Conductor Edward Polochick kept the momentum taut and applied a strong electric current to the whole score. He drove the "Dies Irae" hard to particularly explosive effect, but he did not slight the subtler contours of the piece.

Uneven patches cropped up in the orchestral playing, and there was some loss of blend among the choral voices, but most of the music-making was admirably cohesive and fully charged. In one key respect, Polochick fared a lot better than Eschenbach did -- he had a much more reliable soprano soloist on Saturday. Theresa Santiago lacked the extra tonal heft and fire that can really hit home in this work, but she had the notes and enough of the style to get the job done. Ryan MacPherson proved especially admirable for the glint in his tenor and the poetic intensity of his phrasing. Mezzo Eudora Brown and bass-baritone Clayton Brainerd made generally strong contributions.

Sunday was early music day, starting with Pro Musica Rara's salute to birthday boy Johann Sebastian Bach, born that day in 1685. The concert at Towson University's Center for the Arts offered a welcome twist to conventional programming.

This was an intimate Bach party, with just violinist Cynthia Roberts and cellist Allen Whear (Pro Musica's artistic director). Instead of just divvying up the afternoon between them, Whear hit on the clever notion of creating fresh duos -- including transcriptions of Two-Part Inventions and arrangements of canons from the Art of Fugue -- to place in between movements from solo suites. I liked the resultant variety and the flow, not to mention Whear's aptly chosen anecdotes about Bach, interspersed through the afternoon. 

Period instrument players stereotypically favor snappy tempos. Roberts and Whear took an almost leisurely approach much of the time here, while also putting a good deal of personality into their phrasing. A few ragged spots aside, both musicians met Bach's technical challenges sturdily.

I had to skip out before Roberts reached the famed Chaconne of the D minor Partita, so that I could get over to the Shriver Hall Concert Series presentation of Piffaro, the Renaissance band formed 30 years ago.

I had enough energy left for the first half of the program, which was devoted to music from the time of Elizabeth I and involved an imposing array of instruments. Highlights included fun songs about tobacco, lively dances (the ones with bagpipe had extra appeal) and beautifully sobering pieces by William Byrd. There were a few less than ideally placed sounds from the ensemble along the way, but a contagious spontaneity and enthusiasm that helped to deliver a lively lesson in early music history.

SUN FILE PHOTOS OF EDWARD POLOCHICK AND ALLEN WHEAR