Southwest Chamber Rewards With Suite Premiere, Mozart

As musical motivations go, mere geniality isn’t substantial enough to be even its own reward. Touched with genius, though, or at least some striking ideas about sound and texture, it can make a summer evening glow, as Southwest Chamber Music demonstrated outdoors Friday at the Huntington Library with a concert that included the world premiere of Robert Linn’s Suite for Oboe and Strings.

Genius came at the end of the overlong agenda, as Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, K. 370, reminded us of all that entertainment can be. Oboist Stuart Horn made some of the passage work sound every bit as difficult as it really is, but nonetheless led violinist Agnes Gottschewski, violist Jan Karlin and cellist Maggie Edmondson in a performance of lyric lilt and ingratiating swagger.

But where Mozart’s pleasantries attract and hold attention, three near-contemporary pieces by Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach seemed to actively dispel it. The musicians, including flutist Dorothy Stone, played capably in various configurations but without any clear stylistic point of view or detailed characterization.

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Conservative but hardly irrelevant, Linn’s handsome neoclassical Suite imbues old genres with fresh rhythmic zest and tuneful grace. It employs its instrumental combination with craft and inspiration, providing obviously engaging work for the performers--with Horn switching from oboe to English horn for the reflective closing Chaconne--as well as rewarding listening for the audience.

Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy for Oboe and Strings completed the program. Horn is perhaps a bit leaner in tone than this classic work’s ideal protagonist, but otherwise projected its emotional scenario with focused flair.