Society Offers Varied Pleasures

The program presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center appealed to eclectic tastes Sunday night at the South Bay Center for the Arts. There was a new work by Kenneth Frazelle, a tango overview by Astor Piazzolla and familiar repertory by Mozart and Brahms. The six musicians involved may not have pleased every taste but their level of playing could not have been more satisfying.

Frazelle’s Quintet for Guitar, Flute and String Trio was commissioned by the group. Except for the replacement here of cellist Fred Sherry by Ronald Thomas, it was premiered in New York earlier this month by the same ensemble--flutist Ransom Wilson, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Kim Kashkashian and Thomas. Constructed in four continuous movements, it reserves the sound of all five instruments for emphatic effect--most striking in the climactic ending. Instead, solos and small groups set moods to which the others respond. The result is neatly crafted--although not always absorbing--with much use of variation techniques, but it is more amusing for its rhythmic interplay than its motivic materials.

“Histoire du Tango” for Flute and Guitar, by Argentine Piazzolla, received a sensual and spirited reading from Wilson and Barrueco, as they traversed increasingly angular rhythms in musical vignettes titled “Bordel-1900,” “Cafe-1930,” “Night Club-1960” and “Concert d’Aujourd’hui.” The pair began the evening with their own arrangement of Mozart’s C-major Piano Sonata, K. 545, which preserved its graceful integrity, highlighting its conversational aspects but sacrificing the power of the original.

No opportunity to show muscular prowess was lost during Brahms’ Quartet for Piano and Strings in G minor, however. Here pianist Lee Luvisi joined Kavafian, Kashkashian and Thomas for a dark, feverish reading, marked by portentous quiet sections and passionate solos.