Music Reviews : Zukerman/Karr/Lewis Ensemble at South Bay Center

A little excitement materialized at the end of the Friday concert by the trio of flutist Eugenia Zukerman, contrabassist Gary Karr and pianist Harmon Lewis in Marsee Auditorium at the South Bay Center for the Arts.

Genuine musical competition and technical risk-taking occupied the stage then, as Zukerman and Karr edgily and enthusiastically alternated virtuoso solos in Giovanni Bottesini’s Fantasy on themes from “La Sonnambula.” Adrenaline flowed, and not only on the stage.

But the remainder of the trio’s El Camino College appearance, though smoothly performed, emerged forgettable.

Zukerman and Karr, of course, are celebrated soloists on their respective instruments; during the course of this program they demonstrated their achievements.

Lewis, the keyboardist who might be the catalyst in this threesome, sparking his colleagues to greater feats and higher energy, apparently does the opposite: With a reliable and steady musical presence, he keeps them calm. But how many thrills are there in calm?

Flutist Zukerman gave stylish attention to a solo sonata by C.P.E. Bach and, with Lewis a bland partner, to the pungent Sonata of Francis Poulenc. And, near the end of the evening, bassist Karr started to lift himself out of lethargy in some showy playing of pieces by Rossini and Paganini. But too late.

In works by Corelli, Haydn and Kohler, the trio revealed why their partnership seems to wallow in innocuousness: They were clearly not born to be together.