Three viola quintets in one evening.

Some programming wizard’s idea of a viola joke?

The Brentano String Quartet is on tour this season with violist Hsin-Yun Huang with an uncommon set of three Mozart quintets in which the fifth wheel in all three is the viola. The ensemble performed last night at the Southern Theatre as part of the Chamber Music Columbus concert series.

Mozart’s love for the viola no doubt inspired him to create ingenious roles for the instrument in these pieces. Discovering how and where he gave the second viola a voice was a special part of the enjoyment of the first piece, the Quintet in B-Flat Major, K. 174.

The players were seated with the two violins and two violas opposite each other onstage, and the cello in the middle. Thus, it was easy to pick out who was playing what and when. In the first movement, the oft-maligned instruments seemed to make up their own small nation of violas, operating independently as a unit. But in the second movement, the first violin and first viola carried on their own dialogue, with the second players on each instrument offering echoes.

Overall, the added middle-range instrument seemed to soften the sound of the quartet and make it less trebledominated, as the composer seemed to go out of his way to engage the violas in imaginative — if not always obvious — ways. But this softer quality also was a manifestation of this group of players, and it wasn’t entirely satisfactory.

The Brentano — first violinist Mark Steinberg, second violinist Serena Canin, violist Misha Amory and cellist Nina Maria Lee — have an animated performing style that can distract from the appreciation of their actual playing. Strangely, it seems at odds with the music-making itself, which too often lacked the energy that some of the quartet members manifested physically. The guest violist never emerged in a starring role at all, consistently playing second to the quartet’s own violist.

In the Quintet in D Major, K. 593, the first movement jolted through so many stops and starts it was fatiguing to listen to. It seemed symbolic: The players consistently undermined the momentum of the music and shied away from building big moments. It was as though they forever got lost in the trees, without ever seeing the forest.

Nowhere was this clearer, or more disappointing, than in the first movement of the final selection, the Quintet in G Minor, K. 516. This contrapuntal allegro should build and build tension and sweep listeners off their feet. And yet even here the Brentano undermined their own energies by slowing, dropping and pulling back.

A number of people left the concert early, and there was a lot of coughing and restless movement among those who stayed. Don’t blame Mozart — or the viola. The joke wasn’t on them.

bzuck@dispatch.com