Music and Dance Reviews : Pacific Serenades at the Biltmore

Serious contemporary music survives these days mostly in a world unto itself, in concerts devoted to nothing but the new, attended only by aficionados. So it is refreshing that Pacific Serenades, a local chamber music organization, presents its new music in context with standard fare.

Sunday’s concert, in the Gold Room of the Biltmore Hotel, opened the group’s 1991 season and featured violinist Yukiko Kamei, cellist David Speltz and pianist Ayke Agus. The program centered on the premiere of Paul Reale’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, “Celtic Wedding.”

Like much of Reale’s music, this sonata is readily accessible, couched in a tonal language and envisioned as “entertainment first and drama second.” The piece makes use of a borrowed melody but the Celtic theme appears more often as underpinning rather than in quotation, as in the violin’s music, which is full of country fiddling high spirits and tuneful, rustic double-stop passages.

A dance-like vigor pervades much of the work, as do melody and sentiment. These elements are worked up with more contemporary techniques and harmonies, but generally in a friendly manner. An especially attractive feature is that the music sits well upon the instruments; it uses virtuoso turns and flattering colors. Kamei and Agus gave it a reading of precision, grace and conviction.

Beethoven’s Piano Trio Opus 1, No. 1 brought all three musicians together to conclude the concert, in a reading that balanced light attacks and buoyant rhythms with warm and shapely phrasing. Agus was a standout, imparting a singing glow even in her scale passages. Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano opened the concert, with Agus and Speltz offering a sonorous and volatile account.