Tribute to Ellis B. Kohs Highlighted by His Masterpiece

A provocative and engaging program, “Music From Post-War Los Angeles: A Tribute to Ellis B. Kohs,” Monday night in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, marked the second public appearance by the new Lontano Music Group.

Matthew Cody, a UCLA graduate, is founder and music director of Lontano. He pulled together the ensemble’s young players, created the program, then conducted it with brio. Kohs, composer and teacher at USC for 38 years, died 13 months ago. At this tribute’s center, with David Walther as soloist, was a revival of Ellis Kohs’ practically forgotten masterpiece, the Chamber Concerto for Viola and String Nonet.

The Chamber Concerto is melancholy and serious but not bleak, something like the dark side of “Harold in Italy,” if that icon were turned inside out.

Written in 1949, the piece is uncharacteristic in that it avoids the jauntiness and optimism of other works of that period. Though the program’s five works complemented one another and were given pungent, clarified readings, the Chamber Concerto stood apart.

Its neo-modal style and occasionally grim demeanor contradict the pervasive upbeat mood reflected in Stravinsky’s revised (1952) Octet for Wind Instruments, Halsey Stevens’ Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (1953/56) and Ingolf Dahl’s Music for Brass Instruments (1944), its fellows on this program.

Walther, a violist of abundant technical virtuosity and musical panache, illuminated the work’s provocative personality, and his rich tone, in sound hues comparable to Belgian chocolate, made the experience complete.

Cody’s leadership of this tight agenda brought these scores into focus, and the playing gave clarity to all of them. Darren Mulder (trumpet) and Roberta Garten (piano) invested Stevens’ mid-century sonata with joie de vivre. Dahl’s brass sextet resonated emotionally as well as aurally. And the Octet proved, as usual, to be as irresistible a piece as Stravinsky ever wrote.

Tenor Paul Shikany was the able and clear-toned soloist in the other Stravinsky offering of the program, “In Memoriam Dylan Thomas.”

At mid-program, composer Byron Adams of UC Riverside, a friend of Kohs, gave a touching and informative remembrance of the late composer.