It's music of the Americas this weekend in the season finale of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Masterworks by Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, along with works by Alberto Ginastera and Jeffery Cotton, complement each other nicely.

Copland's Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by jazzman Benny Goodman, who never was completely comfortable with the classical idiom. It is not untoward to speculate that SPCO principal clarinet Timothy Paradise's technically dazzling performance would have outshined Goodman's. From the languid and lyrical opening to the elaborate glissando that ends the work, this was a tour de force for Paradise.

It's not hard to imagine Copland having fun with this composition, combining contemporary sonorities with jazz influences. (The basses beat their instruments as a percussion effect.) This is a witty and enjoyable work that deserves to be better known.

Copland began his concerto while on a lecture tour in South America and incorporated Brazilian folk songs into it. Argentinian composer Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes" Op. 23 creates an authentic Latin feel without resorting to folk music, relying on his own melodic inspiration. He demonstrates his finesse as an orchestrator in the way he exploits a diversity of styles and colors.

In this set of 11 variations, each featuring a different instrument, the whole orchestra had the chance to shine. An elegiac opening cello solo by principal cellist Ronald Thomas was movingly played. Later, violist Sabina Thatcher had a demanding solo that she executed with real flair.

For all its startling sounds and juxtaposing of musical fragments, Ives' "Three Places in New England" is deeply patriotic and life-affirming. The first movement, reflecting on a sculpture memorializing an black regiment in the Civil War, is intensely melancholic. The second, in reaction to a Revolutionary War memorial, is full of familiar national tunes and builds dramatically and cacophonously. The third hearkens to an interlude with his wife. For all its romance, it too is filtered though Ives' iconoclastic perspective.

The concert opened with New York composer Cotton's "Elegy" for String Orchestra, written just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It is a melodic piece, deeply felt, but ultimately insubstantial. The Ives and Ginastera that followed made clear what was missing.

Scott Yoo, frequently conducting without a score, led an idiomatic performance of the diverse repertoire.

William Randall Beard is a Minneapolis writer.