Southwest Society Essays Works by Payne

English composer Anthony Payne was the object of the Southwest Chamber Music Society’s latest new music exploration, Thursday at the Museum of Tolerance.

Little known on these shores, the 60-year-old Payne is perhaps most famous as the man currently reconstructing and finishing (some say, composing) Elgar’s Third Symphony. The two U.S. premieres offered on this concert were timely opportunities to sample the composer’s own predilections.

They don’t sound like Elgar. His 15-minute “Empty Landscape--Heart’s Ease,” for oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, horn and string trio, is an elaborately layered though accessible creation. Filled with a busy contrapuntal interplay between moody melodic lines, windy squiggles, short, well-cut motifs and foggy sostenuto chords, “Empty Landscape” seems to move forward tangentially: While players follow and then latch onto the thoughts of those around them, the music swirls, turns over and gradually presents a different aspect. The scoring strikes a balance between rich blends and crystalline threads.

Payne’s five-minute “Amid the Winds of Evening” applies the same methods to the solo viola: Double stops, rapid juxtapositions and reiterations achieve the layering here. Jan Karlin offered “Amid” and Southwest members and guests “Empty Landscapes” in sturdy accounts.

A safe and secure performance of Webern’s craggy String Quartet, Opus 28, came between. After intermission, clarinetist Gary Ginstling headed what proved to be a guest ensemble (Karlin was the only Southwester in it) in Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet. Though there were moments of ad-hoc tentativeness, the performance settled in nicely--fluid, easygoing, warm and well-tuned.

* The Southwest Chamber Music Society repeats the same program tonight at 8, Pasadena Presbyterian Church, 585 E. Colorado Blvd. $10-$20. (800) 726-7147.