The big draw of this week's St. Paul Chamber Orchestra season finale, heard Thursday night at Ordway Center, was choral works by Haydn and Schubert. But it was the 20th-century work, "Concerto funèbre" for Violin and String Orchestra by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, that made the most impact.

Hartmann was a German composer who wrote his concerto in 1939, to express his horror at the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia. That he could write blatantly anti-fascist music and still survive World War II speaks to his cleverness and creativity, both much in evidence in this work.

Artistic Partner Thomas Zehetmair conducted with passion, driving the music dramatically, creating a sense of devastation and mourning in the orchestra's dissonances. As soloist, he made the most of the violin's anguished utterances in his raw, uninhibited playing.

Haydn's "Harmoniemesse" or "Wind-Band Mass" was his final mass setting. He had come back from his sojourn in London, where he had been exposed to Handel's sacred oratorios. That theatricality is reflected in the drama of this setting.

Zehetmair's reading was initially underpowered, missing the drama of the Kyrie. The mass was politely performed rather than evidencing much spirituality.

Haydn gave the soloists no splashy arias, but worked them collectively into the music fabric. On that level, they were successful, particularly effective in the quartet opening of the Agnus Dei.

But it was the SPCO Chorale that carried the performance. There was real passion in their full-throated singing, as in the rich harmonies in the Sanctus. An exultant "Dona nobis pacem" ("Grant us peace") brought the work to a moving and dramatic conclusion.

Schubert's Offertory in B flat, "Intende voci," was written during the last months of his life. He was only 31, suffering from what most scholars agree was syphilis. His text, from Psalm 5 ("Hearken unto the voice of my cry") might seem appropriate as a plaintive dying utterance, but there is a peaceful serenity to the work.

Zehetmair's conducting maintained a sense of classical balance and proportion, but the result was a little dry. Again, it was the chorale's performance that created musical interest.

Paul Appleby's light lyric tenor was well-suited to Zehetmair's conception. He sang expressively, but without excess histrionics. A warmer timbre would have made for more pleasant listening.