In harmony

Michael Tilson Thomas plays an orchestra like a piano. He expresses himself with that kind of freedom. That he could do this Thursday with the Philadelphia Orchestra wasn't a given. And in fact, for the first few moments of his current program it wasn't clear whether a singular artistic vision, born of trust between conductor and ensemble, was in the offing.

But by the end of the program, in Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, the depth of the partnership was striking. This orchestra hasn't always seen eye to eye with the boy wonder. The boy, however, is now 66, while the average player age has fallen considerably, and somewhere in the crisscross of these two factors something special and quite satisfying has developed.

The Beethoven's final few minutes were specifically emblematic of what that something is: The pacing was gorgeous. Tilson Thomas turned up the heat, but not in a cheap, obsequious, let-me-charge-the-audience-for-applause way. Instead, final adrenaline resulted from a quickening that grew naturally, an intensification of what had come before.

Tilson Thomas has a sensitive orchestral ear, too, evident in some particularly well-blended instrumental doublings (and in the creation of some pungent sonorities in the Schubert "Unfinished," but more about that in a moment). It's his emotional instincts, though, that give his interpretations an interesting edge. The first movement had a certain merry ease. The second, an "Allegretto," offered inevitability and some finely calibrated phrase-shaping. The third was crisp and correct, which only heightened the full-throttle release of the fourth.

It's what makes this orchestra shine: a conductor who thinks about how the movements of a piece relate to each other, rather than living emotionally from hand to mouth.

Bernstein's Suite From "A Quiet Place" didn't have quite the same confidence. Music drawn from the opera premiered in 1983, the score is Bernstein's usual exuberant bear-hug of any possible influence within his sphere, from jazz and a four-note outburst of "New York, New York," to Shostakovich (I don't detect the Mahlerian hints others do). The ability to turn on a stylistic dime comes more easily to some players than others; jazz phrasings were often squarish and primly aware of bar lines. But you had to be impressed with a quick dip into swing by trombonist Nitzan Haroz, clarinetist Ricardo Morales, and, on drum set, Anthony Orlando. This isn't Bernstein's most clarified work, but there's enough meaty material in it to make you want to hear it again.

Schubert's Symphony in B minor (D. 759), "Unfinished," was elegant in a half dozen ways, with credit going to both players and conductor, but chief among them were Tilson Thomas' reluctance to overburden the music with preciousness, and the adroit way hornist Jennifer Montone snuggled her sound up against everything around it.

In The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, Michael Tilson Thomas and the Philadelphia Orchestra revisit the world of the Yiddish stage in America and two of its giants, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, his grandparents. Tilson Thomas' narrative, image projections, restored musical scores, and words from the Thomashefskys' writings bring their time to life.

Presented at 8 p.m Tuesday and 7 p.m. Wednesday in Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets: $25-$65. 215-893-1999 or www.philorch.org.

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