Awesome precision at San Francisco Symphony chamber concert

Then there’s the gratification of hearing the enormous precision and clarity of players from one of the nation’s great orchestras. Here they displayed their talents individually and close up, with awesome effect.

Each of the musicians, all playing venerable and characterful instruments, had a distinct style and tone. Charles Chandler, the double bassist, offered a smooth and polished underpinning that was always evident yet never obtrusive. Barbara Bogatin on cello put passion and grit into the high-lying solos that the double bass’s presence afforded her much opportunity for. Matt Young’s viola gave a perfectly courtly and blending middle voice. Jessie Fellows was an elegant and cultivated second violin in the two-violin works, while Polina Sedukh gave a crisper and more pointed first violin.

Sedukh’s emphatic approach was particularly dramatic in the slashing attacks in the scherzo of Antonin Dvorák’s String Quintet in G, Op. 77, one of the few of that breed where the fifth instrument is the bass instead of an extra viola or cello. The energy and incision that the ensemble brought to this bouncy and rhythmic work made for an outstanding performance. Well-judged harmonic balances, especially among the inner voices, were also notable.

The other quintet-with-bass on the program was “Strum,” a 2006 work by the African-American woman composer Jessie Montgomery. As the title suggests, it’s full of strumming. For most of the work, one or two instruments would play intense and passionate melodies with the bow while others strummed or plucked individual notes, frequently trading off roles. The styles varied, ranging from soulful grinding to ghostly harmonics. This was an active and busy piece. It was an effective way of doing for American traditions what Dvorák did for his Czech traditions.

For further African-American folk goodness, the concert offered the last and most delightful of the string quartets by Florence B. Price, the first great African-American woman composer. Her “Five Folksongs in Counterpoint” includes the likes of “Oh My Darlin’ Clementine” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” This is not an example of playing the song through once or twice with piquant accompaniment. Price is a much craftier composer than that.

In these pieces, Price will present a phrase or two from the song a few times in different contrapuntal or fugal contexts and then extrapolate or digest it out with blistering technical development and overlays, before starting over and doing the same thing differently. The musicians were at their crystal-clear best in displaying Price’s technique here.

The concert also featured an early string sonata by Gioachino Rossini, No. 3 in C major. Usually heard from larger ensembles, it was played here as a chamber piece, the four parts being taken by Fellows on violin, Young on viola, Bogatin on cello and Chandler on bass. The music was bright and sizzling. Here in particular the double bass made a particular contribution to grounding the music, leaving the sound as light and airy whenever it was not playing.

Exquisite musicianship on fine instruments, giving life and character to the music, were the significant features of this concert.

Music at Kohl’s next concert, on April 10, will feature the string quartet Quatuor Danel in works by César Franck and Piotr Tchaikovsky.