Scott Cantrell

PLANO – The Plano Symphony Orchestra ended its 25th season Saturday night at St. Andrew United Methodist Church. Apart from less-than-ideal projection of violin tone, it proved a good acoustical setting for orchestral music.

Apart from occasional scruffiness among the violins, the orchestra played professionally for music director Hector Guzman. But it wasn't hard to imagine more compelling performances.

Gershwin's Girl Crazy Overture was a lively curtain- raiser. Next came a Guitar Concerto by the late Elmer Bernstein.

The soloist was guitarist Christopher Parkening, for whom the three-movement, 22-minute work was composed in 1999. It proved tuneful and by turns atmospheric and rhythmically lively, as you'd expect from a veteran film composer.

Mr. Parkening played as if he'd been away from the piece for a while, and Mr. Guzman and the orchestra were almost consistently behind him. Both here and in two encores Mr. Parkening was plagued by out-of-tune strings, but he got a standing ovation anyway.

The Berlioz Symphonie fantastique got a capable performance, but too little frisson or rhythmic urgency. The "March to the Scaffold" was hardly life-threatening – it should be – and the witches' dance in the finale sounded more fun than grotesque.

It was good to have real bells rather than the oft substituted chimes, but they were played too loudly. The "Ball" movement would have been better with the cornet part Berlioz added as an afterthought. Mr. Guzman has headed the PSO since its founding. It would be interesting to hear the PSO under another conductor.

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