Certainly, the precise, forceful guest conductor Dirk Brossé took no easy ways out Monday at the Kimmel Center, with seldom-heard works by well-known composers Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius and familiar ones by obscure ones (Dag Wirén), and sought safety only in Grieg's Holberg Suite, which is normally an amiable curtain raiser but here was the program's core.

Ragged edges in the orchestra showed the strain of learning newish music, and even Brossé's decisive leadership couldn't justify a left turn with Nebraska-born, Sweden-trained Howard Hanson, whose Pastorale Op. 38 began strikingly, ended cleverly, and meandered in between.

Better surprises came from Nielsen's first published work, Little Suite Op. 1, already showing a probing, original mind that framed familiar compositional techniques with counterpoint that would have seemed anti-intuitive, even subversive, at the time, but is exactly what makes the piece worthwhile today. The waltz movement charmingly tries to hide its own eccentricities with pretty string writing, but the periphery tells more interesting truths. The final movement looks forward to the dazzling (even confounding) heterogeneousness of Nielsen's later works. Musical traffic is high and harmonic grit is evident - alongside a tune that seems to quote The Merry Widow (which hadn't been written).

The prevailing manner with Grieg's Holberg Suite has become so smooth and suave that you might not know the music is a reimagining of baroque-era dances. But the Belgian Brossé, also a composer with a special interest in tango and Latino culture, can be counted on for an alternative viewpoint and indeed gave a seriously considered performance that others might not think is warranted. The second-movement "Sarabande" was powered by special radiance in the inner voices. A rhythmic punch transformed the third-movement "Gavotte." Elsewhere, Brossé uncovered Scandinavian angst to which Grieg can often seem immune.

Sibelius' slight Romance in C also accounted for itself well because Brossé recognized the emotional impact of subtle shiftings in harmonic voicing. Perhaps an extra rehearsal would have put the program in top shape, but even as it was, Wirén's lightweight Serenade Op. 11 was played so convincingly that its tunes stuck in your brain whether they were welcome or not.