Music Reviews : Boston Symphony Chamber Players at Occidental

The playing was superb. But then, you might expect that from the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, a group consisting of several of the orchestra’s principals.

Trios dominated Thursday’s program in Thorne Hall at Occidental College. Violinist Malcolm Lowe, violist Burton Fine and cellist Jules Eskin opened with an extraordinarily clean and engaging account of Beethoven’s Trio, Opus 9, No. 1. Vigor and nuance characterized this reading. Ensemble precision and balance remained beyond repoach.

Similar virtues marked Roussel’s Trio for Flute, Viola and Cello, heard after intermission. The outer movements bubbled with vernal freshness; the Andante brought out the lyrical capacities of each musician--Fine, Eskin and flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer.

If the Beethoven is a more “serious” work than the Roussel, then the Brahms Trio, Opus 114, is more serious still. One of those wonderfully introspective late works, it gave clarinetist Harold Wright, cellist Eskin and pianist Gilbert Kalish an opportunity for intellectual probing and emotional expression. Each player made his instrument sing with passion and eloquence, and together they produced an exquisitely detailed and architecturally balanced account of the work.

Oboist Alfred Genovese, hornist Charles Kavalovsky and bassoonist Sherman Walt joined Dwyer and Wright in delivering a buoyant, rhythmically charged reading of Walter Piston’s Wind Quintet.