“Great Music in a Great Space.” This is how the Cathedral Music Society describes its concert series at Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral, downtown. Finally, truth in advertising.

        Playing behind Anton Wendling's 35-foot golden mosaic, I Musici, a 12-piece chamber ensemble from Rome, performed energetic — if not electrifying — versions of popular chamber works to an near-capacity audience.

        I Musici formed 50 years ago in Rome. Within a few years, the ensemble was playing all across Europe. Today, some original players are still in the group, which enjoys platinum recording status.

        If you're looking for a job as a conductor you won't get one with I Musici. What makes the ensemble unusual is that they play without a conductor and always have, hence the name I Musici. (It means “The Musicians” in 17th-century Italian). This makes their musical interpretations truly spontaneous.

        The ensemble's sense of rhythm, dynamics and phrasing were impeccable. I Musici has the ability to sound as big as a full-sized orchestra without sacrificing the subtleties of a chamber orchestra.

        The bass in Johann Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue in D, the concert's opener, set a patient pace, and the violin's interwoven melody was played with clarity. The gigue is often left out of repertoires, and it was refreshing to hear this energetic movement Thursday night.

        The ensemble clearly moved the audience in Bela Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances, with its haunting renditions of the several, short movements that conjure up the sparse, Tranyslvanian countryside.

        Concert mistress Mariana Sirbu, playing on a Stradivarius made in 1702, and violinist Antonio Perez were featured in the George Frideric Handel-Johan Halvorsen work, Passacaglia. Extremely challenging for the two violinists because the composition includes an ever-increasing tempo, erratic rhythms, multiple-stops (playing several strings at one time), and col legno passages (playing on the string with the wooden part of the bow), the two mastered the work with ease.

        I Musici closed the concert with Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Every movement was approached with such “in the moment” gusto, that the familiar — especially the flourishing movements in Winter — seemed new and unknown.

        Finishing to a standing ovation, they played an encore to yet another standing ovation.

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