By Sebastián Spreng, Visual Artist and Classical Music Writer

The New World Symphony’s first pre-season concert served to warm up the engine and test the road. And all the signs were positive; no need to worry. True, the concert was free, but the hall designed by Frank Gehry was packed to the rafters. Another good sign: a large part of the audience was young, attentive and enthusiastic.

The program, otherwise typical of the New World Symphony, offered an attractive, novel mixture designed to interest both young neophytes and old music buffs. It included a short piece by a brilliant new American composer, a provocative orchestration of an impressionist classic and, in a bout of full-blown traditionalism, a classical classic – perfect for showing off the skills of this American orchestral academy, returning from its summer recess with up to 40% new fellows.

In the expert hands of principal guest conductor Alasdair Neale, who has upheld the orchestra’s commitment to perfecting and polishing young musicians, the result was outstanding cohesion and first-class stylistic differentiation.

Nico Muhly’s Wish You Were Here is sure to whet appetites for the rest of the composer’s work. Born in 1981, the Vermont-born Muhly is still relishing the London success of his opera Two Boys, about an online friendship between two teenagers that ends in murder. Wish You Were Here, composed for the Boston Pops, is at once playful and enigmatic, with allusions to the cartoon world and Asian elements. In fact, the inclusion of a Balinese gamelan lends character and color to the entire work.

Equally interesting was Briton Colin Matthews’ veritable takeover of Debussy’s preludes for piano, small gems of undeniable orchestral essence that lend themselves perfectly to reworking and rearranging. Matthews succeeds in capturing the Debussyan mood with startling ease while injecting it with his own modernity. Each prelude evinces a unique approach, completely different from the previous one. For his finale, Matthews essentially recomposed the famous The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, and the result conveys unforgettable mystery and lightness. Matthews’ most distinctive achievement has been to revisited Debussy and retain the preludes’ French essence while lending them an inescapably British flavor.

After the two forays in which the orchestra displayed admirable adaptability and subtleness, it was Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony’s turn. Even if the “Fate Symphony,” as it’s often called, has been overused, it is still a good yardstick to measure the skills of each section of the orchestra. As before, the performance was outstanding. The strings exuded character and the famous second-movement French Horn solo was flawlessly executed by Jay Ferree.

Thanks to Alasdair Neale and his spirited orchestra, the pre-season concert portended nothing but good things to come. The evening’s only flaw was a fired-up segment of the audience that applauded ahead of time, mistaking one of Tchaikovsky’s tempestuous outbursts for the conclusion. Well, it happens in the best of families.