THE woodwind trio – oboe, clarinet, bassoon – enjoys very little of the limelight accorded to better-known chamber music groupings, such as the string quartet. So when you run into one, it comes as a slight surprise, especially when you find that it can more than hold its own for a whole evening.

Only one of the originally announced threesome survived, but the rejigged Canteloube still melded excellently in a programme that ranged from Mozart to the present day. Whereas one’s attention tends to focus on the oboe, as top voice, it was Chris Cooper’s crisp bassoon that caught the ear in a neatly stylish account of Mozart’s Third Divertimento for winds.

Three British composers provided an unpretentious centrepiece. Richard Walthew’s Triolet of 1934 captured an English wistfulness in its slow movement, before finishing with frisky bravura. Gordon Jacob’s trio was liberally spiced with wit, especially in the harmonic meanderings of its finale. Graham Williams’s More From The Music Box, enjoying its third performance, boiled down to seven pungent vignettes.

Milhaud provided meatier fare in his Pastorale, Op 147, of 1935, almost a mini prelude-and-fugue, notable for its suave charm. Peter Cigleris despatched Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for solo clarinet with panache.

But the value of the Canteloube’s choice of title was proved by its namesake’s Rustiques (1946). Here, Helen Scarbrough’s oboe was especially telling in the composer’s paradoxical blend of folksong and refinement. Not an evening of masterpieces, but attractive enough.