It was a dark and stormy night on Monday — for those who stayed home.

Inside the Doris Duke Theatre, Chamber Music Hawaii's Spring Wind Quintet spread musical warmth and good cheer among those brave enough to venture out.

The concert marked the quintet's silver anniversary: 25 years of bringing live chamber music to local audiences.

Of the original ensemble, only bassoonist Marsha Schweitzer remains, but the bass clarinet guest artist from their first concert, James Moffitt, is now the quintet's regular clarinetist.

"It just goes to show," hornist Jonathan Parrish quipped, "that in this organization, you can really move up."

The concert also marked the debut of oboist William Parrish, the quintet's newest member, who comes from Virginia and is now with the Honolulu Symphony.

Flutist Susan McGinn, a longtime member, completes the current quintet.

Monday's program recalled the quintet's beginnings with two works from its first concert: Josef Foerster's charming Quintet, Op.95, infused with folk elements, and Leos Janacek's "Mladi" ("Youth").

Those works were each introduced by lighthearted shorter works: Sir Malcolm Arnold's 1943 "Three Sea Shanties," a humorous collage of styles on well-known melodies, and an early 17th-century set of variations by Jan Sweelinck.

Sweelinck's Variations caught the audience by surprise. It began with a clean statement of the two-part theme followed by a series of variations, each one ending in a full cadence. After multiple cadences, the audience wasn't sure which one was the final finale: everyone was waiting for someone else to begin the applause.

(Hint: The final variation is slow — clap when the musicians all lower their instruments at the same time.)

The concert's focal point was Janacek's "Mladi," which included Scott Anderson on bass clarinet, the part Moffitt played 25 years ago.

At first, the bass clarinet did not seem to fit with the other five instruments, but its oddness faded quickly into an intriguing combination that worked well. "Mladi" proved to be engaging, appealing, exciting, and fun, with its echoes of taunting children, lonesome melodies and staccato passages like glittering snowfall.

Actually, every piece offered new delights, wonderfully performed.

Playing was crisp, well-modulated, beautifully balanced. Musical moods were fully expressed, and each movement, a gem. The ensemble related smoothly, all five-plus-guest musicians slipping easily between being a focal point and blending into the group.

In short, the Spring Wind Quintet, even with a new member on board, was excellent — a delight from beginning to end, capable even of banishing the stormy clouds lurking outside.