MUSIC REVIEW : SummerFest Concludes on Gracious Note : Festival: The level of playing was consistently eloquent in the valedictory program.

There is something reassuringly predictable about a SummerFest valedictory program. After three weekends of concerts--and a few in between--loyal patrons become saturated and yearn for a send-off that will be undemanding.

Festival artistic director Heiichiro Ohyama obligingly set a simple table Sunday evening at Sherwood Auditorium. For the main course, he selected Brahms’ profound String Quintet in G Major, Op. 111. Ludwig Spohr’s frothy Nonet in F Major for Strings and Woodwinds was served as dessert.

The Brahms was compelling in every way: eloquent, broadly conceived and glowing with passionate commitment. Violinists Cho-Liang Lin and Sheryl Staples, violists Toby Hoffman and Ohyama, and cellist David Finckel poured an uncommon generosity of spirit into the quintet, a work that one Brahms biographer claimed was the outline for the composer’s never completed Fifth Symphony.

Especially in the Adagio, Lin led the ensemble with his customary brilliance, although for this work he combined his usual tonal purity with a warmth and immediacy that served the idiom well. Plangent duets between the violists marked the opening movements, and Finckel’s propulsive drive in the bass helped forge a cohesive ensemble.

Showcasing SummerFest’s underused wind players proved to be the primary value of Spohr’s Nonet, a work that defines the word “mellifluous.” Hints of Mozart and Mendelssohn suffused the Nonet, but Spohr’s facility was also his nemesis. The Scherzo relied on predictable formulas and the finale was an exercise in energetic silliness. Like Sigismund Thalberg and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Spohr was one of the musical superstars of the 19th Century whose fame expired with him.

Although the Nonet was anything but probing, the nine SummerFest regulars bathed the work in opulent sound and turned every phrase with elegance. Violinist Julie Rosenfeld’s graceful angularity and bassist Nico Abondolo’s pointed precision stood out among the strings. Abondolo’s witty repartee with oboist Allan Vogel in the finale provided comic relief in a work that took itself much too seriously.

This year’s SummerFest fulfilled its promise with consistently first-rate performances. It was gratifying, for example, to see violinist Sheryl Staples, a member of the young rising stars program for the last two seasons, graduate to the inner circle of festival professionals this year.

Her growth is symbolic of the festival itself, which has developed steadily since the La Jolla Chamber Music Society launched it in 1986. Under Ohyama’s guidance, success has not bred complacency. It has been the impetus for higher achievement.