MUSIC REVIEWS : VERMEER QUARTET AT WILSHIRE EBELL

If all had gone according to plan, the penultimate Music Cuild concert at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Wednesday would have offered a two piano quartets played by the Quartetto Beethoven di Roma.

But an unkind fate intervened: cellist Enzo Altobelli suddenly died of a heart attack last month, and the Italian group’s American tour was canceled. Yet, as the enthusiastic audience came to realize on Wednesday, a kind fate intervened as well: with short notice, the Vermeer Quartet agreed to appear.

This first-rate, Illinois-based ensemble--Smuel Ashkenasi and Pierre Menard, violins; Richard Young, viola, and Marc Johnson, cello--rewarded the appreciative crowd with top-notch playing. And, for half the program at least, with top-notch music as well.

Mozart’s “Hunt” Quartet, K. 485, and Berg’s Lyric Suite, which opened the proceedings, may seem odd companions. Yet, each, in starkly different ways, reflects the respective composers’ sure command of musical expression. And each offers its own stylistic challenge to the players.

The Vermeer seemed to relish this challenge, offering a suave, seamless if occasionally brisk reading of the Mozart, and an exuberant, riveting account of the Berg. The virtuosic demands of the latter proved barely a hindrance to the players, who, rather than call undue attention to their own ample technical expertise, chose to explore the subtle complexities, myriad coloristic possibilities and unending mood swings of the score.

Though the concluding Quartet in D minor, Opus 34, of Dvorak could not match the quality of music--or music-making--that came earlier, the choice proved a fascinating one: Not often heard, this transitional work reveals a composer just starting to get the hang of the string quartet medium. The scherzo (Alla Polka) was a particular delight. The Vermeer assayed the over-long work with verve, rarely allowing the music to wander too far afield (though Dvorak often seemed to lose track of what he was saying).