Mozart served on Russian Rye. That was the menu offered on Sunday afternoon by the Santa Fe Symphony at the Lensic Center for the Performing Arts. The rarely heard Missa Solemnis in C, K. 337, was warmly sandwiched between Mussorgsky’s Prelude to his opera Khovanschchina and Tchaikowsky’s “Pathetique” Symphony.

Greatly overshadowed by the Masses in C, major and minor, not to mention the Requiem, Mozart’s Missa Solemnis was his last liturgical work before moving from provincial Salzburg to the musical capital of Vienna. Much shorter and less involved than any of those three works, it is nonetheless a minor gem. The spirited Gloria followed quickly upon the heels of the short opening Kyrie. But the real surprise is the Credo, full of unusually vigorous energy for this movement, making the Sanctus, normally the more rhythmic of the two sections, seem almost reserved in comparison. Linda Raney’s chorus swept eloquently through the contrapuntally complex Benedictus, imbued with the enthusiasm Mozart’s best choral writing can inspire. While the piece calls for four vocal soloists, it is clearly the soprano’s show, the other voices heard only in ensemble. Elizabeth Weigle’s clear, bright and flexible soprano was well-suited to the demands of Mozart. After many short solo passages, she was heard at some length in the dulcet melody of the Agnus Dei.

The legends and stories that surround Tchaikowsky’s Symphony No. 6 and his subsequent death are almost as well-known as the music itself. Whether or not the work reflects a suicidal mentality will probably be debated as long as the work is played. Clearly it is intended as a study of strong emotion and introspection.

Maestro Steven Smith directed the famous main theme of the opening movement with intensity and sincerity but never allowing it to become sloshy. The unorthodox quintuple rhythm of the second movement afforded the cellos a chance to soar with the primary tune and a prominent counter theme, as again the woodwinds were in top form.

The brass were to herald the most triumphal peaks of the Allegro molto vivace, the most optimistic expression in the work, as the entire orchestral exploded in crisply pounding climaxes. Applause broke out spontaneously at the end of this movement, going against the grain of contemporary concert etiquette, yet in this specific case it makes sense. At the conclusion of the Adagio lamentoso, the work’s Finale, one is brought to a mood of gloom and even despair decidedly antithetical to robust applause. Indeed the more effective the performance, the more this is true. And Sunday afternoon it was quite true.

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