By Nancy Plum

Princeton University Orchestra has wasted no time this academic year, launching the 2025-26 season this past weekend with two challenging models of rich orchestration. Led by conductor Michael Pratt, the ensemble filled the stage at Richardson Auditorium to present a 19th-century orchestral powerhouse, as well as a piece described as the “quintessential American symphony.” The musicians were more than up to the challenge of the performance, with principal instrumentalists in particular showing expressive and sensitive playing.

Oklahoma-born composer Roy Harris was one of a cadre of 20th-century American composers who honed their skills under the tutelage of legendary French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Harris’ music drew inspiration from plainchant, Renaissance polyphony, folk music and hymns, and the 1939 Symphony No. 3 in One Movement reflected an open and spacious American musical palette. Scored in five connected sections, this work encompassed a wide range of orchestral styles.

In Saturday night’s performance (the concert was repeated Sunday afternoon), the Orchestra opened Harris’ Symphony with a well-unified sectional cello sound conveying rich and tuneful melodic passages. Oboist Ishan Ghosh, English horn player Kade Jackson and clarinetist Deepak Viswalingam added graceful colors to the lyrical middle sections. The movements of this symphony flowed effortlessly into one another, with the Orchestra well capturing the varied characters and moods. Trumpets and trombones effectively brought tension to the fourth section, leading to a tragic but rich instrumental close.

French composer Hector Berlioz stretched the boundaries of composition to new heights through revolutionary orchestration and innovative programmatic music. The 1830 Symphonie fantastique was both programmatic and autobiographical, depicting the life of an artist in five “episodes.” Significantly rooted in Berlioz’s fascination with an Irish actress, the five-movement Symphonie covered a great deal of dramatic ground, reflecting the composer’s own tumultuous nature, the couple’s romantic drama and the changing times in orchestral music.

Symphonie fantastique opened with an extended slow introduction, which the University Orchestra played with light and lean strings and expressive horns and winds. Conductor Pratt guided the players in taking their time leading to the quicker “Passions” section, building tension well. Oboist Abigail Kim provided graceful solo playing, and one could easily hear the Classical roots of Berlioz’s music.

In the second movement depiction of “a ball,” Pratt elicited a smooth musical flow from the lower strings, punctuated by crisp harp playing from Patrick Chen and Lucy Harper. A saucy theme from the violins, combined with refined melodies from the woodwinds, created a sense of elegance. To take the audience “In the country” in the work’s central movement, English horn player Kade Jackson held the audience’s attention through a delicate conversation with offstage oboe soloist Kim, all over shimmering violas. The Orchestra well captured Berlioz’s pastoral intent in these passages, especially aided by sweet intervals between a pair of flutes. Throughout all five movements, it was clear that dynamics were well thought out.

The “In the country” scene ended with an ethereal English horn solo leading to a ferocious four-timpani “Procession to the scaffold.” A pair of bassoons moved the rhythm steadily forward, with well-executed shifts in dynamics from all sections. As hopeful as the early movements were with dreams of impending love, the closing movement was full of dread as tuba players Wesley Sanders and Julian Fente proclaimed the somber 13th-century “Dies Irae” Latin sequence, reinforced by a well-tuned trio of trombones. Despite the foreshadowing of gloom, Pratt and the University Orchestra ended Symphonie fantastique with an element of joy, as all musicians onstage proclaimed the new musical season officially underway.

Princeton University Orchestra will present its next performances on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22 at 7:30 at Richardson Auditorium. These performances will feature Soo Yeon Lyuh’s Concerto for Haegeum and Orchestra and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Ticket information can be obtained from the University Ticketing website at https://tickets.princeton.edu/.