Louis Langree is such a familiar presence locally that it's easy to take him for granted. But his Mostly Mozart performance of The Creation was that of a star conductor. The "Chaos" movement that opened the piece crackled with energy: the world's beginnings, as depicted by Haydn, became the stuff of high drama. If the tension later slackened at times, this could only be expected, given the ad hoc nature of the festival's concerts. But through most of the piece, orchestra, chorus and soloists responded to each other as chamber musicians. This was no mere reading, but a vital, engaged piece of music-making.

The oratorio, performed in English, made a fittingly celebratory send-off for this year's festival; I heard the first of its two Avery Fisher performances on August 21. Three singers took its five roles. Matthew Polenzani, as the angel Uriel, was correct and not particularly individual. But the soundness of his technique counted for a lot, and he achieved moments of true beauty: for instance, on the words "thro' silent night," sung with a fully supported pianissimo—an effect out of the reach of most tenors. In the first two parts of the work, bass Peter Rose encountered some uneasy stretches: the low tessitura of the role of Raphael sometimes made the voice lose its focus, with instances of suspect intonation. He seemed considerably more comfortable as Adam in The Creation's third section; the higher-lying role showed off the mellow resonance of his lyric bass to much better effect. He made more of the text than did either of his colleagues—or, for that matter, the otherwise excellent Concert Chorale of New York.

Of the three soloists, Carolyn Sampson (Gabriel and Eve) made the most striking impression. Her virtues were on display from the very first, in the aria "The marv'lous work." The arpeggios on the words "the praise of God" might seem better suited to a trumpet than a soprano, but Sampson sounded each note sounded securely through its center and sent it ringing through the hall. The voice had an almost unearthly sheen, although it must be says that Sampson achieved this by manipulating vowel sounds so drastically that the words were essentially unintelligible. Her performance also made me wonder about her expressive range; her sound is so bright that one can't quite imagine it conveying pathos. But both of the soprano roles here stay definitively in the realm of celebration (there's no snake in Haydn's Eden), and this Sampson projected vividly.

The chorus was most remarkable for its blended sound and its utter responsiveness to Langree's requests for dynamic shading. At the close: a huge ovation, from an audience grateful for the opportunity to hear Haydn's monumental work presented with such conviction and integrity.

FRED COHN

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