MUSIC REVIEW : Pianist Vogt Plays With Power in Three-Part Gindi Program

Pianist Lars Vogt, who has come under criticism recently for introspective playing in bold music, offered anything but that in a Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society program Monday in Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism.

Vogt was the muscular centerpiece of a three-part program of works by Smetana, Schubert and Tatiana Komarova, who is Vogt’s wife. He was also the only constant among the players.

Not surprisingly, the pianist did not mirror the well-matched phrasing and tone production of the philharmonic members who are familiar colleagues, although his part in the ensembles was splendidly alert and integrated.

But careful matching is not a requisite for Smetana’s anguished Piano Trio in G minor, impelled into being by the death of the composer’s 4-year-old daughter.

The work accommodates a multiplicity of personalities to reflect various experiences of pain and recollections of happier days. Vogt provided the tense, driven fury that anchored the touching sweetness of violinist Tamara Chernyak and cellist Barry Gold.

Schubert’s great Trio in E-flat, on the other hand, benefits by refractive commonality, and here Vogt brought force but not yet personal character in sync with violinist Lyndon Johnston Taylor and cellist Gianna Abondolo.

With cellist Gloria Lum, Vogt gave a sympathetic U.S. premiere of Komarova’s “Triptychon,” a nine-minute piece that evolves slowly from declamatory struggles to deeply felt resolution. The composer was on hand to share the applause.