Principal horn player Lauren Winter in her first solo appearance with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, performing the “Concerto No. 1 for Horn & Orchestra” by Richard Strauss. Photo by Sarah McCullough

The Portland Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to its many members Sunday afternoon at Merrill Auditorium with works that honored their talents, individually and collectively.

The concert began on a somber note by way of paying homage to longtime PSO violinist Deidre “Dee Dee” Oehrtmann, who passed away recently. Executive Director Carolyn Nishon spoke of how Oehrtmann was loved by both her colleagues and students. Guest conductor Eduard Topchjan then led the orchestra in a performance of Samuel Barber’s movingly reflective “Adagio for Strings.” It was a touching moment for those who remembered the violinist’s many contributions.

The scheduled program then got underway with a work that spotlighted several PSO musicians. Alberto Ginastera’s “Variaciones Concertantes” very gently conjures thoughts and images of the composer’s native Argentina while calling upon orchestra members to tie it all together with evocations of modern music.

The harp of Angelina Savoia conversed with the cello of William Rounds to establish a gentle sensibility that would later be enlarged upon by more assertive passages featuring the trumpet of Dana Oakes and viola of Cara Pogossian. The bowed bass of Brian Thacker brought Savoia back into the mix as the interestingly varied piece approached its close.

Lisa Hennessy (flute), Tom Parchman (clarinet), Amanda Hardy (oboe), Janet Polk (bassoon), Brian Diehl (trombone), Amy Sims (violin) and John Michael Flavetta (horn) also figured prominently in this brief but richly detailed work.

The principal horn player of the PSO, in her first solo appearance with the orchestra, took advantage of her chance to shine on the “Concerto No. 1 for Horn & Orchestra” by Richard Strauss. In a sequined gown, Lauren Winter came to center stage for a work that initially felt a bit stodgy following the Ginastera work’s abundance of variations. But the unusual sonorities of the horn, summoned with unassuming grace by Winter, gradually won the moment for this work from early in the composer’s career.

Another work from a then-young composer completed the roughly two-hour concert. A spirited performance by the PSO of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 4” brought the large audience back to a time when the Classical era in music was not quite finished and the Romantic period was just on the rise.

Deemed the “Italian” symphony in honor of where the composer began the work, the piece suggests descriptive words like sunny, pleasant, polite, engaging, even playful. The lovely melody in the second movement was particularly entrancing as the PSO filled the auditorium with sounds from a time long ago when music could be approached as high-end entertainment, subtly reflective of its time and place.

Likely with the memory of a lost member still in mind, the PSO gracefully brought what seemed a little extra lift to the Mendelssohn work and likely also to the spirits of those who may have needed a measure of uncomplicated beauty in a difficult time.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

CONCERT REVIEW

WHAT: “Mendelssohn & Strauss” by the Portland Symphony Orchestra
WHERE: Merrill Auditorium, Portland
REVIEWED: Nov. 10