Greenfield, MA, 10 March 2008. Yesterday afternoon in the 2nd Congregational Church on Court Square here, recently appointed Chorus Director and Assistant Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra Lisa Jablow made her public début in this role with an interesting program of diverse infrequently performed works.

The chorus and full complement of winds and brass led off with Brahms’ Begräbnisgesang, Op. 13, his first choral work composed when he was 25, and thus the work on the program qualifying as a “Youthful Vision,” the PVSO’s theme for the year. It foreshadows, in subject and even in the sense that it contains some similar melodic lines, the beloved Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45, composed some 10 years later. The sound was rich, diction clear, accompaniment well balanced; it was a lovely beginning.

Next came two short works by Verdi, an 1880 Pater Noster, setting a text in Italian by Dante rather than the standard Latin one, and the Ave Maria from the Quattro pezzi sacri of 1898, both with piano accompaniment, although they are intended to be sung a cappella. These were fairly well executed, but were less satisfying choices, in part because the instruments were absent, and in part because they are simply less attractive pieces. One sensed that the singers did not particularly warm to them either. The set made for a relatively brief 1st half.

After the pause, Jablow led the winds alone in Gounod’s 1895 Petite symphonie à vents. She deployed the 9 musicians, 2 each clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and French horn with solo flute, in a single row, as a nonet. This made the work feel more like a chamber than an orchestral piece and allowed the individual voices to be heard distinctly rather than lost in the blend that would have occurred had they been arranged in 2 rows. The overall effect was perhaps less powerful, but gained in intimacy and ability to discern details, and perhaps in charm as well. The hunt rhythm in the 3rd movement Scherzo was well rendered without being overly galloping. Meg Friedrich did fine solo flute work.

The chorus returned for the concluding, and hugely contrasting work, Stravinsky’s 1948 Mass. This is a very difficult work for both the performers and the listeners. It is a sometimes jarring, starkly modern interpretation of ancient Slavonic chant in the Russian Orthodox tradition, often using semitones. There are no hummable Brahmsian melodies here. The chorus did a yeoman’s job; its hard work was evident even if one cannot speak of a lyrical beauty of tone. The instruments did not balance quite as well as in the Brahms, however, and drowned out the soloists in portions of the 2nd movement Gloria. While one cannot fall in love with this work, one can appreciate it, and the more than perfunctory applause of the audience at its conclusion demonstrated that the chorus succeeded in both rendering and communicating the work’s austere beauty.

The printed program book included excellent program notes by oboist Zeke Hecker. Jablow supplemented them with introductory comments prior to the performance of each piece. Both surely contributed to the audience’s appreciation of the works, especially the Stravinsky. It was an auspicious début for Jablow.

Note: The current (March-April 2008) issue of Symphony Magazine; the Magazine of the League of American Orchestras, features the PVSO in an article by Jennifer Melick, Managing Editor entitled "Small Orchestras, Big Music" (Vol. 59, No. 2, pp. 48-56). The header says: "How do you pull off top level performances when your orchestra's total annual budget is a small fraction of those in the country's top tier? Three orchestras do it with an extra dose of ambition and creativity." The PVSO is in Tier 7: orchestras with budgets under $400k - it's actually $218k). The other 2 are the Helena, MT, Symphony with a budget of $600k and the San Bernadino, CA, Symphony with a budget of $800k.