Of all of the figures in classical music, the one whose name is mispronounced most often has to be the composer Alberto Ginastera. For some reason, everyone says “Hin”- astera, as if the Argentinian name began with a “j.” Actually, the composer himself was very clear on this point: The family name is “Geena”-stera.

At least his music is still performed correctly on occasion, as it was when the Enso String Quartet performed on Sunday at the Walter Reade Theater. The concert offered an interesting juxtaposition: After two fantasias of Henry Purcell, offered as curtain-raisers, the ensemble – Maureen Nelson and John Marcus, violins; Robert Brophy, viola; and Richard Belcher, cello – dug in furiously to the String Quartet No. 1, written in 1948, when Ginastera was still the young wild bull of the Pampas.

These committed musicians took the movement’s title – Allegro violento ed agitato – quite literally, their tempos uncompromising and their intensity level high. This is complex music, inspired by atavistic pre-Columbian rhythms, or at least a modern South American’s fantasy of which rhythms might have accompanied a spirited football match or a human sacrifice. Considering how many notes per second the members of the quartet had to produce, their technical skill was admirable.

Do you know about the controversy surrounding Mahler’s Symphony No. 6? There is a choice of movement order, and it is clear from this quartet that Ginastera would have come down squarely on the side of those conductors who follow the hard-driving first movement with the even more electric Scherzo rather than the gentle Andante. Ginastera employs a similarly high-voltage maneuver in his own Vivacissimo: The action is now accelerated and transformed to the spine-tingling arena of the pizzicato, reminding of and even quoting directly from Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F.

The Enso crew responded in kind. Again these young players proved up to the task, with only an occasional muff in coordination. Their errors were only those caused by enthusi asm, and their energy and spirit permeated this entire performance.

Their interpretation of the Calmo e poetico was the least satisfying of the whole, primarily because the group has a rather pedestrian overall sound. They do not sit like every other string quartet on the planet, instead placing the cello on the outside stage left. In orchestral platform positioning, this internalizing of the viola allows its sound to intermix more fluidly, since its soundboard faces the violins rather than the back wall; orchestras who insist on placing their violas on the outside (the New York Philharmonic is a prime example) run the risk of their inaudibility, even in key passages. But for a quartet, the jury is still out.

Ms. Nelson, truth be told, has a thin tone, especially for a first violinist, and therefore her championing of the melodic line was a bit wan. All of these aspirants are newly out of graduate school and need time to grow into their assignments, but a great deal of lyricism is sacrificed to their inexperience.The Allegramente rustico, with another set of quotations from the Ravel, perked up the piece once again.These people definitely do fast better than slow.

And then, lo and behold, the final work on the program was that very Ravel essay. What quartet in the repertoire is more beautiful than the Ravel? It depends for this pulchritude on a thousand subtle changes of color.

Unfortunately, the Enso players simply do not own the palette necessary for a gouache such as this. Interpretively, the performance was solid, technically less so. The second movement, which relies very heavily on pizzicato, began to unravel in several spots. Odd, as the same group that showed such vigor in the plucked sections of the prior piece could not sustain the rhythm in this one.

Ravel’s Tres lent movement, which is so unbelievably gorgeous in the right hands, was this time merely soporific. In fact, there were nodding heads and developing conversations all around me by its conclusion. Although things picked up in the Vif et agite, the game was lost by then.

I have to question the quartet’s decision to present such a delicate piece of tone painting at this stage in their career. It was a good effort, but not a good choice, and certainly not for their big Lincoln Center recital.