Music Reviews : Philharmonic Chamber Group at Gindi Auditorium

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society, lacking guests or the presence of music director Andre Previn, brought forward relatively unfamiliar talents from within the orchestra to join some regulars Monday evening.

The odd program in Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism matched highly compatible string works by Dohnanyi and Dvorak with an oboe solo by Benjamin Britten. The Philharmonists’ performances, always mechanically assured, displayed an unusually high level of extroverted enthusiasm and ensemble polish.

Dvorak’s “American” Quartet in F, the most familiar work on the agenda, received the most elevated playing. Violinists Lawrence Sonderling and Guido Lamell, violist John Hayhurst and cellist Stephen Custer introduced glowing, personalized solos within a smoothly integrated ensemble framework. The ad hoc nature of the group was evident at times, but seldom has the freshness and sheer joy of the piece been communicated with such controlled vigor and immediacy.

Dohnanyi’s Serenade in C received little less than Dvorak did in exuberance and individual effort, though ensemble was often coarser. Violinist Mark Baranov, violist D.A. Hikawa and cellist Barry Gold produced big tone and biting bravura in a spirited reading.

The string players seemed to have found the liveliest spot on the Gindi stage. From halfway back on the far audience left, at least, their very large sound seemed to emanate from the ceiling at times, in a quirky acoustic effect.

Oboist David Weiss opened the program in lonely glory, playing Britten’s “Six Metamorphoses After Ovid.” He dispatched these pastoral miniatures with vibrant ease--elegant, agile and affectingly simple, as needed.