Music Reviews : Amadeus Trio in Mozart Program

A program devoted primarily to Mozart’s piano trios provided a sparse diet in the imposing setting of the Los Angeles Athletic Club main dining room--the venue Sunday for Chamber Music in Historic Sites--despite the spirited, bright-toned advocacy of the New York-based Amadeus Trio: pianist James Barbagallo, violinist Timothy Baker, cellist Rafael Figueroa.

Charm was amply evidenced in the trios in B-flat, K. 254, in C, K. 548 and again in B-flat, K. 502. Monotony, however, was also a factor, what with the dogged, major-key conviviality and rigidly rationed surprises of the first two pieces.

K. 502 is far more substantial: bigger in sonority and with a more fully fleshed violin part. But its potential effectiveness was mitigated on this occasion by what preceded, yet another eager-to-please morsel (save for its complex, harmonically lush slow movement), the Piano Sonata, K. 570, again in B-flat.

With the absence from the program of the splendid work in E, K. 542, the one Mozart trio in which the cello is allowed to break out of the predictable pattern of doubling the piano’s left hand and tracing continuo-like doodles, one had to wait until the encore, the grandiose finale to Mendelssohn’s C-minor Trio, to discover the cellist’s polished technique and firmly focused tone.

One would welcome the opportunity to hear these stylish artists again, but within the context of a program--including Mozart, by all means--more attentive to substance and contrast, and one that gives all three equal opportunity to shine.