MUSIC REVIEW : Pianist Jeffrey Kahane in Gindi Auditorium Concert

A sense of festivity often colors the atmosphere when the Chamber Music Society of the Los Angeles Philharmonic appears at its Westside headquarters, Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism.

That happened again, Monday, when the chamber players hosted pianist Jeffrey Kahane, fresh from his latest local concerts, last week at the Music Center.

Kahane’s pleasure-giving appearance, in Poulenc’s Sextet for piano and winds at mid-program, however, was only the centerpiece of an engaging, handsome-sounding musical event. Surrounding it were Mozart’s Divertimento in D, K. 136, and Brahms’ Sextet in B-flat, Opus 18, in tight and probing, if not exactly deeply polished performances.

Poulenc’s wondrous Sextet of 1939, when given as effortless and thoughtful a reading as this, can leave an aftertaste of joy that lasts long afterward.

That is what was achieved by the California-trained, internationally recognized pianist and his special partners in this performance: flutist Anne Diener Giles, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, oboist Carolyn Hove, hornist Carol Drake and bassoonist David Breidenthal.

There may be more complex emotions, and more colorful ways of indicating them, in Brahms’ Opus 18 than the latest ad-hoc sextet of Philharmonic players found in it.

Still, as far as the performers went, they brought a canny sense of pacing, apprehendable feelings and felicitous detailing to the familiar masterpiece.

Michele Bovyer and Paul Stein were the violinists, Richard Elegino and Ingrid Runde the violists and Stephen Custer and Gianna Abondolo the cellists. They gave a noble reading.

The novelty here was hearing a string-quartet realization of another familiar piece, Mozart’s popular K. 136.

Perhaps violinists Edith Markman and Kristine Whitson Hayward, violist Evan N. Wilson and cellist Gloria Lum erred on the side of aggressiveness, and even forgot to provide all the dynamic contrasts that would have illuminated the piece more satisfyingly. Nevertheless, their musical enthusiasm and technical aplomb counted for much.

Now, if the parking problems at Gindi Auditorium were only as easily solved as the musical ones. . . .