From the cornucopia of compelling concerts presented by the SPCO’s International Chamber Orchestra Festival, I’m drawn to one of the lower-profile affairs: the Sunday afternoon show in Arden Hills without premieres, bold contemporary works, or even instantly recognizable pieces, and relatively bereft of star power.

But this all-Russian program certainly has its charms. Shostakovich wrote his "Prelude and Scherzo for Strings" as a teenage conservatory student mourning the loss of a friend, and the two pieces capture the duality of the composer’s doleful side, the poignant wallower and the passionate struggler, in a tidy 10 or 11 minutes.

The bittersweet beauty continues with Shostakovich’s tragically toned 8^th String Quartet, arranged for chamber orchestra by the composer’s longtime champion Rudolph Barshai. Then the mood shifts dramatically for Tchaikovsky’s "Souvenir de Florence," a piece brimming with lyrical sunshine and melodic swing, with some passages (especially the end of the first movement and the beginning of the fourth) making you want to spring out of your seat.

These three works will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe without the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, although SPCO artistic partner Douglas Boyd, a COE alumnus, will conduct, and a joint assemblage of the two ensembles will perform the Tchaikovsky at the Ordway on Saturday.

But I’m interested to hear the COE perform on their own. Some of the members were around when the orchestra recorded "Souvenir de Florence" for the DGG label in 1993, and I bet their treatment of Shostakovich will be poignant, nuanced, and, uplifting in its sheer artistry.

Listen to the Shostakovich prelude and the Tchaikovsky here and watch that rousing 4^th Movement of "Souvenir de Florence" here. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, Benson Great Hall at Bethel University in Arden Hills. ($10-$25). 651-291-1144.

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