Music Reviews : Afternoon of Slavic Gloom at Caltech

Sunday afternoon’s Coleman Concerts program didn’t even look good on paper: Three exemplars of Slavic soulfulness, performed in Beckman Auditorium at Caltech by the combined forces of two dissimilar chamber groups, the veteran Borodin Trio and the youthful Lafayette Quartet.

The long haul began with the Borodins--violinist Rostislav Dubinsky, cellist Yuli Turovsky, pianist Luba Edlina--expertly pondering the single-movement Trio in G minor of Rachmaninoff.

Tchaikovsky’s cherishable “Souvenir de Florence” had Dubinsky and Turovsky as principals; Lafayette violist Joanna Hood in her customary position; the quartet’s leader, Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, playing second violin; second violinist Sharon Stanis as second viola, and cellist Pamela Highbaugh as backup to Turovsky.

Dubinsky poured out a wealth of golden tone, even when encountering intonational problems in the corner movements. And Turovsky’s commanding, beefy cello could be counted on to keep the proceedings on an emotional boil.

Too much of the time, however, the result found the senior members excessively dominant. It was neither an ensemble performance nor a notably accurate one.

The Shostakovich Piano Quintet proved the day’s most cogent offering, from the Borodin Trio plus Elliott-Goldschmid (playing second) and violist Hood. With the unflappably professional Edlina’s alternatingly thunderous and purling piano as its focus, the dark heart of the score was exposed in a controlled, unfussy interpretation.