This was the Boston Classical Orchestra’s 31st season, so one presumes they knew the risks of playing a spring- and summer-themed program in mid-April. True to New England form, Saturday’s Faneuil Hall concert — one of a pair that closed the BCO’s season — took place on a frigid evening, with few hints of the climatic glories the music promised.
A seasonally oriented concert usually follows a familiar course, but the orchestra and music director Steven Lipsitt deserve credit for some unusual selections, starting with the opener: the prelude to Haydn’s oratorio “The Seasons,’’ which describes the lingering of winter and the arrival of spring. The performance, though, was rather square and heavy-footed, only catching fire at the end, though it did feature some lovely wind playing.
The rarities were the “Spring’’ and “Summer’’ sections from Alexander Glazunov’s ballet “The Seasons.’’ (Lipsitt announced from the stage that he thought the BCO’s concerts represented the piece’s first local performance.) The music is full of lilting, imaginatively scored dances — “Spring’’ placid and dreamlike, “Summer’’ more sultry and intense. The orchestra produced a sumptuous sound yet did well by its graceful rhythms.
As in the group’s November concert, a selection by Samuel Barber provided the evening’s highlight. Here it was “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,’’ the composer’s setting of James Agee’s poignant, nostalgic reminiscence of a childhood evening in his hometown. One of Barber’s finest accomplishments, it manages to spin out 15 minutes of music from the barest of materials, the process matching the dreamlike atmosphere of the text.
The scheduled soloist, soprano Dominique Labelle, had to withdraw from both performances. Her place was taken at short notice by Kendra Colton, whose sleek, silvery voice played nicely off the richness of Barber’s orchestration. There were balance problems at times, and Colton sometimes had to struggle to be heard, but her sweet, secure top notes in the music’s final phrases evoked a whole world in themselves. She also gave a lovely encore: Barber’s song “Sure on This Shining Night,’’ with Lipsitt at the piano.
The closing work, Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, has no explicit seasonal connection. The performance, with its slower than expected tempos, reminded one more of languid summer than of crisp spring. While this robbed the piece of some of its buoyancy, one was able to hear details in the score that otherwise fly by unnoticed. And the orchestra — particularly the brass and lower strings — did some of its best playing of the evening.
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