The second concert of 2015 by the Portland Symphony Orchestra took place at Merrill Auditorium on Tuesday under the direction of Music Director Robert Moody. As Sunday’s concert was cancelled because of the blizzard, I do not believe that there was an empty seat in the house, cold or no cold.

This was an unusual concert in many respects; some might even say that it was a crossover program because it had works of different genres, not all of which were complimentary.

The opening work was a commission by the PSO and was composed by Michael-Thomas Foumai, a reasonably young American composer presently on the faculty of the University of Hawaii. The name of the composition is “Becoming Beethoven.”

To be candid, I did not and could not associate the music with events in Beethoven’s life nor excerpts of his music. What I did hear was repeated rhythmic patterns at the beginning, repeated descending scales, and a section that suggested Shostakovich more than Beethoven.

The orchestration was brilliant and I believe that Moody and company gave an excellent account of the score. It was in the last section that I believe the composer found his true voice. There was a lyrical theme that made its way through the instruments of the orchestra and owed its inspiration I believe more to John Williams than Beethoven. Some might think this a criticism but it is not as Williams’ music, and/or his orchestration, can be just as good a point of departure as anyone else’s.

The next selection as well as its performance were more problematic for me. The composer was present and received deserved applause for his work. While I like Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as much as anyone else, I believe that it would be more appropriate to have it performed at a Pops concert.

Given the full orchestra present, a performance of “An American in Paris” might have been more appropriate. The soloist, Kevin Cole, is a jazz pianist and a very good one. He gave what I consider to be an idiosyncratic and uneven performance of the work, eschewing the lyrical aspects of the piece in favor of emphasizing its roots in jazz.

Moody supported his soloist and in fact where the lovely second melody occurred he conducted it in two and made no attempt to shape it. Cole received an ovation following the work (to each his own). I found several solo passages to be muddy and I simply did not care for his interpretation. He gave two encores of his arrangements of Gershwin songs “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and “Who Could Ask For Anything More.” He played these brilliantly and with almost reckless abandon.

Following intermission we got down to serious business, namely the performance of Beethoven’s “Third Symphony.” There are only a handful of pieces that could be called seminal; this is one of them. If his first symphony could be compared to the airplane the “Spirit of St. Louis” this was a B-17.

Of the four movements, only the first received a correct but impersonal reading ”“ “A puzzlement.” All the others received moving and eloquent conducting as well as superb performances. (Even the violins rose to the occasion playing with precision and sonority.) The horns, all four of them, distinguished themselves in the third movement trio.

I have come to take the music-making of bassoonist Janet Polk for granted, but she deserved special recognition. Moody was justifiably pleased with what is now his orchestra. I think it is time one of our universities awarded him an honorary doctorate. He has shown he is worthy of one.

This concert was sponsored by RBC Wealth Management as well as by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and will be broadcast by Maine Public Broadcasting on March 4 at 7:30 p.m.

— Dr. Morton Gold is a composer/conductor and an arts reviewer for the Journal Tribune.