MUSIC REVIEW : American String Quartet With Guests at Ebell

Southland audiences have enjoyed several visits from the New York-based American String Quartet since its first local performance--as the winning ensemble in the Coleman competition--in 1974. But listeners Wednesday got a special treat when two L.A. Philharmonic principals joined the quartet in Brahms’ Sextet in G to close the Music Guild’s current season in Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

It was a happy meeting, and a kind of reunion, since David Geber, the quartet’s cellist, is a former student of Ronald Leonard, who supplied the second cello part. Guest violist Heiichiro Ohyama, of course, sits just one stand away from Leonard in the Philharmonic. Even so, one was struck by the thoroughness with which all players melded--given probably limited rehearsal time--into a cohesive unit.

A key factor here was the strong leadership provided by first violinist Mitchell Stern. No less important, however, was the high level of musicianship exhibited by all six; one would be hard pressed to fault their intonation or rhythmic accuracy.

Brahms called his G-major Sextet “jovial,” and it does exude a sunny disposition much of the time. But sudden mood changes abound. Take the third movement, for instance, where a calm reflectiveness pervades the first two and the last of the variations, while the middle variations burn with choleric anger. Or look at the quirky scherzo, where the myriad dynamic changes are sudden and unpredictable. At every turn the six musicians played as one, maintaining perfect balances throughout.

The members of the quartet--violinists Stern and Laurie Carney, violist Daniel Avshalomov and cellist Geber--played two works heard on their November program at the Schoenberg Institute and reviewed in these pages: Mozart’s D-minor Quartet, K. 421, and Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet were given exciting, assertive readings.