MUSIC REVIEW : Da Camera Players in Sites Series

The Townleigh Room of Bullocks Wilshire in Los Angeles, its ecstatic Kandinsky-like mural (by Gjurana Stojano) unfortunately obscured by a reflective shell, was the scene of the next to last of this season’s Chamber Music in Historic Sites programs.

Participating was the Da Camera Players, an ensemble of shifting membership but always under the lively direction of pianist Delores Stevens. Her high-powered cohorts on Sunday evening were violinist Stuart Canin, cellist Ronald Leonard and hornist Richard Todd.

Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio as presented by Stevens, Canin and Leonard was for the most part a full-throttle affair, intent on the big picture rather than the telling detail. Canin’s commanding, rock-steady work anchored the ensemble, serving as well to offset brief patches of piano scrambling and cello misintonation. Withal, this was an “Archduke” of noble proportions distinguished by a particularly serene and cohesive slow movement.

The evening’s fireworks were provided by hornist Todd in Brahms’ E-flat Trio. The young Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra principal has achieved total mastery over his recalcitrant instrument, leaving him free to make music--lyrically, intensely, with a striking variety of tone and dynamic breadth.

These qualities, in combination with Stevens’ driving, strongly profiled pianism and Canin’s fluid strength produced an interpretation in which passion and linear clarity were eloquently combined.

The program opened with a spirited dash by Leonard and Stevens through Beethoven’s Variations on Mozart’s “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen.”