Pops get festive and spiritual in holiday concert
This season's Holiday Pops shows that Keith Lockhart and the Pops staff have put a lot of thought into improving the program. There is a place for both ''Silent Night" and ''Santa Baby" on a holiday program, but they shouldn't be jostling each other near the manger.
A nearly full house braved Friday's storm to get to Symphony Hall; the crowd was greeted by a stage festively festooned with greenery and glowing with lanterns and glittering with lights. The first part of the program was modeled on the British choral tradition of a service of lessons and carols; the emphasis was on the religious side of the season, and it featured both Christmas and Hanukkah selections. There were spoken texts from the Gospel according to Luke, from Rabbi Avi Weiss, Anne Frank, Dylan Thomas, Mark Twain, and Thomas Hardy; music by Bach and Mozart as well as Boston icon Randall Thomson; and some beloved carols.
It may have been a mistake to have all of the texts delivered by Lockhart and Kathryn Skemp (one of five sopranos who will be alternating throughout the Holiday Pops series) rather than professional actors -- they did nicely, but they had their work cut out for them. It was certainly a mistake to ask Skemp to recite from scripture while the orchestra was playing ''Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" -- music and text canceled each other out (the other texts were spoken without musical accompaniment). Also, this section of the program felt too long by one or two selections and texts. Nevertheless, the effect was tasteful and generally pleasing, and it was a treat to hear Thomson's Robert Frost setting, ''Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," which was beautifully sung by the hardworking members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
Lockhart supplied plenty of energy, and the orchestra played with more spirit than it has sometimes summoned in the past. Skemp is also a well-schooled singer with a delightfully fresh voice that was heard to advantage in ''O Holy Night" and Mozart's ''Alleluia."
The second half brought the fun things, and Lockhart doffed his jacket to show off his bright red shirt. Leroy Anderson's ''Sleigh Ride," in the version with chorus, raised a smile, as it always does, and Pops principal horn Richard Sebring played his own jazzy arrangement of ''We Three Kings" on the mellophonium (a curious cross between trumpet and horn). Skemp returned to sing a pretty tune called ''A Place Called Home" from the Broadway version of Dickens's ''A Christmas Carol," with a luscious violin obbligato by Tamara Smirnova. And Mr. S. Claus made a special journey from the North Pole to exchange chummy remarks with Lockhart. Dr. Phil had been at work on Santa's staff, who were facing issues of low elf-esteem. 