Music Reviews : Viklarbo Ensemble Performs at MONA

The Museum of Neon Art (MONA) near Little Tokyo is a wacky, fascinating, fun arena of light creations. But it is not the ideal place to give a concert.

Wednesday night, three members of the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble--Maria Newman, violin/viola; Wendy Prober, piano, and Jeff Elmassian, clarinet--presented the second concert of a promised five-event series at MONA. Originally entitled “Music of the Americas,” the program had to be altered a bit due to the absence of the ensemble’s cellist, Jeffrey Watson.

Along with the program changes, dry acoustics and technical difficulties brought about an uncomfortable situation that perhaps contributed to the nervous, stiff performances. Among the difficulties, the flickering, humming neon tubes scattered throughout the gallery eventually became so distracting that they had to be turned off--a trial-and-error feat which took several minutes.

William Bergsma’s tonal, romantic “Fantastic Variations on a Theme From ‘Tristan und Isolde’ ” (1961) for viola and piano was the most substantial presentation. Prober and Newman--daughter of the late film composer Alfred Newman--brought out a transcendental quality that was pleasantly calmer and more refined than the rest of the program.

Prober and Newman again joined forces for an overly aggressive, wild reading of Ravel’s Sonata for violin and piano (1923-27). A transcription for clarinet and viola of Martinu’s Three Madrigals (1947) teamed Newman with Elmassian, and together they raced through the many rapid passages inspired by Czech folk music.

Opening the evening were forced but adequate performances of a clarinet/violin transcription of Villa-Lobos’ “Choros No. 2” (1924) and Ives’ Largo for violin, clarinet and piano (1902).