MUSIC REVIEW : Chamber Show--Sans Salonen--Has Merits

The big draw for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society program Monday at the University of Judaism failed to materialize. Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen originally was to have conducted Stravinsky’s rhythmically perilous Octet.

The combination seemed particularly exciting because Salonen has made Stravinsky something of a specialty. The scheduling of all the players, however, couldn’t be worked out, according to a spokesman for the orchestra; the world will have to wait for this event.

That left the stage at Gindi Auditorium for merely human musicians in a program of works by Rossini, Ravel and Mozart.

Gianna Abondolo and Christopher Hanulik took, respectively, the two parts of Rossini’s Duetto for violoncello and double bass, a commissioned, gallant trifle that smilingly compresses his genius for creating tunes, fleet drama and even one of those famous crescendos within the compass of lower string instruments.

Despite a few pitch problems and some noisy bowing from both, Abondolo played with strength and coolish nobility; Hanulik, with agility and delicacy.

Harpist Lou Anne Neill, called back for a curtain call after Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, gave the instrument a few affectionate pats, sharing the limelight with it. She had plunged through a wide range of touch and colors, from percussive wiriness to gentle ponging, in an impetuous reading shared by her sympathetic colleagues.

They were Anne Diener Giles, flute; David Howard, clarinet; Lawrence Sonderling and Kristine Whitson Hayward, violins; Ralph Fielding, viola; and Peter Snyder, cello. Everyone’s forward placement on the stage may have contributed to the aggressive impact.

The most serious work of the program, Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat for string trio, found cohesive ensemble but cautious interpreters in violinist Elizabeth Baker, violist Meredith Snow and cellist Gloria Lum.

They launched a nervous first movement, which did not allow phrases to breathe, but found more expressive opportunities in the Adagio. Even so, the players minimized thematic contrasts and character throughout; for the most part, their approach proved more congenial in the lighter minuets and the buoyant, seafaring finale.