Ying and Anderson Quartets Get Happy

Good friends and good music made for a pleasant--and long--afternoon Sunday at Cal State L.A. Capping a week of joint community events, the Anderson and Ying quartets double-teamed Mendelssohn and Brahms at Luckman Theatre with the flavorful assurance that characterizes so many young American ensembles in this lucky chamber music era.

The Anderson hosts, in residence at Cal State L.A., met the Yings while both ensembles were studying at the Eastman School of Music. Both groups carry their sociological distinctions easily--the Yings are a set of Chinese American siblings, the Andersons are all African American--and they collaborate with an infectious sense of joy.

The Yings have been living with Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A, Opus 13, for some time now, and it shows in highly polished, carefully detailed playing. Passion still abides in the work for violinists Timothy and Janet Ying, violist Philip Ying and cellist David Ying, but focused with affectionate, knowing grace.

Violinists Marianne Henry and Marisa McLeod, violist Diedra Lawrence and cellist Michael Cameron brought big sound and bold theatricality to Brahms C-minor Quartet, Op. 51, No. 1. The introspective fancies of the Romanze seemed to unravel at times, but firm conversational direction was never more than a murmur away, and when the music called for uncoiled vigor, the Andersons seized the opportunity with thrilling flair.

The joint finale was Mendelssohn’s evergreen Octet. Balances often tipped in favor of the lower end and intonation skidded on some rough patches, but the communal sharing of this music passed with such fierce exaltation that exuberance seemed a viable end in itself.