copland held the aged Fauré in the highest esteem, calling him a “neglected master.” Copland’s Three Moods and Four Piano Blues, along with a familiar movement from his suite of pieces from the 1940 film of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, provided a surprise and a delight, making a fitting postlude to the late summer afternoon.

Mary Fairchild lives in Rosendale, New York, after a long career as a host at WQXR, WNYC, WMHT (Schenectady), and WPLN (Nashville). For some 20 years Mary wrote program notes for Vladimir Feltsman’s PianoSummer at New Paltz. Before being called by Kalliope, the Muse of Eloquence and of Writing About Music, she worked as a financial editor and manager of investor relations in Wall Street.