A thrilling night at Lakeside

The Seattle Chamber Music Festival entered the second week of its 25th season Monday night at Lakeside School with a concert that was sometimes exhilarating, sometime ebullient and even exotic on occasion.

MUSIC REVIEW

SEATTLE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL

WHEN/ WHERE: Through July 28, Lakeside School, 14050 First Ave. N.E. (July 3-28); Aug. 2-11, Overlake School, 20301 N.E. 106th St., Redmond

TICKETS: $29-$38, with student/senior discounts; 206-283-8088 or www.seattlechambermusic.org

Long a tradition at the festival are 30-minute recitals preceding the two-hour concert. They vary in every possible way except their unpredictability and, in recent years, their popularity. Monday night was no exception. Jordan Anderson -- the superb principal double bass of the Seattle Symphony since he was 23 -- was the soloist, in unaccompanied works and a single piece, "Drafts," that he wrote for bass and piano (Rieko Aizawa).

He is a prime example of some of the extraordinary young talent now part of the symphony, with the performance at Lakeside an apt showcase for his abilities. Other than "Drafts," his first composition, he played two pieces by David Anderson, a fellow double bass player, and one by Francois Rabbath.

Throughout he revealed his mature musicality and bravura technique. Not all bass players make their instrument tonally alluring. Anderson does. He is incredibly facile but never fails to make the musical point. I liked the Anderson offerings for their exploration of what the bass can do in the right hands and the Rabbath for its evocative Spanish flavors and making the bass sound like deep-throated guitar. "Drafts" was the bass at its most lyrical.

The first half of the concert was in major keys and created a sunny ambience. Mozart's B-flat Violin Sonata (K. 378) is generally cheerful and winning, which is how violinist Ani Kavafian and pianist Jeremy Denk approached it. Mozart was far more generous to the piano than the violin, and Denk took every advantage. He played with verve and electricity and wit. Kavafian was more straightforward but made a case for herself as well.

Before Mendelssohn turned 20, he had written several operas, all sorts of string symphonies and chamber music that is as astonishing today as it must have been in the early 19th century. His Sextet in D, written when he was 15, has charm and freshness as well as spontaneity and unusual scoring -- for violin, two violas, cello, double bass and piano. The evening's proponents -- Carmit Zori, Richard O'Neill, Ulrich Eichenauer, Toby Saks, Anderson and Aizawa -- readily grasped those essentials and played with welcome freedom.

The concert ended with Ernest Bloch's First Piano Quintet. It is a work of great variety and interest. Who could not like it -- certainly in the capable hands of violinists Paul Rosenthal and Ida Levin, violist Cynthia Phelps, cellist Ronald Thomas and pianist Alon Goldstein?

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