This was an action-packed weekend for the New Mexico Symphony Classics series. Beginning with the sturm and drang (storm and stress) overture to The Flying Dutchman by Wagner, to an electric finale to Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, the orchestra demonstrated its formidable dynamic range and ability to create overwhelming fury building from the softest whisper.

Wagner's The Flying Dutchman was his first work to achieve lasting popularity, and while the Overture leads seamlessly into the drama, it can also be performed as a separate piece of concert music. The intense drama balanced against clear and engaging melody culminated in lush and innovative harmonies that would characterize his later music dramas. The orchestra always seems to do well with Wagner, and I for one, hope more will be forthcoming.

Jeffrey Biegel has been touring with Lowell Liebermann's Piano Concerto No. 3 since its premiere in Milwaukee in 2006. With its ferocious pianism and orchestral color, the opening movement, Risoluto, takes the Prokofiev concertos as its clear antecedent. The slow passages as well as the Largo struck me as so much wandering, while the Burlesque, the last of three movements seemed most effective, returning to the extroverted playing, spiced with some exotic percussion, and splicing in a section of quasi-ragtime. Clearly the work serves its purpose as an excellent showpiece for a virtuoso, and Biegel is one of the most exciting young pianists. He makes as persuasive an argument for the work as one could ask. Whether or not the concerto has a sufficiency of memorable thematic material to allow it to enter the repertoire, however, very much remains to be seen.

Roger Melone's NMSO Chorus has been particularly busy as of late in a variety of different kinds of music. Debussy's Nocturnes and the Suite No. 2 from Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé both employ a chorus in a nearly instrumental manner, singing in wordless syllables. The two works have much in common both in harmony and texture. Both can range from gossamer transparency to thrillingly wild climaxes.

The opening Nocturne, Nuages (Clouds), featured a haunting melody from Melissa Peña's English Horn. Fetes (Festivals) built a jaunty, jocular mood into a near riot of fiery brilliance, followed in an entirely contrasting mood by the women's chorus as the enticing Sirens of Greek mythology, seducing us into a near trance-like state before trailing off into oblivion.

The Suite No. 2 from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé began with the quietly pastoral Lever du Jour (Break of Day), leading through the Pantomime section with its wordless mixed chorus, and ultimately to the Danse générale with its overpowering thunderstrokes of sonority, full of near-barbaric energy, the entire orchestra playing full out.

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