By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is one of the world's most famous pieces of music. But rarely does one experience it in a breathtaking new light - with choreography.

Two dancers from Cincinnati Ballet joined conductor Mischa Santora and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra for an imaginative program in the Fifth Third Bank Theater at the Aronoff Center Wednesday night. Afternoon of a Faun, choreographed by Cincinnati Ballet's Victoria Morgan, was like a dream, programmed between two musical finds by Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber.

Part of the fun of Santora's new "Twentieth Century Classics" series is the discovery of lesser-known music, performed in intimate, casual surroundings. Santora, dressed in a black turtleneck and seated on a high stool, explained the music - which included Britten's Young Apollo and Barber's Medea - to the sold-out audience of 85.

For Debussy's Afternoon, the 25-piece orchestra was rounded out with piano and harmonium, which added a glowing atmosphere. But nothing prepared one for the spellbinding experience of seeing the famous Mallarme poem that inspired Debussy, so wonderfully interpreted in ballet.

Sergei Pakharev was the faun, who arched his back, pawed his hooves and reveled in the heat of the afternoon. As he drifted off to dream about nymphs, a longhaired beauty (Erina Noda) glided from the heavy curtain. The music grew lush, and the two danced a fantastic, elegant pas de deux, she gracefully tossing her hair, he muscular and youthful.

Santora opened the program with Britten's rare Young Apollo, Op. 16, a brief showpiece for piano and strings. Pianist Michael Chertock performed its glissandos with panache, and the orchestra played exuberantly.

Barber's ballet score to the Greek myth of Medea concluded (sans dancers). Here again, Santora placed the music in a new light, by adding a narrator (Carolann Mary), who spoke lines from Euripides to set each section's tone.

At the end of Medea's tale of vengeance, she has left a bloody trail of bodies. Santora and the orchestra performed the rich and haunting score with a wonderful feel for its drama. The winds chatted sharply in the alternating moments of reflection; the strings performed with weight, color and excellent attack.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com