Conductor Larry Rachleff Saturday night treated listeners at the monthly Rhode Island Philharmonic concert at Veterans Memorial Auditorium to what he called a “history lesson.” The four pieces on the program were all written within three years of one another during World War II. But they come from various national vantages, from Russian and American, to Hungarian and English.

Rachleff said the pieces reflected “each country’s slant during the war.”

First up was Benjamin Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” from his opera Peter Grimes, a score that combines high strings with angular, halting melodies and employs some wonderful touches of orchestral color as the composer coupled a pulsing tam-tam with the tuba.

It was a work the showed off a crack brass section and found the strings in great shape.

Next was the third piano concerto of Bela Bartok, a work written in 1945 as the composer was dying of cancer. He planned an accessible piece, one that would win over the public and might earn some money for his widow. It doesn’t get played a lot (the Philharmonic last programmed it in 1966), but it’s one of the more wondrous 20th-century concertos, a score full of wistful moments and a shimmering slow movement that sounds like a prayer.

Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein did the honors and gave a ravishing performance, crisp and delicate with never a strident note.

There was a nice snap to that simple opening melody outlined in octaves. And the hymn-like Adagio religioso was pure heaven, with Goldstein leaning into the stark harmonies. And then, all that seriousness vanished in a fleeting up-beat finale.

There was warmth and soul to Goldstein’s rendition, a performance that won’t soon be forgotten.

Among the music-making was talk about present history and the hit the orchestra is taking because of the ailing economy. Board member Marie Langlois announced after intermission that the musicians and the staff of the Philharmonic have all agreed to take a pay cut, and that includes Rachleff.

Langlois said that she and board president Almon Hall and his wife Suzanne have put together a $100,000-challenge grant that will match new contributions before May 31 on a two-to-one basis. She said the orchestra hopes to raise $250,000 to put toward its programs.

The major offering after intermission was the ninth symphony of Shostakovich. After Beethoven, composers have looked on producing a ninth symphony with some trepidation. But Shostakovich didn’t even try to emulate Beethoven. He wrote his shortest, most classical-sounding symphony, a wry foray into melodies that sound like a can-can and somewhat off-beat circus music.

Rounding out the night was the Lincoln Portrait of Aaron Copland with the state’s retired Chief Justice Frank Williams serving as narrator in the third movement, which quotes Lincoln’s speeches and letters.

Williams, a true Lincoln scholar who as written several books on our 16th president, had expressed some nervousness about getting lost in the piece when he talked with The Journal the other day. But he got through the performance without a hitch.

This, of course, is the bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth, so it made sense to program the Copland, even though it in no way holds a candle to the likes of the Britten and Bartok, which are true masterpieces.

cgray@projo.com