Boston Classical Review

Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Samy Rachid leads the BSO in Michael Gandolfi’s Ascending Light with organ soloist Olivier Latry Thursday night. Photo: Hilary Scott

Take it from Hector Berlioz: organ and orchestra shouldn’t mix.

“The organ and the orchestra are both Kings, or rather one is Emperor and the other Pope,” the Gallic master wrote in his Treatise on Instrumentation. “They have different missions, their interests are too vast and too divergent to be confused…Every time I have heard the organ playing together with the orchestra it seemed to me to produce a dreadful effect; it interfered with the orchestra instead of strengthening it.”

If Berlioz could have been at Symphony Hall on Thursday night, he might have come to a different conclusion. Indeed, most of the evening belonged to the King of Instruments and organist Olivier Latry, who functioned both as a solo force in Michael Gandolfi’s Ascending Light and as an orchestral highlighter in Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3.

The latter is something of a Boston Symphony Orchestra specialty; Charles Munch made a celebrated recording of the score with Berj Zamkochian in this very hall in 1959. As such, the selection was a safe anchor for BSO assistant conductor Samy Rachid’s subscription series debut.

In the event, Rachid didn’t need to worry about playing things cautiously. He’s a conductor with strong musical instincts, a good ear for color and balance, and an impressive sense of pacing and tempo, at least as far as Thursday’s Franco-centric program went.

His take on the “Organ” Symphony was a case-in-point. Completed in 1886, the score is anything but predictable, with a rethinking of symphonic structure, an embrace of Lisztian principles of thematic transformation, and a refreshing conception of instrumentation among its attributes.

On Thursday, Rachid approached the favorite with a good deal of freshness and energy. The opening Allegro moderato was biting, urgent, and at times breathtakingly soft. Throughout, dynamics were precise and shapely. What’s more, the conductor never forgot that the music’s imperative is to dance, be that in the lively episodes or during the supple, serene Poco adagio.

Though the symphony’s second half was marred by ragged string ensemble (neither the Allegro’s sixteenth-note tattoos nor the finale’s fugue were cleanly articulated), Rachid’s largely triumphant conception still came out vividly. Latry dispatched the organ part with discretion, taste, and a strong appreciation of his instrument’s fundamentally accompanimental role in the proceedings. Still, the rafter-raising final peroration was rousing and the quietly rumbling passagework in the Adagio affecting.

Like Saint-Saëns, Gandolfi reveres the old musical order. He proudly writes tunes and embraces tonal harmonic schemes, as his easygoing and often humorous spoken introduction to Ascending Light reminded. Commissioned by the BSO and premiered by them and Latry in 2015, the work marks the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, both through its overarching tone and via quotations of traditional Armenian music.

Running about thirty minutes, it’s a substantial effort, though one that often sounds familiar. If you’ve heard Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony—or populist Copland, a major John Williams film score, or Richard Strauss’s Festive Prelude—or sat through a church service that involved an organ, Ascending Light will contain no surprises.

What’s more, the music often evokes a sense of box-checking: big, full organ chords? Check. Toccata-like textures? Check. Varied registrations, fancy pedal work, and a floor-shaking, Hollywood-worthy coda? Check, check, and check.

That said, no composer churns out a work of this scope, complexity, or fluency if they don’t believe in it to their bones. Gandolfi clearly does. While relying perhaps a bit too much on repetition and not offering quite enough meditative darkness to balance out its optimistic luster, Ascending Light is that rare demonstration of contemporary tonal composition that is as well-written as it is genuinely ingratiating and memorable.

On Thursday, Latry was in full command of his part. Though these are not the showiest or most flamboyant organ solos in the repertoire, the virtuoso brought flawless musicality to bear on them. Bold, shaded, or something in between, his were impeccable, beautifully balanced contributions.

Rachid drew playing of commendable spirit from the BSO. The second movement’s Britten-esque scherzo snapped. Earlier, the blend of low woodwinds and horns with solo organ was exceptional. So was the tonal intensity of the transition into the title hymn just before finale’s coda.

Certainly, it’s uncommon to have a nine-year hiatus between a premiere and a second performance. Rarer still does the work in question leave a stronger impression the subsequent time around. Thursday’s was one of those exceptional occasions. Let’s hope that further performances—not to mention a recording—are in the pipeline.

Thursday was a special evening, too, for Berlioz’s Waverley Overture. Last heard under Seiji Ozawa’s direction in 1997, the composer’s Op. 1 is hardly his finest or most stirring effort. Yet Rachid ensured its mercurial character emerged readily. That he accomplished as much despite more erratic playing from the BSO’s fiddles is a testament to the young man’s musicianship. Let’s have more of him, too, while we’re at it.

The program will be repeated 1:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Symphony Hall. bso.org

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