MUSIC REVIEWS : VIENNA-BERLIN AT AMBASSADOR

Wind concerts can be trying experiences, what with their usual stringing together of noodling, encore-type “fun” pieces. On Thursday at Ambassador Auditorium, the Ensemble Vienna-Berlin pursued a more enlightened course.

The quintet consists of first-chair players from orchestras of those two cities: flutist Wolfgang Schulz and horn player Guenter Hoegner of the Vienna Philharmonic, oboist Hansjoerg Schellenberger and clarinetist Karl Leister of the Berlin Philharmonic, bassoonist Milan Turkovic, ex-Vienna Symphony.

Two lightweight charmers, a Divertimento in B-flat by Joseph Haydn--including the theme used by Brahms for his famous set of orchestral variations--and a Quartet in F by the 12-year-old Rossini showed the ensemble in fine Classical fettle, playing with crisp rhythmicality within a subdued dynamic scheme and without intrusive vibrato.

The obligatory bad-music portion of the evening was occupied by a rigidly formal Quintet by the 19th-Century French flute virtuoso and pedagogue Paul Taffanel, made relatively painless on this occasion by being dispatched with terrific brio and polish.

Substance--and harmonic pungency--was introduced with the Quintet “En forme de Choros” by Villa-Lobos, its vivacious jungle chatter brilliantly presided over by the squawking clarinet of the otherwise supremely polished and dignified Leister, its samba rhythms traced with beguiling suggestiveness by the full ensemble.

Contrary to accepted wisdom, Ensemble Vienna-Berlin elected to conclude the program proper with its longest, most cerebral work: the 1922 Quintet of Carl Nielsen. It proved a clever choice, notably for the finale--a noble set of variations in which each of these splendidly accomplished players is given lengthy solo exposure.

The single encore was the first of Gyorgy Ligeti’s cheeky Bagatelles, rendered with delectable lightness and wit.