By Nancy Plum

Spring is always a time of renewal, and for college students the season may mean an opportunity to enjoy a break from the academic race to the end of the semester. For the members of the Princeton University Orchestra and Glee Club, the early months of this spring have meant hard work and preparation as the two ensembles came together for a presentation of 20th-century pieces. This past weekend’s performances of Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé showed precision, musicality, and crisp playing in the annual Stuart B. Mindlin Concerts.

Friday night’s performance (which was repeated Saturday night) in Richardson Auditorium juxtaposed two French composers linked by their use of Impressionistic compositional devices as well as a unique scoring for chorus. Early 20th-century composers in France often added choral forces as wordless voices for effect — distinctly evident in Ravel’s 1912 ballet Daphnis et Chloé. Fifty years later, Poulenc’s 1960 six-movement Gloria drew on voices to the fullest to convey a liturgical test. Led by Orchestra conductor Michael Pratt, the University Orchestra and Glee Club were precise from the outset of the Gloria, with short decisive conducting gestures from Pratt eliciting a crisp sound. Off-beat rhythms were meticulous from the Glee Club, and it was unmistakable that this piece was a good fit for these singers.

Throughout the six movements, the singers of the Glee Club, prepared by University choral specialist Michael McCormick, kept endings exact, often accompanied by clean winds and brass. Poulenc may have tried to get away from the blurred harmonies and atmospheric sound of his predecessors, and the unexpected rhythms and imaginative instrumentation recalled the Paris music of Igor Stravinsky. Adding an elegant color to the music were wind and brass solos, including bassoonist James Dyson and hornist Clara Conatser. Stepping out from the Glee Club as soprano soloist for this work was Princeton University junior Talia Czuchlewski. Singing in the third, fifth and sixth movements, Czuchlewski displayed a light and clear sound, hitting top notes with ease. Poulenc’s orchestration was a lush palette through which to sing, and Czuchlewski easily handled her role in the music.

Maurice Ravel composed Daphnis et Chloé as a ballet on a Greek dramatic theme for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Although not a great success at its premiere, the score has since been regarded as a model of the French Impressionistic style, with excerpts subsequently extracted by Ravel into two orchestral suites. The University Orchestra performed the complete ballet Friday night, with the Glee Club singing from the Richardson balconies as a Greek chorus adding musical color and shadings. Divided into three theatrical sections and a variety of “danses,” Daphnis is a mastery of orchestration, with wind and brass solos giving life to the characters in the mythological storyline. Opening with subtle harp arpeggios against low strings, the “Introduction et Danse religieuse” were marked by elegant solo lines from flutist Audrey Yang and hornist Spencer Bauman. Ravel’s instrumentation was renowned for its “sunrise” effect, with which the Orchestra rose to full volume amid the ebb and flow of dynamics.

As conducted by Pratt, the dances of the ballet flowed smoothly into one another, and tempos effortlessly shifted. Yang’s flute solo playing reappeared throughout the ballet, often as exotic melodies and just as often answered by Bauman’s solo horn lines. Clarinets and bassoons were frequently paired, with principal clarinetist Kyle Tsai providing solid solo playing. The University Glee Club, prepared by Gabriel Crouch, sang wordless accompaniment in several movements with a choral sound that resonated cleanly through the hall.

The Orchestra musicians played with quite a bit of vibrato at times, creating a particularly rich viola and cello sectional sound. Ravel’s score called for an especially prominent group of flutes, which Friday night also included two piccolos and alto flute. The Orchestra’s eight percussionists came to the forefront in the final “Bacchanale,” with the Glee Club providing intense singing from the balconies. Swirling wind lines and refined horns aided in bringing the extensive ballet to a close. As with each concert at this time of year, both Pratt and Crouch acknowledged the graduating seniors in the Orchestra and Glee Club, with students congratulating their colleagues and the audience marveling at the laundry lists of academic degrees and certificates the musicians had compiled while still finding time for a great performance.