by Kelly Dean Hansen, special to the Times-Call

The Longmont Symphony continued its season of “old and new classics” on Saturday Night at the Vance Brand Auditorium of Skyline High School. Assistant conductor Brian St. John matched the high standard set by Robert Olson in the season opener, pairing another difficult modern work and a set of lush late-romantic tone poems.

Bedřich Smetena’s cycle of tone poems, Má Vlast (My Country), is a concert unto itself if it is performed in its entirety. Each of the six pieces is on a large scale, and although the theme of the first one recurs in the others, they are usually performed individually. Except for the last two, the six were all given individual premieres throughout the 1870’s. St. John programmed three of the pieces on the first half of the program, providing an opportunity to hear the thematic connections between them without the potential overkill of doing all six.

The opening tone poem, “Vyšehrad,” presents the melody that crowns the other two pieces from the cycle that were heard on Saturday. Initially presented in a brilliant harp cadenza (played beautifully by guest harpist Tonya Jilling), the full orchestra then develops the noble theme at length. The second piece, “Vltava” (“The Moldau”) is by far the most familiar of the cycle. Here, the woodwinds and horn get several chances to shine, and the Longmont winds rose to the occasion. While the piece--at least its main melody--was undoubtedly familiar to much of the audience, hearing the crowning statement of the “Vyšehrad” melody was made more meaningful by having heard that piece immediately beforehand.

The sixth and final tone poem, “Blaník,” was also well-played, but the climactic statement of the now-familiar melody could have used a bit more power and volume. These tone poems are lush, melodic works, deeply infused with a sense of Smetena’s Czech nationalism. The Longmont musicians captured the spirit of the music admirably.

After the intermission, St. John and the symphony were joined by pianist Robert Weirich in Leonard Bernstein’s Second Symphony, called “The Age of Anxiety.” Inspired by W.H. Auden’s poem of the same name, the piece is an eclectic mix of modern symphonic and jazz elements. While Bernstein did not want the work to be seen as a “piano concerto in the ‘virtuosic’ sense,” the solo piano part is often very difficult. Weirich performed the part from memory, negotiating the intricate metrical and rhythmic complexities in a manner that seemed effortless.

The Longmont musicians under St. John were also not intimidated by the work’s complexities. The percussion section stood out again, as they did in the season opener, as did keyboardist Cathy Millis, who performed both the celeste part and the unique passage for “pianino” (an upright piano in the orchestra that echoes the main solo part at one point). The audience seemed most delighted with the jazz-influenced “Masque” section, but the closing passage, which sounds heavily influenced by the music of Bernstein’s close friend Aaron Copland, provided a distinct, if unconscious, reminiscence of the terrific performance of the latter’s Third Symphony under Olson last month. The audience, which was perhaps disappointingly small, gave Weirich and the symphony an especially enthusiastic and well-deserved standing ovation.

The Symphony, together with the Boulder Ballet, will present Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” under St. John’s baton on December 6 and 7 at the Brand Auditorium. Robert Olson returns to conduct the always excellent and popular “Baroque By Candlelight” concert on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at First United Methodist Church. For tickets and information, call 303-772-5796 or visit www.longmontsymphony.org