MUSIC REVIEW : Strings Carry the Day for L.A. Chamber Orchestra

One of the more biting ironies of contemporary musical life is that, while the symphony orchestra--indeed, all classical-music institutions--is under siege and in danger of obsolescence, string-playing continues its renaissance.

All over this country, for instance (example: the visits here last month by the Saint Louis Symphony), the level of excellence shown by violinists, violists, cellists and bassists, in solo and ensemble configurations, meets old standards and threatens to set new ones. When and if the symphony orchestra dies, it will be in tremendous health at its demise. . . .

The strings of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, on display Saturday night at Ambassador Auditorium, offer regular proof of this.

Under guest conductor Heiichiro Ohyama, and in an exposing and challenging program of music by Vaughan Williams, C.P.E. Bach, Donald Crockett and Dvorak, it gave fresh evidence of its high accomplishment, ensemble virtues and solid consistency in terms of tone and musicality.

The familiar works by Vaughan Williams (the “Thomas Tallis” Fantasia) and Dvorak (Serenade in E) framing this generous agenda provided the kinds of aural thrills for which subscribers return regularly to L.A. Chamber Orchestra performances. On a good night, tonal sheen, rich in overtones and handsomely blended, has become a reliable hallmark of this ensemble.

At the third of three performances of this program--the others took place in Palm Desert, Thursday, and in Little Tokyo, Friday--the playing also had an admirable relaxation about it.

Ohyama, of course, was no bystander to this display of quality. In his own, self-effacing way, he exigently guided, coaxed and directed the players’ efforts in focusing attention on the forward thrust and articulate projection of all this music.

The strongest beneficiary, naturally, was the newest work, Crockett’s “Antiphonies,” on this weekend receiving its world premiere performances.

The 18-minute, formally sectionalized and fantasia-like piece starts out looking backward, at Baroque models and at Hindemithian 20th-Centurism.

It concludes with more personal and impassioned statements by the 42-year-old USC professor--now composer-in-residence with LACO, as he had been in the 1980s with the justifiably lamented Pasadena Chamber Orchestra. The Adagio finale grips the listener most poignantly.

At mid-point, this program gave American cellist Gary Hoffman a felicitous solo spot in which to play C.P.E. Bach’s unfamiliar Concerto in A, a large-boned and touching work brimming with emotion and display. Hoffman simultaneously tossed off its difficulties and caressed its songfulness.