Mozart in Context by the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra

That is what the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, the KSO Chorale and Voices of the Commonwealth (Tony Burdette, director) brought to St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Thursday night. KSO music director James R. Cassidy conducted.

It was a service of Vespers at the Cathedral, seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Celebrant was Fr. Jon-Paul Bevak, and integral to it was Mozart’s “Vesperae solennes de confessore,” K.339, a work composed in 1780 for Salzburg Cathedral in Austria. Coincidentally, the event took place on the National Day of Prayer.

Vespers (meaning “evening”) is one of the canonical hours of the Roman Catholic Church, a prayer service held at sundown to give thanks for the day. It consists of six psalm settings, plus the Magnificat (the song of Mary from the gospel of Luke). As incorporated at St. Peter in Chains, the psalms followed opening verses by Fr. Bevak. Readings and a hymn preceded the Magnificat, which was followed by further prayers by Fr. Bevak and a concluding blessing.

It made for a sublime, time-bending experience enhanced by its setting in the stunning Greek-revival church, with its Corinthian columns and gold-drenched mosaics. Even the two to three-second decay time in the church’s reverberant interior seemed to reach back across the centuries.

To bring the event up to date (relatively speaking) the Prelude and Postlude were works by Mozart heard in the 1984 film “Amadeus.” The Prelude was his Symphony No. 25 in G Minor (which opened “Amadeus"). The Postlude was “Lacrimosa” from the Requiem (finale to “Amadeus”), plus the second movement of his Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor.

The Symphony No. 25 led into the service beautifully. The clashing rhythms of the opening Allegro con brio filled the Cathedral with sound. The Andante second movement was finely nuanced, with close attention to dynamics. The work as a whole, including fine work by the KSO winds, doubtless showed many in the audience what they have been missing across the river in Kentucky.

Soloists with the chorus were soprano Youngmi Kim, countertenor Michael Match, tenor James Onstad and baritone Nicholas Ward, as fine as quartet as one could wish. Although the "Vesperae solennes" (Solemn Vespers) is primarily a through-composed choral work and except for the Laudate Dominum, lacks separate arias on verses of the text, the soloists gave final luster to the performance. (In connection with latter, "Amadeus" fans may remember the Archbishop of Salzburg's complaint about "too many notes," a dictum for conciseness that Mozart apparently obeyed with his Solemn Vespers.)

As for the well-loved aria Laudate Dominum, Kim’s rendition unfolded with silvery agility and can only be described as divine.

The choruses handled their role with distinction, matching text with style in the Vespers and filling in at various points during the service with responses to Fr. Bevak and the hymn “Iste Confessor Domini” ("This the confessor of the Lord"). The joy and assurance of the psalms “Dixit Dominus,” “Confitebor” and “Beatus vir” (Psalms 110-113, 109-112 Vulgate) rang out freely and nobly, as did the more austere, contrapuntal “Laudate pueri,” ending on a ringing open fifth. The great “Magnificat” was similarly impressive, a kind of uplifting of hearts and voices that set its seal on the closing prayers.

The KSO, chorus and soloists were extremely moving in the Postlude, the poignant “Lacrimosa” from Mozart's Requiem. Pianist Steve Hinnenkamp and the KSO sent listeners home on a more upbeat note, however, with the gentle Romanze from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor.

The Vespers program will be repeated as a concert (i.e. without a Vespers service) at 7:30 tonight in St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington. Tickets are $9.50-$35, available at (859) 431-6216 or online at www.kyso.org