When the month of December rolls around, the performing arts calendar predictably fills up with numerous presentations of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” ballet and Handel’s beloved oratorio, “Messiah.” From all appearances, the San Diego dance companies believe it is impossible to present too many “Nutcracker” performances, and some dance critics I know get migraines just thinking about all of those badly-trained mice urchins skittering about the stage.

Much as I love the music of “Messiah,” I am not certain that I need to experience that hallowed work every year, although there is never lack of opportunity. Certainly last December’s “Messiah” presented by the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Master Chorale under the direction of Baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan set a standard for the Copley Hall venue that will not easily be matched. So it was a relief that this year, Symphony Music Director Jahja Ling decided to offer Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as the choral-orchestral offering this first December weekend.

Beethoven’s Ninth is full of inspiration and uplift aplenty, although it has none of the specific allusions to the Christian nativity story that gives “Messiah” its topical cachet in the weeks before Christmas. Performed by itself, however, the Ninth has a virtue “Messiah” does not: brevity. The Choral Symnphony lasts about an hour and ten minutes, while a complete “Messiah” pushes three hours. And those pared-down, hour-long versions of “Messiah” that some directors contrive—“Messiah-Lite”—are just too cheap and commercial to even consider as art.

Ling conducted a solid, generously proportioned account of the Ninth, with a well-chosen ensemble of soloists and the disciplined participation of the Master Chorale, prepared by its music director Gary McKercher. If it lacked the sheer exhiliration of last month’s “Das Lied von der Erde” performance, it delivered a welcome bolt of Enlightenment optimism.

The grand final movement with choir and soloists embodied the bouyant mood of the Schiller text, helpfully given in English translation in supertitles above the orchestra. As the familiar “Ode to Joy” theme worked its way up from the basses and celli to the upper strings and then finally to the whole orchestra, the orchestra’s warm sonority poured forth. If only the strings could retain some of that warmth when they are asked to play octave unisons.

The vocal soloists, well-balanced and colorful, made a strong ensemble, although placing them towards the back of the stage, between the Chorale and the back row of the orchestra, muted their effect. It is customary to have the soloists at the front edge of the stage, and because of the unfriendly acoustics of Copley Hall to the unamplified voice, they need to be there.

Baritone Nathaniel Webster gave a more lyrical and poetic character to his opening salvo, happily (for my ears, at least) avoiding the stentorian declamation most basses and baritones select for this most familiar passage. Hearing his ingratiating, supple vocal approach, it came as no surprise to learn that Guglielmo in Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” is one of his signature roles.

Robert Breault projected his slightly brighter but equally flexible tenor voice to great advantage, and soprano Mary Dunleavy soared above her colleagues with beautifully focused, gleaming vocal allure and strength.

Because Beethoven keeps his chorus in their highest ranges for extended periods in this piece, it is unusually taxing on singers. The Chorale sopranos survived their stratospheric challenges and still had some radiant sounds left in the final measures. The balance of the ensemble would improve if the number of men were closer in number to the size of the women’s ranks, but that does not gainsay the good work of the tenors and basses who do sing with the Chorale.

Of the Ninth’s earlier movements, the Adagio stood out for its numerous lilting melodic excursions, carefully groomed by Ling and executed with finesse by the orchestra. The violas’ big cantabile theme was particularly captivating. Ling kept the mood of expectation and surprise palpable throughout the opening movement, a wise choice for a lengthy movement that leads into an unusually long symphony.

The brisk Molto Vivace, with its brittle, dropping-octave motifs, could have been more precise and incisive in the upper strings.

A nearly full house greeted the completed Symphony with generous and hearty applause. If anyone was bereft for not hearing the “Hallelujah Chorus,” it was not discernible.

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