FRENCH STRING TRIO AT EBELL

There was every reason to expect unhackneyed programming at the Music Guild concert in the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Wednesday. Works for flute and string trio, after all, are limited and rarely heard.

Happily, the performance by the French String Trio and countryman Michel Debost matched the repertory in freshness.

Since the Trio--violinist Gerard Jarry, violist Serge Collot and cellist Michel Trounus--has been together more than 25 years, the players obviously know each other well. Onstage glances and conversations were almost nonexistent. The group projects an ease of ensemble and a smooth-as-silk sound that, it seems, can only come from years of partnership.

That silky fabric was put on display in the only string piece of the program, Beethoven’s Opus 9, No. 1. The three players projected the charm and wit of the quicker movements, while taking time to explore the surprising depth (considering the composer’s youth) of the extended slow movement.

The rest of the concert found Debost, himself a veteran of the concert stage, joining in the proceedings. Here, again, age and experience emerged as decided advantages. Though he posesses a rich, full tone, devoid of breathiness, Debost scaled down his playing for the sake of the ensemble.

The repertory seldom allowed the French flutist to dominate, though the Quartet in C by Ignatz Pleyel gave little for the strings to do but oom-pah along. The second half of the program placed Reger’s quirky little Serenade for violin, viola and flute against Mozart’s sublime D-major Quartet. A daring--and successful--choice.

In each piece, the players projected every nuance and dynamic shading to near perfection. They moved easily from the wit of the Reger (the first movement’s ending brought chuckles from the audience) to the sublime probings of Mozart.

The encore was Mozart’s Rondo in A.