New London ― Headlined by Vyacheslav Gryaznov's bravura performance in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra brought the crowd to its feet Saturday at the Garde Arts Center with a heartfelt rendering of music that spanned the centuries.

Gryaznov, a Russian-born composer and arranger in his own right who splits his time largely between New York and London, was a perfect choice for the Rachmaninoff barn-burner with his careful attention to detail and his ability in a flash to switch from pounding out violent chords to tinkling the most delicate trills.The romantic and at times dreamy concerto featured several extensive cadenzas that required fantastic control and lightning-fast hands, which Gryaznov managed without a flaw.

And conductor Toshiyuki Shimada did a masterful job of holding the reins on the orchestra so the soloist's flourishes were never upstaged.

Gryaznov is never flashy himself, right down to his all-black performance outfit, but the Garde crowd appreciated the way he delivered the music from the harplike sonorities heard in the first movement to the clangy chords and crossover hands demonstrated later on. They gave him an extended standing ovation that led to a beautiful solo encore to conclude the concert.

In the first half of the concert, the ECSO started with Mozart's charming Symphony No. 32 in G major, K. 318, a danceable piece that the orchestra took at a playful tempo. It was thoroughly enjoyable Mozart at his most frisky, like a horseback ride in the countryside. The uptempo third movement was particularly inspiring, replete with woodwinds and French horns as well as long runs by the fabulous string section, ending with an off-beat thump by the kettle drum brilliantly cued by Shimada.

The following piece, Kodaly's Dances of Galanta, proved to be the first half's standout. Inspired by Gypsy music from a city in Hungary (now Slovakia) after which the piece was named, the music feels exotic but intoxicating, a swirl of emotions that builds then dissipates.Featuring several fantastic, sinuous solos by the ECSO's principal clarinetist Kelli O'Connor, plus some shorter work by Nancy Chaput and Clare Nielson playing piccolo and flute. the tunes proved mesmerizing in their beautiful foreignness.

It's a bear of a piece to conduct, with its alternating tempos and dramatic change in dynamics, but Shimada kept it together with swaggering assurance right to the frenetic, fevered conclusion.

The final piece of the first half, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto in F minor, featured the ECSO's principal tuba player Gary Sienkiewicz as soloist. This continues a tradition Shimada instituted a few years ago of highlighting one of the orchestra's principals in at least one concert a season.

The tuba concerto, which premiered in 1954, was the first of its kind, elevating an instrument that usually makes its appearance at the back of the orchestra with a few loud and low blasts from time to time. Sienkeiwicz gave it all he had, but the orchestra most of the time overwhelmed his delicate playing. He was able to cut through in the slower second movement, but in the faster first and third movements, especially in the very difficult legato sections, the undefinable oomph simply wasn't there.

Still, the Rachmaninoff was to come, and there was plenty of buzz after the concert about a truly magnificent performance by Gryaznov and the ECSO.

l.howard@theday.com