WOODWIND quintets are not as prevalent as they used to be.

But thanks to the British Music Society of York, whose chamber music series continues to be a mainstay of the city's concert life, the Galliard Ensemble was here on Friday with a zesty pairing of Mozart and Holst, set against lesser contributions from Hindemith, Barber and Paul Patterson.

Together for 14 years, the Galliards boast an instinctive blend which peaked in Holst's wonderfully inventive Quintet In A Flat.

Though written in 1903, the piece was thought lost until it turned up in 1978.

After an opening Allegro full of melodic twists, there are several gentle surprises in the Adagio's harmonies.

The minuet and trio were here given the feel of a genuine dance, and the perky air and variations at the close could hardly have been more vivid.

Hindemith's Kleine Kammermusik (1922) exudes the jazzy feel of its era, as in the quirky tempo changes of its mildly syncopated waltz.

The slow movement was nicely wistful here, with the thrusting finale a lively contrast.

In Samuel Barber's Summer Music, the bluesy drawl of Porgy and Bess's Summertime was never far from the surface.

The ordered hyperactivity framing Patterson's four-movement Comedy For Five Winds proved genuinely witty.

In between, Richard Bayliss's superbly integrated horn in the Soliloquy and a sleazy Blues were equally engaging.

It all made the Mozart Wind Quintet, given at the start, seem almost staid in retrospect.