The second Sunday concert in the classical series of the Portland Symphony took place on Nov. 22 at Merrill Auditorium under the direction of Robert Moody. It featured pianist William Wolfram as soloist in the second piano concerto by Johannes Brahms.

To be candid, (and to my sorrow) I had not heard of Mr. Wolfram. A brief reading of his biography shows that he has been soloist with most of the second tier of really good symphony orchestras (San Francisco, St. Louis, Indianapolis) and soloist with many fine foreign orchestras as well, but not with such as the New York, Boston, Philly, Chicago or Los Angeles orchestras.

On the basis of his performance here in Portland, I can only wonder why on earth not! He is a superb pianist and has the musical smarts to go with it.

There are two schools of thought with regard to a concerto. For some (most?) it is or should be a vehicle to display the technical prowess of the soloist. The orchestra should play by itself just long enough for the soloist to mop his brow or tinker with the tuning. For others (myself included) it should first be a composition with the solo instrument, the principal but not the only soloist of the orchestra, in the tradition of a concerto grosso. (That is the path I took in my lone piano concerto.)

One critic described this concerto as a symphony with a piano tagging along. Surely while it is symphonic in scope, it is real concerto, and I might add one with depth and expansive expressiveness.

Mr. Wolfram’s playing demonstrated clean technique, a wonderful touch and poetic insight, and I would add that he really owns this concerto. Mr. Moody, eschewing his baton was an ideal collaborator drawing some really beautiful colors from the orchestra.

The playing of the horns and other winds was exemplary. The strings did their finest playing, especially the celli and violas in the slow movement. The changes of tempi in the second and last movement were seamless.

Mr. Wolfram may not be a showman but he surely is a pianist and a superb one at that. Mr. Moody recognized the efforts of his wind players and (belatedly) recognized James Kennedy, the principal cellist for his solo in the slow movement. For myself and most people in the audience, this was honest and meaningful music making at its best.

At the start of the concert Mr. Moody observed that the lights were arranged in the blue-white-red colors of the French flag and also of the significance of the date. (The trauma of Kennedy’s assassination is unhappily by now largely forgotten.) He also noted that Joseph Silverstein, who died the day before, was the last person to conduct Petrushka with the PSO.

The program opened with a work called “Carnival Fever” by Cynthia Wong. Like the “Alice” symphony by Tredici performed at the previous concert, this work is based on a story. While the music in the story was more or less successfully reflected in the latter’s score, I failed to see any relationship in this work. Sorry, but it seemed to be full of sound and fury, signifying … I really can’t say what.

Mr. Moody and the orchestra gave this complex and dissonant work what probably was a good performance. The final work on the program was the l947 (final) arrangement of the historic ballet “Petrushka” by Igor Stravinsky, who by any account was one of the most influential and significant composers of the previous century. It seemed to me that if Moody conducted the Brahms from his heart, he conducted “Petrushka” from his head. It received a taut and rhythmically precise reading. (I don’t believe the PSO could have played it 30 years ago.)

Among those recognized for their fine solo work were concertmaster Charles Dimmick and principal trumpeter Joseph Foley. The program was repeated on Nov. 24 and will be broadcast on Maine Public Radio on Dec. 9 at 9 p.m.

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