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It’s late autumn — viola time.

The viola should perhaps be the instrument of summer. Its tone suggests sumptuous ripeness from the top of its range to bottom. But falling between the violin’s soaring brilliance and the cello’s corporeality, the viola also signifies transition. Toru Takemitsu called his tender, mistily opaque viola concerto “Ring Around Autumn.” By recognizing the solo instrument as a conveyor of stock-taking, it colors darkly, evoking changing leaves and sunset.

Last week, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Colburn School and MOCA independently hopped on the fall-harvesting viola bandwagon. On top of that, one of the season’s most alluring

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