ARTS FESTIVALS: SOME BUDDING AND SOME IN BLOOM : NEW MUSIC L. A. FESTIVAL OPENING : ‘TASHI’--ELEGANT FOSS PREMIERE

A lot of descriptive terms come to mind when one indulges in free-association about modern music. Elegance isn’t usually at the top of the list.

In a day when experimentation often is its own reward, when Xeroxed arpeggios masquerade as compositional inspiration, when primitive vulgarity is confused with boldness, the introduction and exploration of mannerly substance seems particularly rewarding.

And so it seemed Sunday afternoon at the Wadsworth Theater, when the redoubtable Tashi ensemble--clarinet and strings--offered a concert that managed to project reasonably novel impulses with uncommon refinement, grace and polish.

The occasion was touted in some quarters as the opening event of an ambitious, sprawling, grab-bag series labeled the New Music Los Angeles Festival. One couldn’t tell that, however, from the program.

Tashi, not incidentally, had been engaged and announced as part of the regular UCLA chamber-music series long before anyone knew Los Angeles would host another official orgy of contemporary composition. Under the circumstances, one had to assume that the inclusion of this event was just a convenient afterthought.

At least it was a good convenient afterthought.

The climax of this vital, eminently civilized concert took the taut and clever form of “Tashi,” a quasi-neoclassical jeu d’esprit by Lukas Foss. The title of the composition, like that of the performing group, can be translated from the Tibetan as “good fortune.” Written just last year and receiving its Los Angeles premiere on this occasion, Foss’ piece offers a beguilingly subtle workout for bravura string quartet, brash clarinet and patriarchal pianist.

The ever-genial composer served as the patriarchal pianist als Gast . When it came to providing program annotation, however, he demurred. “This piece,” he wrote with archetypal obfuscatory evasion, “should speak for itself.”

Surprise. It does.

In four contrasting, perfectly balanced movements, it speaks in exquisite sonorities, subtle inflections and ever-changing transparent textures. It plays knowingly with fluctuating pulses, mildly spicy harmonies, jaunty affects. It dabbles in mercurial shifts of accent within an intimate dynamic scale.

“Tashi” ends with a gentle rondo that should seem gimmicky but somehow doesn’t. In the ultimate deceptive cadence, the music evaporates into silence while, for a few tense moments, the players continue to mime their busy, complex roles. This, of course, lends new meaning to the ancient concept of Augenmusik .

The program had opened with sophisticated folksiness, via the muted abrasive charms of Karel Husa’s “Evocations de Slovaquie” (1951). The festivities continued with the contrapuntal quivers, shimmers and sighs of Toru Takemitsu’s “A Way A Lone” (1981). This was complemented by the busy, snazzy, pretty, quirky, eminently subdued expressive gestures of Bruce Adolphe’s “Troika” (1981).

As a post-intermission prelude to the Foss, William Thomas McKinley’s Nocturnes (1983) provided intriguing and intricate role reversals for an initially sprightly clarinet and a temporarily somber cello.

The performers--invariably poised, virtuosic as individuals and impeccably attuned to each other as ensemble players--were Richard Stoltzman (clarinet), Ida Kavafian and Theodore Arm (violins), Steven Tenenbom (viola) and Fred Sherry (cello).

Now, if you must, send in the avant-gardists.