Music@Menlo takes on winds

An entire woodwind quintet, the standard ensemble, was gathered. Most of the players have appeared at Menlo before, but not together. They were flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, oboist James Austin Smith, clarinetist Sebastian Manz, bassoonist Jake Thonis and hornist Kevin Rivard.

Wind music has a basic difference from string music, as Smith explained in a lecture he gave at Menlo two days before. Each of the five standard wind instruments produces sound in a different way and comes out with a distinct tone. The strings, by contrast, are all just different sizes of the same instrument — he said, ducking his head behind the podium in case any string players in the audience wanted to throw something at him for disrespecting their instruments. The result is that a string ensemble is a consort, with a blended unity of sound, while a wind ensemble shines with a piquant variety.

The concert was framed by two large samples of this ensemble with piano. The first was the Quintet in E-flat, Op. 16, by Ludwig van Beethoven. Thus there were four winds with Sahun Sam Hong’s piano: oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn — no flute. This was the same combination as had been used by Wolfgang Mozart in his similar piece some dozen years earlier. So it’s no surprise that, in this early work when he was still influenced by his elders, Beethoven sounds a lot like Mozart. His quintet is smooth, tuneful and graceful in the solos for individual winds and in the combined group with its crunchy chords. It’s not at all like the brusque Beethoven we know better and it shows how charming and effective the wind group sound can be.

The other big piece was the Sextet in B-flat, Op. 6, by Ludwig Thuille, an Austrian composer who wrote this in 1888. This one has the full wind quintet, including flute, plus piano, played by Hong again. This is a large and genial work with a particularly perky gavotte in place of a scherzo. Thuille’s specialty is pairing the winds off in various combinations. We’re used to hearing flute and oboe together, or oboe and clarinet, but horn and bassoon is an usual pairing.

Some smaller pieces filled out the program. Rhapsody No. 1 by the turn-of-the-20th-century American immigrant Charles Martin Loeffler mixed the sonorities of Smith’s oboe and James Thompson’s viola over piano from Michael Stephen Brown. The Concert Piece No. 1, Op. 113, by Felix Mendelssohn was played by Manz on clarinet and Thonis on bassoon with Hyeyeon Park on piano, all with sizzling virtuosity.

Lastly, Manz arranged three arias by Mozart for the full woodwind quintet. He gave the vocal line of Susanna’s “Al desio” from “The Marriage of Figaro” to Smith’s oboe and the Queen of the Night aria from “The Magic Flute” to O’Connor on flute, while taking Don Ottavio’s aria from “Don Giovanni” for himself — but not on the clarinet. He played the basset horn, which is a kind of baritone clarinet with an upturned bell. Ironically, the bassoon part in the Mendelssohn had been written for basset horn, however, it contrasted better with the clarinet on the bassoon. The solo parts in the Mozart arrangements had more trouble sticking out from their colorful surroundings.

The Music@Menlo Festival continues at Menlo School through Aug. 9. Remaining concerts include pianist Gilbert Kalish leading Arnold Schoenberg’s “Pierrot lunaire” to celebrate his 90th birthday on Wednesday, Aug. 6, and a grand finale of works for six and eight strings on Thursday, Aug. 9, plus much more. Events are listed at musicatmenlo.org. Even if a concert is shown as sold out, check with the box office, because last-minute availability is frequent. Livestream tickets are also available for some shows.