The Mozart Requiem is one of those iconic works that seems to mean more every time you hear it. For the Seattle Symphony Chorale and its audiences, the Requiem is forever tied to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, which were commemorated the following year in worldwide Mozart Requiem performances by 200 choirs in 28 countries.

The Requiem returned to Benaroya Hall on Friday evening in the first of three Seattle Symphony performances with Gerard Schwarz on the podium. As the powerful performance gradually unfolded, and the chorus sang the heart-wrenching music with such texts as "Salva me" ("Save me," a thought that must have occupied thousands on Sept. 11), the emotional content of the music grew and grew.

The Friday concert was dedicated to the memory of the beloved singer and conductor Mary Ann Bisio, whose early death last March hit the Seattle Symphony Chorale particularly hard.

It was a fitting tribute: a moving, beautifully detailed performance that found the Chorale at full strength. Enunciation, phrasing, dynamics and expressive content were all at an extremely high level, as Schwarz urged the instrumentalists, singers and soloists forward into the dramatic contrasts and radiant melodies of Mozart's last work. The gradual rise of the "Lacrimosa" was especially moving.

This Requiem was fortunate in its well-balanced quartet of soloists, all high-quality performers familiar to Seattle audiences. Bass-baritone Clayton Brainerd made a powerful impression in the "Tuba mirum" (with a fine trombone solo by David Ritt); tenor Melvyn Poll brought a heroic, resonant quality to his solos.

Mezzo-soprano Molly Fillmore and soprano Maria D'Amato, both of whom have performed with Seattle Opera, were well-matched and lyrical. D'Amato overshot the pitch a bit on her opening lines but later settled into some beautiful singing.

The evening's musical hors d'oeuvre was another Mozart work, the popular "Linz" Symphony (No. 36). Schwarz and the orchestra gave the "Linz" a graceful, well-characterized performance of considerable charm.

After the Requiem, Schwarz guided the orchestra's strings and the Chorale into the brief, exquisite "Ave Verum Corpus," a reverent work that completed the Requiem like an "amen" at the end of a hymn. It was an excellent programming decision.

Finding just the right works to go with the Requiem is not easy; its emotional gravity can make most other music sound trivial.

At the concert's end, in that slight pause before the applause, gasps arose from the stage. One of the Chorale's youngest singers, a soprano in the first row, had fainted. (She has subsequently recovered and is now fine.)

Schwarz crossed the stage to see what had happened; the musicians then took their exit, but not before the audience gave them a well-deserved ovation.