Throughout the afternoon, the three music-makers seemed to have a great time. Baird can make even the slightest of ditties sound substantive and charming, which she did here to notable effect in "The Irishman" and "The Sapling Oak Lost."

The singer also gamely shouted out the descriptive titles of the various sections that make up "The Battle of Prague," a case of pure shlock, 18th-century style, that generated considerable gusto from Mengelkoch, Whear and a guest percussionist.

On her own, Mengelkoch also delivered Beethoven's Variations of "Rule Britannia," which is pretty insignificant for Beethoven, but perfect for an afternoon re-creating Jane Austen's drawing room. In between the performances, the players recited music-related passages from the author's works, which added an extra degree of charm to the proceedings.

Earlier in the day, I stopped by Peabody to hear a concert led by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra-Peabody Conducting Fellow Lee Mills, who is a candidate for artist diploma at the conservatory (the event was "in partial fulfillment of the requirements" for that diploma). The opportunity to hear a work by Peabody alum Jake Runestad (pictured) on the program was another draw.

The orchestra, put together for the occasion, made an admirable showing. They responded energetically and, for the most part, smoothly to Mills throughout. He approached the restless Overture to Wagner's "Flying Dutchman" with a fine balance of propulsion and lyrical breadth.

I couldn't stay for all of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" at the close, but the first three movements emerged with an effective vibrancy. The third proved particularly rewarding, with some beautifully molded phrasing from the podium and in the stands (harpist Jordan Thomas added a good deal of sonic character here).

The highpoint of the concert for me was the piece by Runestad, "As Rain to the Sea," for soprano and orchestra, based on a poem by Carl Sandburg (I didn't think anyone under, um, a certain age read Sandburg anymore).

At the heart of the poem: "What is truth? ... How much do the wisest of the world's men know about where the massed human procession is going?" In the last line, the poet describes how "all things human rise from the mob and relapse and rise again as rain to the sea." Runestad responds to these lines with particular expressive power.

This is a big score with big ideas. I was struck by the composer's firm grasp of orchestration, from the most percussive, brassy outbursts to a highly imaginative use of delicate pizzicato at the close, which creates a wonderfully atmospheric fade-out full of subtle tensions.

When unleashed at full throttle, which is quite often in this score, the effect of all that instrumental force lined up against one soprano reminded me of David Del Tredici's "Alice" works -- except that Del Tredici uses amplified voice to help even the playing field. I wonder if that wouldn't be such a bad thing in "As Rain to the Sea," since few of the words could be deciphered in this performance.

Nonetheless, soloist Lisa Perry made quite an impression with the pure, gleaming timbre of her voice. Mills guided the orchestra through the eventful music steadily, bringing out the taut dissonances with considerable force and molding the calmer passages tellingly.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF  JULIANNEBARIRD.COM and JAKERUNESTAD.COM