CLASSICAL MUSIC

-- Joe Banno

Capitol Woodwind Quintet

On Sunday afternoon at Temple Micah, the Capitol Woodwind Quintet kicked off its 2005-06 season with an unusual challenge: A large-scale, academic-minded work, with cyclic themes, anguished climaxes and subtle romantic chromatics. Theodor Blumer's Quintet, Op. 52, stood out not for its methods but for its medium; most woodwind quintet repertoire sparkles and dances, unencumbered by attempts at profundity. But Blumer's quintet had its own attractions, including the heroic hunting-horn theme that gets the cyclic treatment and a lush, wistful buildup to an ardent close in the slow movement.

The Capitol players adeptly navigated the work's structure while bringing out its felicities at every turn. Hornist Laurel Ohlson took her extended thematic material with the proper robust stride and tone, and in that lovely slow movement, flutist Alice Kogan Weinreb and oboist Kathleen Golding both took brief yet memorable unaccompanied solos that contributed to the intense atmosphere. When Blumer turned on the charm in the last two movements, the quintet responded in kind, with a particularly rollicking finale.

The other repertoire played by the quintet made more typical demands on its abundant skills. Andrejs Jansons's "Suite of Old Lettish Dances" and John Barrows's "March" were both bright nothings that the quintet kept afloat with enthusiastic, precise playing, while the melancholy of Astor Piazzolla's "Milonga Sin Palabras" was expertly balanced with its steady dance pulse. Best was the group's irrepressible reading of Jean Francaix's wind quartet (sans Ohlson); its playful whirlwinds of notes, witty stops and starts, and general Gallic insouciance reminded one what chamber music for woodwinds is (normally) all about.

-- Andrew Lindemann Malone