CHAMBER MUSIC BENEFIT FOR PASADENA FEST

Most of us are resigned to the advent of fall, but the Old Pasadena Arts Society already is looking further ahead. On Sunday, this recently formed umbrella organization sponsored a benefit for a music festival scheduled next summer.

The leisurely affair, held in the newly restored Castle Green, included a formal dinner and performances by a fine youth orchestra and strolling mimes in clown costumes. But the centerpiece was a chamber music concert, with an imaginative program and playing that promises much for 1987.

Considering that one of the stated goals of the Old Pasadena Arts Society is to encourage emerging artists, it would have been nice to program the music of a living composer. The only real novelty was a woodwind trio by Villa-Lobos, but the program worked well as a unit and proved apt.

Most of the agenda featured violinist Endre Granat, at least as leader. Granat will be concertmaster for the projected Festival Orchestra. Akira Endo, who was present Sunday, has reportedly accepted the position of music director.

The performances were surprisingly tight and well balanced in the booming acoustic of the Castle Green ballroom. Beethoven’s Septet opened out of tune, but the players soon shook that off. Some of the movements sounded a little too heavy, a little too earnest, but the Adagio and the Variations sang with fluent sincerity.

In a similar way, the Suite from Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat” had abundant energy, drive and precision, but often lacked the requisite bite.

In fairness, the acoustics could make a kazoo band sound mellow. But oboist Thomas Boyd, clarinetist Emily Bernstein and bassoonist Carole McCallum proved that something more penetrating was possible with a delightfully pointed reading of Villa-Lobos’ highly Stravinskyan Trio. They could certainly make rich, round sounds when necessary, but also supplied the music with an appropriate edge.

A generous group of the Bartok Duos for Violins completed the program. Granat and Alexander Horvath treated them very solemnly, very elegantly, with slow tempos and refined phrasing.