MUSIC REVIEW : Gallic Muse Spices SummerFest Concert : Festival: Early work by Debussy is paired with Poulenc’s sophisticated Sextet for Piano and Woodwinds.

LA JOLLA â€”  French music has always been the spice of SummerFest’s largely Germanic programming. Festival artistic director Heiichiro Ohyama has a canny ear for the Gallic muse, and, frequently, some obscure French gem--a Faure trio or a Chausson piano quartet--has turned out to be the season’s most memorable moment.

Saturday night, two French pieces caught the fancy of the capacity-plus Sherwood Auditorium audience: Debussy’s early and virtually unknown Piano Trio in G Major and Poulenc’s delectable, familiar Sextet for Piano and Woodwind Quintet. Debussy never published the piano trio, which he completed at age 18, and scholars have only recently reconstructed the four-movement piece from disparate and incomplete sources.

Although it lacks Debussy’s unmistakable stylistic fingerprints, it is a curiously rewarding piece. It exudes naive vitality yet stumbles over its embarrassing patchwork structure. Effusive linear counterpoint slips into perfumed salon music cliches. Pianist Andre Previn, violinist Julie Rosenfeld and cellist Gary Hoffman made a fine case for the work, however.

They achieved a tight, highly engaged ensemble that eluded them in last week’s Ravel Piano Trio. Previn provided lucid, cleanly defined keyboard support, and Hoffman’s suave, lyrical phrasing would be difficult to improve upon. For Debussy, Rosenfeld found her most dulcet timbre and plied it with telling stylistic acumen.

Poulenc’s Sextet was blessed with a virtual dream team of woodwind players: flutist Carol Wincenc, oboist Allan Vogel, horn player Richard Todd, clarinetist David Shifrin and bassoonist Dennis Michel. Their approach was unusually assertive, emphasizing the composer’s acerbic wit and making his Mozartean quotations more tongue-in-cheek than affectionate. Each wind player’s robust sonority and sophisticated phrasing complemented Previn’s alert, invigorating contribution at the piano.

Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81, closed the program with more verve than insight. A work of mature introspection, it demands a deeper, less frenetic interpretation than Saturday’s athletic reading. In overly furious fortes, the ensemble’s sound became raw-edged and unfocused.

But in the slow movement, the players found time to savor the composer’s rich melodic profusion. Violist Toby Hoffman set the pace with burnished, plaintive solos, and cellist Gary Hoffman gave his customary support at the bass end. Violinists Sheryl Staples and Rosenfeld proved unusually well-matched in sleek timbre and lithe approach, but pianist Wu Han scattered brittle octaves that contributed to the ensemble’s harsh quality.