Music & Dance Reviews : Philharmonic Group at Ford Amphitheatre

Monday’s imaginatively varied program in the Ford Amphitheatre by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic began with trombonist Ralph Sauer’s artful transcriptions for brass quintet of three excerpts from Bach’s “Art of the Fugue,” played by Sauer and four of his Philharmonic colleagues.

If the cautious performances failed to generate much heat they did reinforce the notion that wind music is well suited to the Ford acoustic and that its presentation there should be encouraged.

The hardly unfamiliar lesson of the subsequent tussle with Beethoven’s F-minor Quartet, Opus 95, was that four talented people playing string instruments do not necessarily a string quartet make.

Balance problems abounded, with the viola (Meredith Snow) often fading from earshot--a violist’s life is especially tough in the great outdoors--the cello (Gloria Lum) an inconsistently assertive presence and the violins (Elizabeth Baker and Mitchell Newman) not always in sync with, additionally, Baker suffering intonational woes in the corner movements.

The overall impression was one of gutsy people just getting by. When the work ended, with that wild stretto very neatly done, a feeling more of relief than exaltation could be sensed among the players.

The foursome, it might be noted, calls itself the Daedalus Quartet, a dumbfounding choice of names to anyone acquainted with Greek mythology.

The evening took on a different tone after intermission when Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat was performed by the same ensemble that had played it with such grand theatricality and lyrical breadth last season at Gindi Auditorium.

Passing blemishes aside, the lush-toned execution of pianist Lina Targonsky, violinist Mark Baranov, violist Evan N. Wilson and cellist Barry Gold exuded confidence and authority, qualities otherwise in short supply on Monday at the Ford.