Music Reviews : L.A. Piano Quartet in Da Camera Concert

Nobody could accuse the Los Angeles Piano Quartet of taking a walk on the repertory wild side, Friday at the Doheny Mansion at Mount St. Mary’s College downtown campus.

But there are other kinds of musical adventure, as the group demonstrated in its Da Camera Society concert.

That was most convincingly shown in Faure’s Quartet in C minor, Opus 15. An LAPQ recording of the piece is due out soon, and the performance Friday proved thoroughly polished and well-considered, but not overly studied.

Indeed, this was an account of deliberate abandon, its risky gambits nonetheless thrilling for the practiced confidence with which they were taken. Restless brooding of both nobility and neurosis formed the interpretive foundation, underlying even the more overtly forthright passages and sustaining tension throughout.

This is big music, sonically multifaceted and emotionally exigent. Violinist Joseph Genualdi, violist Randolph Kelly, cellist Peter Rejto and pianist James Bonn met its demands with flair and precision, demonstrative in spirit and assured in ensemble.

Dvorak’s E-flat Quartet, Opus 87, is also big music, and the foursome supplied all the requisite depth of tone and richness of character. But the effort proved inconsistent in focus and often surprisingly untidy, particularly in intonation.

Part of the problem could have been the distracting influence of extracurricular beeps and buzzes, and an unevenly voiced Steinway, suspect and brittle at the top end, did not help matters. The Faure, however, shared the same instrument and disturbances.