Music Reviews : Mendelssohn, Gliere From Chamber Society

The 16-year-old Mendelssohn’s incredible Octet is ample proof that he--not Mozart, not Schubert, not Rossini--was probably the greatest child genius composer.

Despite its difficulties, musicians relish a chance to play the Octet--as eight string players from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society evidently did at the University of Judaism’s Gindi Auditorium Monday night. The octet consisted of Mitchell Newman, Guido Lamell, Lawrence Sonderling and Judith Mass on violins, Evan Wilson and John Hayhurst on violas, and Daniel Rothmuller and Stephen Custer on cellos.

While it took some time for them to develop a consistently cohesive ensemble, there was no mistaking the enthusiasm and robust, driven vigor that ran through the entire performance. By the time the feathery Scherzo came up, the ensemble had jelled tightly, and the Finale lifted off the launching pad in a unified burst of speed.

If the Octet provided an antidote to the situation in the Middle East, Prokofiev’s acidic Quintet in G Minor held up a mirror to the tensions, loaded as it is with sarcasm and grind-it-out obsessiveness. Yet the quintet of Carolyn Hove (oboe), David Howard (clarinet), Barry Socher (violin), Meredith Snow (viola) and Peter Rofe (bass) chose to view the piece through a refined, impeccably played sheen, where the grotesqueries just barely made it to the surface.

The evening began with five brief, feisty duets for cello and bass by Reinhold Gliere. Both cellist Custer and bassist Jack Cousin had moments of ragged intonation as their often growling parts tumbled around each other.