The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet brought chamber music to the Chinatown Salvation Army Monday evening as part of Carnegie Hall’s Berlin in Lights Festival. The group is not simply a bleeding chunk of the Berlin Philharmonic, but rather an independent, stand-alone quintet founded in 1988. In addition to their orchestral duties, the group’s members are highly involved in pedagogy, including the coaching of the wind players from the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, which just left town.

The program began with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Fantasy in F minor. Because it is so difficult to find a competent musical clock player any longer, flutist Michael Hasel fashioned a wind quintet version of the work for a windup instrument also known as a mechanical organ. The group immediately dazzled with its precise and sharply defined execution.

Horn player Fergus McWilliam, who previously played with the Detroit Symphony, served as master of ceremonies, striking a good balance between musical sophistication and introduction as he talked briefly about each piece in turn. He explained the crucial role of Franz Danzi in the history of the wind quintet, and Mr. McWilliam and his mates offered a spirited account of the B major, Op. 56, No. 1, made especially pleasing by the creamy tone of oboist Andreas Wittmann. Most notable was the stately and refined minuet movement.

The current run of “Vanessa” at the New York City Opera has reopened the Samuel Barber debate, essentially an examination of his worthiness as a composer. For me, Barber has always been a shining example, like Thomas Wolfe, of that unique American expression of poignancy. His “Summer Music,” which was given its premiere here in town by the New York Woodwind Quintet, allowed bassoonist Marion Reinhard, thus far relegated to oompah-pah duties, to grasp melodies and sing them strongly and lyrically. I would love to hear Ms. Reinhard in the later Tchaikovsky symphonies. Barber employs a full palette of coloristic effects, and these outstanding performers captured every one of them with the zeal of a lepidopterist.

The classic “Trois Pieces Breves” of Jacques Ibert ended the printed program, showcasing the superb phrasing of clarinetist Walter Seyfarth, who has the enviable ability to abandon a note just before it begins to decay. His jaunty approach propelled the entire group to a colorful and witty realization. It was perhaps a little on the Germanic side — think of Beethoven’s sense of musical humor rather than, say, that of Poulenc — but effective nonetheless. So what does a German group with an embedded Scot do for an encore in New York? A fine choice was “Blues” by Gunther Schuller, a piece more suggestive of jazzy riffs than filled with them. The five players expertly generated cool ideas without beating them to death. The crowd loved it.

This concert took place in the Salvation Army chapel, a smallish but quiet room that was filled to bursting with eager listeners, many of whom would have neither the orientation nor the economic wherewithal to venture uptown to 57th Street. With music-making of such a high order in such an appreciative setting, these neighborhood concerts are, for my money, the most important takeaway of this current high-profile festival.