The afternoon's most thoroughly satisfying offering came courtesy of the Bay Area's Gordon Getty, whose 20-minute cantata "Joan and the Bells" preceded intermission. In this skillfully wrought triptych, Getty uses a few swift dramatic strokes to conjure up Joan of Arc's trial, internal anguish and execution. 

Getty's harmonic palette is constrained by his neo-Romantic idiom, but the melodic ingenuity of the writing is irresistible -- especially in Joan's long and heartfelt central monologue, which continuously circles back on itself in whorls of doubt and reassurance. And in the work's powerful ending, as chorus and orchestra leap ever higher, Getty makes you hear the flurry of angels' voices and even the ascension of Joan's soul. 

Delan, who has sung this music since its 1998 premiere, was a sensitive, probing soloist, handling the wide vocal leaps gently and precisely and lending an air of other-worldly grace to the performance. Chernov, singing in heavily accented English, was a formidable presence as Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais, and the singing of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, led by Vance George, was robust and well blended.