Scott Cantrell

The movie The Red Violin, about a long-lost violin, may have special resonance for Dallas Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Emanuel Borok. Mr. Borok's 1727 Stradivarius spent 21 years on the lam, after being stolen from his Dallas apartment, until it resurfaced two years ago.

BRANDON THIBODEAUX/Special Contributor

Pianist Jonathan Biss performs with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Borok was the soloist Thursday evening in the suite composer John Corigliano patched together from his score for the film. And it was a compelling performance, Mr. Borok's tone now big and gutsy, now sweetly soaring on high. Virtuoso hoedowns and double stops were dispatched with authority.

Led by British oboist-turned- conductor Douglas Boyd, a stripped-down string-orchestra- plus-percussion version of the DSO did its part honorably too. At one point the musicians even doubled ably as a humming chorus.

The young American pianist Jonathan Biss brought elegant imagination – and his own stylish cadenzas – to Mozart's E-flat major Piano Concerto (K. 482). With a clearly focused tone, he tapered phrases with great sensitivity and found just the right hint of whimsy to open the finale. Mr. Boyd and the orchestra responded in kind.

In the Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony Mr. Boyd went all out for contrasts. Pianissimos were really quiet, but the first movement's stormy blasts snapped and lashed. Alas, it soon seemed all means and no ends.

There was a lot of pulling back at cadences, but Mr. Boyd didn't seem to know how to nudge quieter phrases toward climactic points. The first- movement introduction was slow for the "Andante con moto" marking, and directionless. In the Allegro each subsection seemed to shift to a different temp.

The scherzo was almost frantic, and both here and in the finale louder music was sometimes pushed toward crudity. The horns' big tune near the end was grotesquely overblown. If Mendelssohn sounds crude, something has gone wrong.

PLAN YOUR LIFE Repeats at 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora.

$17 to $108. 214-692-0203, www.dallassymphony.com.