By Nancy Plum

Certain musical pieces are tailor-made for specific ensembles. Princeton Pro Musica, now celebrating its fourth decade of music-making, has long excelled at choral/orchestral works requiring precision, block sound and expert counterpoint. Eighteenth-century Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn composed numerous sacred masses combining chorus, soloists, and orchestra, but fewer oratorios. The first of these was Die Schöpfung (The Creation), Haydn’s musical interpretation of the creation of the Earth, the animal world, and man. Premiered in 1798, The Creation was an immediate hit in Vienna, receiving instant acclaim and becoming an unofficial anthem of Vienna until falling into obscurity toward the end of the 19th century. Revived in the mid-20th century, The Creation is now a staple of choral societies worldwide and an audience favorite.

Led by Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau, Princeton Pro Musica presented Haydn’s illustrative oratorio Sunday afternoon at Richardson Auditorium. Together with a chamber orchestra and three vocal soloists, the 100-member chorus performed Haydn’s uplifting music showing solid preparation and command of the music. Conductor Brandau began the long orchestral introduction with restraint, as the earth slowly came into being. The string sections demonstrated an ability to play very quietly, with wind solos depicting life forms emerging amid the murky chaos. Clearly rooted in the oratorio tradition of George Frideric Handel, The Creation also showed the influence of Mozart in lyrical arias and poignant duets.

Haydn assigned a great deal of the narration in this piece to the bass soloist. Bass-baritone Edmund Milly, whose Princeton connections date back to his time as a student at the American Boychoir School, consistently sang with his trademark diction and told the story well. He found a variety of expressive emotions in the text, singing clean duet passages with soprano Elisse Albian and creating gracefulness more commonly found in the operas of Mozart.

A seasoned and refined Baroque and Classical era music artist, Albian sang from the outset with clarity and sparkle. Several of her arias and ensemble numbers included passages racing up and down to high B-flats, which she handled with ease. Albian and Milly were especially well matched as Adam and Eve in the oratorio’s third part. Joining this pair of soloists was tenor Brian Giebler, also an experienced oratorio singer. Giebler possessed a light and expressive voice, at times getting lost in the orchestral texture, but always paying close attention to the text and effectively communicating the introduction of man into the creation story.

The Creation was a concise oratorio creating a musical bridge between the elegance of the 18th and the drama of the 19th centuries. Haydn’s orchestration paid tribute to a Renaissance era concept of conveying musical characteristics to animals, with heavy lower strings representing whales, decisive motives as lions and tigers and dotted rhythms introducing the “noble steed.” Agitated strings portrayed a host of insects, and bass Milly and the orchestra humorously stretched out the musical lines of the sinuous worm.

For this performance, Brandau had compiled a crisp and efficient chamber orchestra. A small group of winds, comprised of flutists Reva Youngstein and Gretchen Pusch, oboist Keve Wilson, clarinetist Daniel Spitzer, and bassoonist Atsuko Sato provided unique orchestral coloring and individuality. A pair of horns played by Karl Kramer and Sarah Boxmeyer, combined with trumpeter Brad Siroky added precision and majesty as the world came to life. Harpsichordist Eric Plutz and the lower strings provided precise continuo playing, moving the recitative sections along well.

Oratorios by nature use the chorus at explicit times for dramatic moments and commentary on the story. Princeton Pro Musica proved itself as an ensemble capable of a variety of musical effects, well handling the complex Baroque-style fugues and raising the roof with full sound when appropriate. For Haydn, The Creation was a risky foray into the unknown world of oratorio, but for Pro Musica, these works have always been the ensemble’s bread and butter, and Sunday’s concert was a solid way to start the new season.

Princeton Pro Musica will present its next performance on Sunday, December 15, at 4 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium. “A Feast of Carols” will feature music of the season, including selections from George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” and the Christmas works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Ticket information can be obtained by visiting  princetonpromusica.org.