MUSIC REVIEW : Compact, Virtuosic Set From Aeolian Players

The Aeolian Chamber Players are now in their fourth decade, and sounding as fresh as ever in their current lineup, as demonstrated at the Bing Theater of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a compact program for Monday Evening Concerts.

Clarinetist Daniel McKelway probably wasn’t even born when violinist Lewis Kaplan founded the ensemble in 1961, but his effortlessly pertinent playing lit an evening full of individual and ensemble virtuosity.

Bartok’s “Contrasts” has long been in the group’s repertory, and a highly energized performance of it capped the program Monday. The playing was perhaps a tad sedate until McKelway blew through the first movement cadenza with insouciant flair. Thereafter the achievement was complete, comprehensive in color and attitude, with Kaplan and pianist Peter Basquin joining the clarinetist in fully meshed, organic ensemble.

A quieter but no less intense mastery, in Cambodian accents rather than Hungarian, was apparent in Chinary Ung’s “Spiral VI,” composed last year for the ensemble. Haunted strands of melody circle over deceptively placid, sustained backgrounds, spiced with inside-the-piano effects.

Cellist Andre Emelianoff, Kaplan, McKelway and Basquin gave it a full measure of poignance and mystery, projected with controlled authority.

Ralph Shapey’s music has been with the Aeolians since their beginning. Monday they offered his 1983 “Discourse No. 2,” also composed for the group. Typically dense textures and manic drive give way to otherworldly counterpoint in the third movement.

The quartet delivered its full expressive range, from power mode to tremulous fade-out, with skilled, communicative verve.

The emphasis on virtuosity was apparent from the beginning of the agenda, Ginastera’s “Pampeana No. 2” for cello and piano. Emelianoff had some trouble hitting pitch squarely in the high climaxes, but filled it with rich sound and brusque vigor, crisply supported by Basquin.