New York Classical Review

The American Classical Orchestra found the sweet spot for the opening concert of its 42nd season on Thursday evening. Alice Tully Hall was full for a program entitled “Turning the Key,” featuring Haydn’s “Lord Nelson” Mass and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. This is the music the orchestra was founded to perform, and Thomas Crawford led stylish, crisp performances, spiced with wit and humor, especially in the Beethoven.

Inspired by the opening measures of Beethoven’s debut symphony—where a seventh chord repeatedly resolves as if turning a key—the concert’s title equally evokes the generational and stylistic shift taking place at the turn of the 19th century. The two works brought teacher and pupil (briefly) together in a program that found both composers at moments of stylistic transition. Their situations could hardly have been more different: Beethoven was approaching 30 when he composed his First Symphony; Haydn was 65 when he composed the Mass.

Missa in angustiis (“Mass in Troubled Times” or “Mass in Distress”), commonly called the “Lord Nelson,” is generally regarded as one of Haydn’s greatest sacred works and a masterpiece of his late period. The nickname, bestowed after Nelson’s 1798 naval victory over the French, reflects the work’s historical moment, although its precise origins are uncertain. Haydn pushes the Classical Mass toward symphonic drama, using the limited forces available to him—strings, organ, trumpets, and timpani—to create music of extraordinary darkness and urgency, qualities that Crawford drew on to striking effect.

In the “Lord Nelson,” Haydn elevates the solo soprano line to an almost operatic level with brilliant upper-register writing, wide leaps, and sustained high passages. Rising soprano Shelén Hughes Camacho met those challenges gloriously with her supple, lush voice, while also emerging as a formidable protagonist in the Mass’s dramatic exchanges with the chorus.

She sailed through the high tessitura, sustained lyricism, and elaborate vocal writing of the “Christe eleison,” as well as the brilliance and agility of the “Quoniam tu solus sanctus.” The “Et incarnatus est” revealed her at her most expressive as she spun its long lyrical lines. Haydn gives the “Benedictus” a strikingly stormy character rather than the serenity usually associated with the text, and Camacho was at her most fiery in its high-lying exchanges with the other soloists and chorus.

Helen Karloski’s commanding voice made the most of the mezzo-soprano’s briefer, exposed passages. Rather than the virtuosic display afforded the soprano, Haydn uses the mezzo to ground the music and drama in darker, more expressive passages. Karloski brought urgency to the “Qui tollis” and was even more compelling in the “Et incarnatus est,” while the opening of the Agnus Dei found her at her most lyrical and contemplative.

The tenor and bass soloists are less prominent, but Steven Soph and bass-baritone Edmund Milly lent drama and enriched the musical fabric. Soph displayed vocal agility in the Gloria and expressive lyricism in the “Agnus Dei,” while Milly provided gravity and authority throughout, impressing in the broad, declamatory “Qui tollis peccata mundi,” the bass’s most substantial solo moment.

Haydn integrates soloists and chorus to an exceptional degree, more often engaging them in dialogue than separating them into conventional arias and choral numbers. Crawford polished the American Classical Orchestra Chorus to the same high level as the orchestra, eliciting a sound notable for its richness and suppleness. Its excellence shone in the seamless legato of the lyrical sections and even more vividly in the powerful opening “Kyrie,” the fugal exhilaration of the “Cum Sancto Spiritu,” and a transcendent affirmation of joy in the “Dona nobis pacem.”

In his spoken remarks Crawford posited that, despite all indications to the contrary, Beethoven was a fun-loving man with a hearty sense of humor. The First Symphony is evidence of that, with its musical surprises that must have astonished those hearing it for the first time. This performance combined Classical clarity and Romantic energy while retaining its elegance, with no danger of ever becoming polite or restrained. Crawford ensured the latter through his relaxed, nonchalant podium style, which permitted the music to flow spontaneously, unhindered by any hint of artifice.

Beethoven’s wit was on display in the famous opening measures, which Crawford did not overplay. The first movement was charged with rhythmic energy and crisp exchanges among the sections. The brightest exchanges were among the woodwinds, especially the fine playing of principal oboist Dan Bates. For all its vitality, the strings’ glassy sheen left an equally strong impression.

Crawford permitted the Andante cantabile to unfold with lyrical grace, transparent textures, and lightness. The winds again led the musical conversation, propelled by an understated rhythmic vitality that charmed. Crawford brought infectious energy to the Menuetto, emphasizing its rhythmic bite and humor while making clear how far Beethoven had already moved beyond the courtly minuet toward the scherzo.

In the Haydn, the sparks of humor were unexpected and unforced. Most came from the trumpets’ surprise interjections, which, while not humorous per se, caught the ear and prompted a smile. Crawford left subtlety at the door in the opening measures of the symphony’s finale, milking Beethoven’s musical joke of a slow, hesitant scale that struggles to land on the theme. With that out of the way, Crawford stepped back and let the orchestra propel the work to an exhilarating conclusion through rhythmic vitality, contrapuntal ingenuity, and, naturally, wit.

The American Classical Orchestra performs “Enlightenment,” a program of works by Haydn and Mozart, 7:30 p.m. October 21 at the Columbus Citizens Foundation. aconyc.org