By Nancy Plum

Princeton Symphony Orchestra opened its 2024-25 classical series this past weekend with two performances at Richardson Auditorium. Led by Orchestra Music Director Rossen Milanov, the ensemble presented music of two 19th-century compositional giants, as well as a contemporary piece with a Princeton connection.

Saturday night’s performance (the concert was repeated Sunday afternoon) opened with an unusual work by New Zealand composer Gemma Peacocke, currently a Ph.D. fellow in composition at Princeton University. Peacocke has been commissioned by ensembles worldwide, including New Zealand’s Orchestra Wellington and Arohanui Strings. These two organizations commissioned Peacocke in 2023 to create the one-movement Manta, a musical description of the oceanic manta rays which migrate to the seas around Peacocke’s native Aotearoa region. Perceived as solitary creatures, manta rays are in reality quite active, demonstrating acrobatic movements which would translate well to musical composition.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra presented the U.S. premiere of Peacocke’s expressive piece, joined by members of a PSO performing partner, the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey. Peacocke’s work began with low brass — a murky ocean contrasting with the swirling winds of activity within the sea. Conductor Milanov built musical intensity gradually, as an undulating instrumental palette underscored jagged violin solo lines from Concertmaster Basia Danilow. The overall orchestral color was majestic, punctuated by Jeremy Levine’s crisp timpani playing.

Of all the classic 19th-century violin concertos, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35, Violin Concerto in D Major, is among the most popular. This past weekend’s Princeton Symphony performances featured Aubree Oliverson, a violinist who plays with innate joy, as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s challenging but masterful work. The three-movement Concerto was deemed unplayable by its original intended soloist, but Oliverson has felt a special connection to the piece since youth and had no trouble grasping the music’s seemingly impossible technical demands and emotional character.

The Orchestra began the first movement with a very lean first violin sectional sound, well emphasized by winds. Oliverson took her time on the opening of her solo line, drawing out the poignancy of the familiar melody and teasing the audience with cadences. The most virtuosic passages were in the third movement “Finale,” but throughout the piece, Oliverson displayed confidence in the fast-moving lines and finesse on the repeated melodies.

The second movement “Canzonetta” was notable for its simple, songlike melody, sweetly conveyed by Oliverson, flutist Sooyun Kim, and clarinetist Nuno Antunes. Milanov launched the closing “Finale” with power as Oliverson maneuvered her way through what previous violinists had apparently characterized as “unplayable.” In Oliverson’s hands, the improvisatory and virtuosic refrains of the final movement were expertly executed, with Oliverson always finding variety within each repetition.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra closed Saturday night’s concert with Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, a work both progressive toward the future and reverential to the past. With lush orchestration and rich melodies within an intricate structure, this four-movement symphony was a crowning musical statement of the Romantic era. Under Milanov’s leadership, the first movement emphasized sweeps of orchestral colors and a decisive sound. Complementary lyrical measures featured an elegant duet from Antunes and Kim. Milanov and the players well maintained the majesty of the movement with contrasts between a forceful texture heavily colored by bass and the delicacy of the winds.

Graceful orchestration brought the second movement “Andante” to life, as clarinets joined with bassoons for refined passages against pizzicato strings. Milanov toyed with tempos in the stately third movement, as tumbling winds and agitated rhythms moved the energy along. The closing “Allegro” opened with full brass in an almost funereal atmosphere, over a bassline adapted from a J.S. Bach cantata. The repeated harmonic progression in the celli and double basses provided a strong foundation to the effervescence above. This movement featured a number of wind solos including from Kim (hauntingly paired with offbeat horns), as well as Antunes and oboist Rita Mitsel playing against the same offbeat horns. The brass sections were particularly effective in this movement, including the trio of trombonists Connor Rowe, Lars Wendt, and James Rogers. Jeremy Levine’s solid timpani playing also played a large role in bring Brahms’ Symphony, and Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s kickoff to the season, to a grand close.