Concert captures Mendelssohnian magic

Conductor Eckart Preu and the Spokane Symphony and Symphony Chorale defied the weekend’s threatening weather Friday to explore the music of one of Europe’s sunniest composers, Felix Mendelssohn. The audience at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox heard some of Mendelssohn’s best-known works along with a handful of rarities.

The Mendelssohnian magic of Friday’s performance added to the holiday mood.

Preu opened and closed the evening with two classics, Mendelssohn’s Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and his Symphony No. 3 (“The Scottish”). Between the two, the Symphony Chorale and soprano Dawn Wolski furnished an unexpected treat with a side of Mendelssohn nearly unknown to American audiences, his partsongs for chorus.

Mendelssohn wrote choral music all his life. The Symphony Chorale’s beautiful performance of “Abschied com Wald” (“Farewell to the Forest”) for mixed chorus was so easy-going and natural-sounding, a listener could easily mistake it for a folk song. This and a companion piece, “Abendständchen” (“Evening Serenade”) for unaccompanied four-part male choir, satisfies the ear as a fine meal might satisfy the palate.

The chorale was accompanied by the symphony in the works that opened and closed the four choral pieces. Mendelssohn made his setting of Martin Luther’s “Verleih uns Frieden” (“Grant Us Peace”) a tribute to Bach in its layers of melody that included a prominent part for three cellos.

Preu described “Hör mein Bitten, Herr” (“Hear My Prayer, O Lord”) as a “mini-cantata” originally written to the English version of Psalm 55. The composer liked it so much that he returned to it years later and adapted a German text to the music. Wolski shifted her coloratura brilliance to make her voice take on the innocent quality of a boy soprano, and was very effective as the psalmist. Chip Phillips was beautifully effective in the meandering clarinet melody depicting the psalmist having lost his way.

The “Midsummer Night’s Dream” overture that opened the concert was full of energy. Preu and his players evoked the enthusiasm the 17-year-old Mendelssohn must have felt at portraying Shakespeare’s confused tangle of human romance and fairy mischief.

“The Scottish” symphony is a wonder. It percolated in Mendelssohn’s mind for more than 10 years before emerging as his most mature and coherent symphony. The fast passages of the two opening movements have the same abundant energy as in the overture heard earlier, but that energy has an unsettled, sometimes even ominous touch.

“It showed Mendelssohn at his best as a painter of musical landscapes,” Preu said.

Preu and the orchestra conveyed the mood of the composer’s visit to Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse (in a fog, no less) and to the ruins of its famous abbey. The adagio shows the contrasts of the passionate love and dutiful formality that split the personality of Holyrood’s famous occupant – Mary, Queen of Scots. The success of this work may have been helped by the absence of bagpipes – although there is a hint of piping in the skirl of woodwinds in the second movement.

Friday’s concert made a richly satisfying combination of the familiar delights and the unusual.