By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bells pealed, brass choirs echoed antiphonally and the May Festival Chorus shouted in great outbursts. Then, bass-baritone John Cheek strode majestically onstage.

The Coronation Scene to Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov was an electrifying climax to the May Festival's 130th anniversary season, which ended Saturday in Music Hall. The all-Russian program attracted nearly 2,600 listeners - despite a sold-out Reds game and Taste of Cincinnati - who cheered heartily at its conclusion.

On the podium was music director James Conlon, who opened with three festival firsts. Shostakovich's Festive Overture got the blood running, with supercharged strings, sweeping flourishes in the winds and a brass choir in the balcony.

It was a rousing prelude to Shostakovich's lesser-known work, The Execution of Stepan Razin. Razin was a 17th-century folk hero who led the Cossack people in a rebellion against the czar.

The cantata was extraordinarily vivid; the listener was immediately thrust into Razin's procession to Red Square, on the way to his gory execution.

One felt the awesome power of the work in its chilling conclusion, when the severed head laughed at the czar.

Cheek brought wonderful character to his dual role of narrator and the condemned man, enunciating his declamatory lines with intensity.

The chorus, as the mob, sang with color and fervor. Conlon captured its biting power and drama, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra played Shostakovich's grotesque themes in staccato bursts.

The Prologue and Coronation Scene to Boris Godunov, which came after intermission, was equally dramatic. Leading without a score, Conlon propelled his forces animatedly, with a feeling for its epic scale and grandeur.

The protagonists strode on and offstage; first Gustav Andreassen (Police Officer), an arresting young bass, then baritone Donnie Ray Albert (Shchelkalov), who struck an imposing presence and sang with a range of expression.

Cheek's performance rang with conviction in the title role. The chorus, prepared by Robert Porco and augmented by the May Festival Youth Chorus (James Bagwell, director), was rich and vital; "Why does thou forsake us" had thrilling power.

The conclusion, with pealing bells (an electronic carillon tower by Verdin), was true goose-bump music.

The program included Rachmaninoff's Three Russian Songs, which were striking choral gems.

Before the concert, in a rare treat, mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson gave a radiant performance of Mahler's Ruckertlieder with pianist Michael Chertock.

The season ended with two Festival traditions: four tiny flower girls and an audience singalong of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com