Tchaikovsky's first three symphonies don't get much respect.
No. 2, the Little Russian, is performed every now and then, but that just gives critics one more chance to throw stones at it, supposedly for being too blatant and repetitive. No. 3, the Polish, has much to recommend it in terms of melody and atmosphere but hardly ever sees the light of day. And No. 1, subtitled Winter Daydreams, fares no better.
I've always had a particular fondness for No. 1, which reveals all the exuberance of a young composer not quite certain of how to handle the symphonic form but unafraid of letting himself go. Catchy tunes, steeped in Russian folk song, infuse this wintry reverie; scintillant orchestration completes the attractive packaging. Tchaikovsky would write more substantive and momentous works, but none more charming.
That charm came through strongly on Friday night as Edward Polochick led the Peabody Concert Orchestra in a bright, engaging performance of the symphony. It also included a most unexpected element - a choral contribution in the finale.
Tchaikovsky revised the 1866 score a couple of times after its premiere, but I'm unaware that any version called for a chorus to sing a Russian poem about peace and freedom at the end. (I wasn't able to reach the conductor over the weekend to learn more about this novel feature.) The vocal addition certainly caused no harm, and the Peabody choristers certainly chimed in with great gusto, but I'm not sure it improved on the all-orchestral original. That point aside, there was much to enjoy.
Polochick's flair for maintaining momentum and underlining climactic points helped to smooth over some of the score's seam-showing spots; his ability to infuse phrases with keen expressive feeling paid off consistently.
He had the student orchestra playing with admirable poise and intensity. Setbacks in the winds or, less often, in the strings did not detract from the overall warmth of the playing.
Polochick, who received the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award on Friday, balanced the program with excerpts from Handel's oratorio Judas Maccabaeus. Although partly obscured, like the composer's many other oratorios, by his omnipresent Messiah, this work is richly laden with vivid music and narrative. Some passages, especially "See, the conqu'ring hero comes," rank among Handel's most indelible creations.
Polochick's vivid tempos and dynamic phrasing generated mostly attentive singing by Peabody's choral ensembles and more or less polished efforts by the vocal soloists, but the orchestra wasn't quite up to the challenges.