BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL PARK CITY, Park City Community Church, July 26 and Temple Har Shalom, July 27; through Aug. 12, tickets at the door, www.beethovenfestivalparkcity.org

Among the works played at this weekend’s Beethoven Festival Park City concerts were two gems of the clarinet repertoire: Mozart’s Quintet in A major, K. 581, and Brahms’ Quintet in B minor, op. 115.

Both explore the clarinet’s possibilities and are remarkable for their depth and scope and range of expressions. It takes a clarinetist of great artistic ability to do justice to them, and Russell Harlow certainly has the musicality and technical acumen to take these works to a higher level.

And that is exactly what he did. At Friday’s concert Harlow, former associate principal clarinet of the Utah Symphony and co-director of the Beethoven Festival, gave a radiant account of Mozart’s quintet. He brought a fine sense of expression and timbral control to his interpretation that underscored the rich melodicism of the music. Harlow has played the Mozart several times over the years and he has made the work his own.

Joining him were violinists Monte Belknap and Alexander Woods; violist, and festival founder and co-director, Leslie Harlow; and cellist Julie Bevan. Russell Harlow’s eloquent playing was intuitively mirrored by his partners; together they played with subtlety and nuance.

On Saturday, Harlow and the same string ensemble treated the audience to a profound reading of the Brahms quintet. Written late in the composer’s life, the work is expansive and filled with emotional outpourings. The musicians however, didn’t infuse their playing with sentimentality; rather, they gave a well defined, expressive and, at times, impassioned reading that captured the work’s warm lyricism. It was an eloquent performance that allowed the nuances of the music to come through.

Of particular note was their account of the slow movement. They brought out the quiet resignation that flows through the music with their sensitive and thoughtful playing.

Also on Saturday’s program was Johan Halvorsen’s Concert Caprice on Norwegian Melodies, a showpiece for two violinists. Woods and Belknap made the most of it and entertained the audience with their bravura playing.

Rounding out Saturday’s program was Beethoven’s Quartet in D major, op. 18, no. 3, performed by the same group of string players. They gave a refined and very polished account that underscored the classicism of the work.

On Friday, in addition to the Mozart quintet, Belknap, Woods, Leslie Harlow and Bevan gave a splendid performance of Alexander Glazunov’s Quartet in G major, Slav. Their playing wonderfully captured the lyricism of the first two movements and the exuberance of the final two.

Russell Harlow, together with Woods, Leslie Harlow and Bevan opened Friday’s program with Carl Stamitz’s delightful Quartet in E flat major for Clarinet and Strings.