The Glick is a setting for chorus and orchestra of a poem by Carole H. Leckner. The words and music are equally heartfelt and express ideas of universal unity and love with which few of us would take issue. It must be admitted, though, that the work as a whole is more admirable for its sentiments than its wit.

The demands placed upon the performers are modest and were handily met by the Choirs of the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir. The orchestral part was well done too, though there was a brief indiscretion from the percussion section in the final measures.

The bulk of the program was given to two of Bernstein's most striking works, Halil from the early 80s and the much earlier Symphony no. 2, to which the composer gave the second title The Age of Anxiety.

Halil, scored for flute and strings and percussion, is dedicated to the memory of Yadin Tennenbaum, a 19-year-old Israeli flutist who was killed during his military service in 1973. Its demands are far from modest, but it presents the percussion sections with the kind of challenge and exposure that percussionists love.

The soloist was veteran flutist Robert Cram of whom we've heard far too little in recent years. He played brilliantly. So did the orchestra under the persuasive baton of Music Director David Currie. The string sound was as good as this listener has ever heard from the O.S.O.

Bernstein's 1949 Age of Anxiety, a meditation on faith and emptiness inspired by W. H. Auden's great poem of the same name, is scored for piano and large orchestra. It is not exactly a concerto, though the soloist does stand in relief, perhaps as the alter ego of the composer or the poet, against the world created in the orchestra.

An indifferent performance can make the score seem interminable, but Lemelin, Currie and the orchestra fashioned one that held the listener’s interest and was occasionally inspiring. Chalk up another fine concert and fine season for the Ottawa Symphony. -- www.ottawasymphony.com