A Preview of an Easter Concert at the Cathedral of St. Joseph FOR all the joy associated with Easter, its concerts are sometimes less-than-joyful affairs, heavy on extended works that, for the uninitiated, can be demanding. But this year's Easter concert at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford will favor brevity and material from a multiplicity of sources, broadening the appeal of the concert and, presumably, instilling in more people the spirit of the day. The program will feature two choirs, a brass quintet and an organist, among others, in a series of short pieces and excerpts drawn from nearly 400 years of opera, gospel and other choral and instrumental works. That panoply is intended to reflect in some measure the diversity of the Hartford community, said Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, who will preside at a Mass after the concert. The concert's connecting lyric thread is the word "alleluia," an expression of praise and rejoicing that is markedly absent from the liturgy leading up to Easter but becomes ubiquitous during the holiday's celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, not least in the music surrounding it. "The challenge is to set that one word so that it's broad in its meaning, and rich in its meaning, but is still understandable," said Brandon P. Johnson, the director of the Houghton College Choir, an 80-member group from western New York that will share the stage with the resident Cathedral Choir, a largely professional ensemble of about 25. One of the most popular settings - and the one that will establish the tone for the program, after an opening processional chant - is "Alleluia," composed by the American Randall Thompson after the fall of France in 1940. It implicitly recalls that harrowing time by its almost counterintuitive use of restrained harmonies and a tempo mark of lento, or slow - choices normally used to suggest sadness - in a setting intended to convey joy. But despite that paradox, or because of it, Mr. Johnson feels the work evokes the season's emotions at least as powerfully as more conventionally upbeat settings like that of another 20th-century American, Charles Forsberg, whose "Exaltation of Christ" will also appear on the program. "I think it comes across more sincerely," Mr. Johnson said. While Mr. Johnson will conduct the Forsberg, conducting duties on the Thompson will fall to Jeffrey Douma, the director of the Cathedral Choir. Mr. Douma, who also directs the Yale Glee Club, said that he had conducted the Thompson perhaps 100 times, many of them at Yale graduation ceremonies. The Cathedral and Houghton choirs will join forces on the Thompson and, like any collaboration, that raises the possibility of interpretive conflict. But although Mr. Douma said he will not hesitate to assert his prerogative as conductor - he intends, for example, to take the piece at a slightly faster clip than many conductors - he and Mr. Johnson separately said they expect little discord on matters of approach. They share a sensibility shaped as native Minnesotans and graduates of Concordia College. "We certainly have a common musical understanding and a common orientation," Mr. Douma said. That should serve them well as the choirs combine on two other, radically different works: a gospel number, "Praise His Holy Name," and "Regina Coeli," from the 1890 Pietro Mascagni opera "Cavalleria Rusticana." "Praise," written by Keith Hampton only 15 years ago, comes out of the African-American tradition, and will require the singers to switch into a drastically different vocal mode. But it is the opera that is likely to provide more drama. Mr. Johnson, who will conduct the Mascagni, said he will emphasize the piece's theatrical elements, possibly by separating the choirs in the church loft to mirror the separation of the singers in the opera's standard staging. His intent is to create "a diversity of colors within the context of the music." "I tend to be the kind of conductor who really likes to play with the senses of the audience," he said. Apart from the singing, the audience's senses will have plenty to absorb when the Cathedral Brass - mostly freelancers who also play with the Hartford Symphony - take center stage on excerpts from Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 and Bach's Cantata No. 142, written a century later. The organist Ezequiel Menendez will join the brass on the Bach. Mr. Menendez, who will play continuo throughout the program, will add yet another textural layer to the concert when he takes a solo turn on Simon Preston's "Alleluyas." The short but evocative piece requires deft manipulation of stops and manuals on the cathedral's Austin organ, which has 8,000 pipes and capabilities to match. Beyond adding to the concert's sonic richness, the Preston "Alleluyas" and Mr. Menendez's incidental improvisations will allow the singers time to repair to the loft. Such logistics have been much on the mind of Mr. Menendez, the cathedral's music director, as he oversees a 15-concert series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the reconstruction of the cathedral's sanctuary after a fire. The series, of which the Easter concert is a part, has enlisted the major orchestras and choral groups in Hartford and New Haven. It hit an early peak last month with a monumental staging of Verdi's Requiem, and will continue through November. For the run of the series, Mr. Menendez said he had had administrative and other help from about 10 people. He has also been in touch with Archbishop Mansell, whom he praised as an advocate for music in the archdiocese - and who praised Mr. Menendez for adding to the diversity of voices in the programming by maintaining contacts with outside groups like the Houghton choir. "He's open to bringing people from different areas," Archbishop Mansell said, "and that all adds to the wonderful development and variety of the music." Easter Sunday concert at 10 a.m. on April 8 at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, 140 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. Information: cathedralofsaintjoseph.com or (860) 249-8431. Free admission.