MUSIC REVIEW : An Uneven Dedication to Founder : The Southwest chamber society’s tribute to pianist Albert Dominguez includes an intriguing new work and some superficial interpretations.

The Southwest Chamber Music Society dedicated its Sunday program of 20th-Century works to one of its founders, the late pianist Albert Dominguez.

Though the afternoon concert introduced an intriguing new work--as many had during the years of Dominguez’s participation--it also frustrated with some superficial interpretations.

The event in Salmon Recital Hall at Chapman University included a reprise of Saturday’s premiere performance--at Pasadena Presbyterian Church--of Frederick Lesemann’s “Sir Blue Slips a Trend,” for string quartet. The piece, which derives its name from an anagram of clever, descriptive titles of individual movements, consists of five concise, neatly crafted fugues, each with a different theme and character.

The Southwest String Quartet--violinists Peter Marsh and Annie Chalex, violist Jan Karlin and cellist Roger Lebow--attended well to shifting ideas for a series of rhythmically compelling and intellectually absorbing movements. The composition culminated in a busy contrapuntal exercise, cryptically called “IDS” Fugue, for Ingolf Dahl--Lesemann’s former composition teacher, known for his polyphonic style--and for Stravinsky, whose rhythmic inventiveness was, perhaps, inspirational.

Pianist Susan Svrcek joined the Southwest Quartet in an uneven reading of the Quintet, Opus 57, by Shostakovich. The work began promisingly with an unusually ebullient Prelude, which built to a granitic climax, and a dark, pensive Fugue that unfolded with sensual energy.

Yet the closing two movements disappointed--the Intermezzo emerging restrained and monochromatic, the Finale grating, as shallow, relentless aggression replaced Shostakovich’s boisterous, ungainly lyricism.

The concert opened with Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, which the composer dedicated to the memory of Debussy. Marsh and Lebow brought athletic power to their ensemble, for a focused, sometimes driven, reading, relieved only by their somber musings during the slow movement.