For the final concert of its 2003-04 season, Chamber Music Hawaii presented three contrasting genres, using different combinations of musicians from their Tresemble group.

The opening work was Richard Strauss's symphonic tone poem, "Till Eulenspiegel," reinterpreted for violin (Hung Wu), clarinet (James Moffitt), French horn (Jonathan Parrish), bassoon (Marsha Schweitzer), and string bass (Kirby Nunez).

It is probably impossible to hear this version with innocent ears; the original is too well-known. But that was probably intentional. Arranger Franz Hasenohrl's subtitle, "Einmal Anders," or "Once Otherwise," suggests that part of the fun is hearing how he rearranged parts and noticing his musical commentary on the original.

Strauss's famous effects for large orchestra, impossible to replicate with only five instruments, were transformed into clearly defined musical characters, the music distilled to its essentials, and the texture lightened into transparency.

Tresemble's performance proved delightful in all ways, weaving the ancient tale with flair, the bass's furious tremolo adding humor. It sounded like such fun, the only thing better than listening to it must have been playing it.

The middle piece, Prokofiev's Quintet, Op. 39, was the only true chamber work, and even it was not a standard quintet.

Composed for a touring ballet troupe, the piece uses five instruments — violin (Wu), viola (Dan Padilla), oboe (Scott Janusch), clarinet (Moffitt), and bass (Nunez) — as a mini-orchestra. Janusch noted wryly, "As you can see, this combination of instruments doesn't really exist."

Its origins notwithstanding, the Quintet is quintessential chamber music: five distinct, equal voices in shifting relationships — as soloists, in dialogue, collaborating, interjecting, arguing, supporting.

Although by far the most demanding of the three pieces, the Prokofiev was also the strongest performance. Each musician shone both individually and in a group, producing one of the season's finest performances.

A complex and varied piece, Prokofiev's Quintet becomes more intriguing with each hearing, each level of understanding revealing yet another underneath. Of the three performed, this would have benefited most from being encored, but its length precluded that.

The concert closes with Schubert's Octet in F major, D. 803, for two violins (Claire Sakai Hazzard and Wu), viola (Padilla), cello (Karen Bechtel), clarinet (Moffitt), horn (Parrish), bassoon (Schweitzer), and bass (Nunez).

Schubert composed the piece on commission for a patron who played clarinet and who wanted a piece "exactly like Beethoven's Septet." By 1824, when Schubert composed his Octet, Beethoven's Septet was already a generation old (1799/1800) and had been played so much that Beethoven wished he had never written it.

Schubert undoubtedly pleased his patron; the Octet is light and sunny and features the clarinet prominently. But one of the hallmarks of chamber music — an ensemble of equal voices, a hallmark Schubert achieved so gloriously in so many other chamber works — is almost entirely lacking. Was Schubert insulted by his patron's request? Was he mocking his patron's musical taste? Was this Schubert's idea of earlier Classicism? Was it his opinion of Beethoven's Septet?

Whatever the case, Schubert's Octet is really two melody voices (clarinet and violin) with six accompaniment parts.

Occasional glitches aside, Tresemble made the most of this light and entertaining piece. It is difficult to excel with unexceptional music, but there were moments of true beauty, moments such as the Adagio, which revealed Schubert's genius and highlighted Moffitt's and Hazzard's subtle phrasing.