MUSIC REVIEW : Kotos Enliven ‘East / West’ Fest

The Chamber Music/LA concert presented Thursday night at the Japan America Theatre wasn’t the most mellifluous event in the history of the enterprising festival. However, it neatly underscored the official subtitle of this year’s series: “East/West Encounters.”

The evening began with a rather aggressive performance of Erno Dohnany’s beguiling C-major Serenade for string trio (1902). Christiaan Bor (violin), Milton Thomas (viola) and Jeffrey Solow (cello) played with obvious affection and independent finesse. Ensemble values, unfortunately, turned out to be somewhat sporadic, as did reliable intonation.

The evening ended with Dvorak’s rhapsodic Piano Quartet in E-flat, Opus 87. Here, Thomas and Solow were joined by pianist John Steele Ritter and violinist Yukiko Kamei, the dedicated artistic director of the festival since its inception in 1985.

This performance tended to veer toward stridency, just when one longed most for suavity. Balance problems were aggravated by the brilliant-sounding Hamburg Steinway, which consistently out-thumped the delicate strings. Still, one could admire the pervasive brio.

The intriguing, drastically contrasting centerpiece was a welcome Asian novelty: “Homura” by Tadao Sawai. Written in 1974, it is a bracing bravura exercise for the 17-string bass koto, accompanied by an ensemble of conventional 13-string kotos.

The koto, in case you have forgotten, is a long zither equipped with movable frets. Its Japanese ancestry probably predates the Nara period (710-84). Sawai has spent much of a prolific career augmenting the sonic possibilities of the instrument and expanding its repertory to embrace experimental stylistic procedures.

“Homura,” which translates as fire, makes a splendid, mighty, gutsy noise. The bold rhetorical outbursts of the solo koto reverberate with percussive drama that seems to verge on violence. The support group adds neat textural echoes and precise rhythmic punctuation.

Ears unaccustomed to the idiom can recognize modest flights of modal melody. The primary appeal of the taut 15-minute piece, however, remains dynamic.

Kazue Sawai, the composer’s wife, served as the dazzling protagonist. Makiko Goto, Michie Yagi, Mieko Hayashi, Miho Okada, Ayako Kawai and Noriko Tsuboi functioned as her faithful, ultra-disciplined allies.

The audience wasn’t very big. It was, however, very enthusiastic.