Ensemble Wien’s ‘Cafe’ Steeped in Old World

No dachshunds snoozed beneath tables that had been installed for the occasion, and lush carpets did not cover the floor. Instead of crystal chandeliers, canister lights hung from the ceiling, and, in place of formal waiters, there was a self-serve coffee urn and pastry tray.

Nevertheless, the intended aura of Old World charm permeated Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center at midday Sunday, thanks to Ensemble Wien and its program, “A Viennese Cafe Concert.”

The Austrian group is an unusual one: It comprises the two violins and viola (played by Paul Guggenberger, Raimund Lissy and founder Peter Gotzel, respectively) of a standard string quartet but substitutes a double bass (played by Josef Niederhammer) for the usual cello.

Its roster for the sold-out installment of the Chamber Music Series at OCPAC included expected lightweight fare, beginning with an arrangement of Weber’s Overture to “Der Freischutz” and ending with transcriptions of the first three “Hungarian Dances” by Brahms. Though the four instrumentalists may have shied away from heavyweights, their attentiveness proved as serious as if they were attacking Beethoven’s “Grosse” Fuge instead of his “German Dances.”

Even the fluffiest polka received a crisp, balanced reading. Yet the nostalgic effect did not come from the musicians’ technical finesse, but from their sense of stylish pacing in dances by Beethoven, Brahms, Lanner and composers of the Johann Strauss family. Pregnant silences and delicate gradations of tempos invoked the enchantment of a romanticized vision of days past.

Not all romantic remembrances of Imperial Vienna succeeded. In comparison with the originals, arrangements of the Overture to “Der Freischutz” and to the Incidental Music for “Dichter und Bauer” (Poet and Peasant), by von Suppe--the former scored for this instrumentation by Georg Straka, the latter by Martin Bjelik--faded into pale revivals of animated period pieces.