Philharmonic tells a story, with pizzazz

“Ken-David Masur, the son of legendary German conductor Kurt Masur, was one with the podium and could do no wrong. He blew the doors off Vets Auditorium with a blazing account of Berlioz’s game-changing “Symphonie fantastique,” the best showing by the orchestra all season, with a smoking brass section that would not quit…

Masur opened the evening with an old chestnut, but one not heard all that often in the flesh. That would be “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” of “Fantasia” fame. And while we all thought we knew this score, Masur was able to make it sound fresh…

Masur and the orchestra pulled no punches. Like the Rachmaninoff, this was a performance with plenty of flash in the “March to the Scaffold” and “Witches’ Sabbath,” but also with ravishing moments in the “Scene in the Country,” thanks to Jane Murray’s wistful English horn solos.”