Review: Chamber Orchestra thinks pleasingly small for Mahler

The world is impossible to imagine without Mahler's Symphony No. 4, though its well-deserved ubiquity didn't stop Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia from indulging in amiably quixotic time travel back to when Mahler approved a parlor-size reduction, perhaps because options for hearing the large-orchestra version were limited.

The 12-musician version - not counting the conductor or vocal soloists in the final movement - was made by Arnold Schoenberg's student Erwin Stein for strings, winds, percussion, piano, and harmonium - in a program that included a 14-string version of Schoenberg's challenging Verklarte Nacht. The concert was pleasing and never embarrassing (as the Mahler could have been), partly because the orchestra has been infiltrated by three-quarters of the Aizuri Quartet - violinist Miho Saegusa, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellist Karen Ouzounian (formed in 2012 and currently in residence at the Curtis Institute). With bassist Miles Davis brought to the front of the orchestra, both pieces were suitably anchored.

The Mahler transcription is clever, with solid priorities as to what to keep and what can be left out. One felt stuck with the harmonium, an outdated instrument that sounds like an organ in dire need of antidepressants. Michael Stairs maintained a supporting role, though occasional solos were unintentionally humorous. Conductor Dirk Brossé didn't really have enough sound to deliver his usual distinctive touches.

Sustaining the third movement's meditative atmosphere seemed impossible at the outset. But even the climax, when the gates of Heaven seem to open, came off far better than the other movements. (OK, the gates were a tad smaller than usual.) Everyone played with deep expressive detail, with cellist Ouzounian deploying Viennese portamento as if born into it.

The final movement, however, had recent Academy of Vocal Arts graduate Chloe Olivia Moore singing as if in a large hall with full orchestra, a buzzkill, indeed. Only in the final verse did she scale her voice back appropriately.

No doubt Verklarte Nacht, with its highly specific narrative of a woman confessing to and being forgiven for an infidelity appealed to Brossé's movie-composing instincts, each musical episode being particularly well delineated. Though the music itself falls lovingly on the ears, the string writing is highly exposed. Rough patches were inevitable but not serious, thanks to a strong narrative made possible by the chamber-music sensibility that worked so well in Mahler.