BLUE HILL – The Pacifica Quartet and Canadian pianist Jane Coop warmed up the audience at the Blue Hill Congregational Church on Sunday with a romantic program of Chopin preludes, a Dvorak quartet and a giant of the literature, the Brahms F Minor Piano Quintet, Opus 34. This quintet of musicians played with passion and an intensity that clearly transported its listeners, leaving them wanting more.

Faculty pianist at the University of British Columbia, Coop performs and teaches during the summer at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill. In the depths of an especially cold Maine winter, she returned to perform with the Pacifica Quartet, which is now in residence at the University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They gave the second in a series of five winter concerts sponsored by the Blue Hill Concert Association. The group is celebrating its 25th season and aims to provide superb music with an intimate setting that satisfies both the personal and educational needs of the community.

The concert opened with Coop giving a warm interpretation of seven of Chopin’s 24 Preludes with a depth that matched her intention. Finely performed piano music – Chopin, at that – is a sure audience winner, especially with the veteran pianist’s careful attention to melody with perfect amounts of pedal. This was particularly notable in the exquisitely pearled playing of Prelude No. 10, which was stunningly light and fragrant. The only thing missing was a more forgiving piano which might have allowed a quicker tempo for the faster and fuller textured Preludes.

When the Pacifica Quartet came out to play Dvorak’s Quartet Opus 34 in D Minor, few realized what a treasure was in store. First, it is hard to imagine why this quartet is rarely heard as this serious work is filled with beautiful textures of evenly balanced string writing. Although the plaintive opening was tentative, Pacifica brought out lovely individual lines, stressing lyricism over a more aggressive approach one might hear from some American string quartets. With four equal partners, the ensemble conveyed Dvorak’s cornucopia of motives with satiny, blending quality of instrumental tone – a selling feature of this string ensemble. While all four players brought forth exceptional, graceful moments, violist Masumi Per Rostad’s fine playing and beautiful timbre offered added intrigue for the audience. Wanting slightly more intensity and strength from the principal violinist, the final movement concluded with a welcome rhythmic contrast.

Poetic moments continued in the second half of the program with an especially expansive opening to Brahms’ F Minor Piano Quintet, Opus 34 and a kick-start from pianist Coop. With depth of individual expression from each player, this movement as well as the third and fourth evoked heroicism and passion of the highest intensity while the inner Andante provided relief through warm, lingering moments. Toward the end, the players culminated Brahms’ work with a relinquishing of momentum, only to resurface with one grand, impassioned climax that took the chill out of this crisp Maine winter afternoon.

The Chiara String Quartet performs at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 29, as part of the Blue Hill Concert Association series. Tickets cost $15 per person. For more information, call 374-5372. Patricia Stowell is a Bangor-based pianist and piano teacher. She can be reached at stowell@adelphia.net.