The Los Angeles Quartet (LAGQ) walked on stage wearing red, maroon and blue velour shirts. If it was meant as a fashion statement, it was one unlikely to threaten the trendy Kronos Quartet. But the mission of LAGQ is not sight, but sound. Along that dimension John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Andrew York are the pinnacle of refinement. They consistently met the two of the biggest challenges guitar quartets face¾good definition and precision playing.

    The first half of the concert consisted mainly of works written for the LAGQ, beginning with Andrew York’s Quiccan. The piece has York’s pleasant eclectic style, with echoes of twentieth-century Spanish sonorities and Mike Oldfield’s pop minimalism. There was dexterous interplay among the four guitarists as melodies were passed freely around, and there were engaging string and guitar body percussion effects.

    Tennant’s arrangement of Allegro from Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 was in the classic style of the Romeros guitar quartet. The tempo was lively, the articulation clear, and the dynamics interesting¾all while keeping within the relatively narrow ranges of the Baroque style. A minor weakness was the merely adequate clarity of the individual lines, which would have been better served by extended-range guitars.

    Dusan Bogdanovic’s Lyric Quartet reflects his interests in world and jazz idioms. The piece combines the structure of a Haydn String quartet with jazz-inspired harmonies, Balkan asymmetric rhythms and Indonesian gamelon influences. Kanengiser was particularly adept at keeping melody slightly off the beat, something that does not come naturally to many classical musicians. The last of the four movements, Allegro brilliante, is the most active and interesting of the movements, primarily because of its rhythmic elements. The ending is a series of intense chords played in sequence by each guitarist, giving the effect of a single guitar’s sound moving laterally across the stage. Time will tell if the material can hold up well enough under repeated listening for the piece to enter the repertoire.

    The first half of the concert ended with Bryan Johanson’s On All Fours. Johanson first heard the LAGQ in concert and was inspired to write this piece for them that same evening. It showed up in John Dearman’s mailbox a few weeks later. The title refers to a well-running car with its cylinders “hitting on all fours” and Johanson describes the piece as a short ride in a fast machine. Car metaphors abound, ranging from explosions in the cylinders to revving of the engine. It is an engaging piece that could only have been written for guitar. Particularly notable is the way Dearman helps synthesize the distinct styles of the others into a cohesive performance.

    The second half of the concert was billed as a World Tour. It featured music from Africa, Chile and Cuba, a concept similar to that on John Williams’ CD the Mantis and the Moon.

    The first three songs are traditional Klezmer, or Jewish folk music. Doina is a freely improvised work with a middle-eastern tinged melody. Hora, a round dance based on a Turkish tune, sounded like Hollywood’s idea of music for a Jewish wedding reception. And Freilachs is a collection of tunes that lack enough interesting material. These pieces were the weakest part of the program.

    The two pieces from Zimbabwe fared better. Mbira takes its name from the African thumb piano. The metallic sound of this instrument was duplicated uncannily by Scott Tennant, using a capo and what looked to be metallic picks on his right hand. Bantu, composed by Andrew York, is based on elements of traditional Zimbabwe music. It combines includes rhythms from African drumming and Dave Brubeck with York’s harmonies and melodies into a sumptuous sounding piece.

    A Tarantella from Chile, bearing a wicked melody in the upper register, was a welcome change from the famous Italian piece associated with the name. The audience loved it. Leo Brouwer’s Cuban Landscape with Rain is a mid-1980s minimalist musical painting, complete with hailstones. The LAGQ’s interpretation was impeccable and the performance one of the highlights of the concert. The program closed with a well-received performance of Georges Bizet’s Suite from Carmen.

    The encore was a joke¾fortunately, a musical one. Pachelbel’s “Loose Canon” took the light classic successively through styles that included Reggae, Bluegrass, Jazz, Grunge and Rumba. It was a fun end to a satisfying concert.