MUSIC REVIEWS : New String Trio Played in Premiere

Not everyone was watching football Sunday afternoon. More than a handful of listeners came to the United Methodist Church of Garden Grove to hear the California Trio give the premiere of a new work composed by the church’s organist.

The work, Norberto Guinaldo’s String Trio, proved to be largely an academic exercise in three-part counterpoint.

In the outer movements, meandering, chromatic, melodic fragments are interwoven into a thick textural fabric that is frequently allowed to thin out. Even with the use of interesting syncopation, a constant and overworked eighth-note motion dominates the rhythmic terrain, and one longs for a change from the static, quartally based dissonances. Where, in the finale, contrasting episodes do appear, they seem little related to the material before and after.

The Buenos Aires-born composer showed more inventiveness in the slow middle movement, rich in textural and rhythmic contrast and evocative timbres. The performers--violinist Kimiyo Takeya, violist Jan Karlin and cellist Richard Treat--brought considerable feeling to the potent melodic lines.

Following intermission, pianist Albert Dominguez joined the others in Brahms’ Quartet in G minor, Opus 25. They brought energy and direction to this first of the composer’s piano quartets; long sweeping lines and a full-bodied sound characterized their reading.

The resonant church sanctuary gave the performance added vibrancy but obfuscated inner voices and fast passages. Thus, it was all but impossible to detect technical mishaps or, more important, interpretive subtleties.

Obviously, however, each performer played with soulful lyricism and a fine sense of ensemble.

Violinist, cellist and pianist opened the program with a relaxed, flowing account of Haydn’s Trio (originally Sonata) in the unusual key of E-flat minor.