CSO concert smooth, rich

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra scored an all-points win Saturday night with a program of familiar masterworks, excellently played.

Music Director David Stahl guided his forces with verve and elan, prompting standing ovations and shouts of "Bravo!" throughout the Gaillard Auditorium after each number.

The star of the evening was concertmaster Yuriy Bekker, soloist in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor. Bekker's crystalline tone consistently swelled above the orchestral sound, even at its most sumptuous.

The "curtain-raiser" was Rossini's Overture to "William Tell." Even though listeners "of a certain age" inevitably recall this as the music for "The Lone Ranger," there is lots more there. The dreamy opening cello solo, accompanied by the other low strings, and the way the violas and violins sort of sneak in to the mixture, in turn leading in the winds, makes a mixture as rich as Swiss chocolate. The opening bars were a bit shaky, but things were soon under control, and by the time the rumpty-tumpty familiar tune rolled in, all guns were blazing and all flags flying.

The evening closed with Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, subtitled "Pastoral." Stahl practically danced his direction, bringing all of the composer's happier moments to life. The Andante "Scene by the Brook" had me almost reaching for the picnic basket, and the allegro "Merry Gathering of the Peasants" made me want to join in their heavy-footed dance. The close of the allegretto "Shepherd's Hymn" took me a bit by surprise. Like much of Beethoven's music, it doesn't signal an upcoming ending, it just ends. Stahl's handling of it was just right.