It’s not uncommon for classical music to convey a portrait. In fact, impressionist composers such as Debussy and Ravel create scenes out of flooding melodies that all come together to form one landscape interpreted by the listener. Personally, that is my favorite style of classical music, and to listen to Momenta Quartet’s performance of Janacek was reminiscent of impressionism yet totally novel to me. The group prefaced the piece by explaining the composer’s intent of conveying a dialogue. Whether it was due to foreshadowing or the clarity and power of the composition itself, the intense interactions between each of the four parts was very clear. Rather than melting all together to form one piece, it seemed like each part was a sharply distinct melody that wove — sometimes sweetly and sometimes chaotically — into the other bold voices. While the separation of voices is a common theme in musical performance, the focus on this separation in the composition itself created a beautiful and sometimes even painful piece. Among many other aspects of the stunning performance, the contrast between communicating parts stood out to me the most. Also, the hosts gave us cookies. That was cool too.