The symphony that gives a hall its voice back

Charles Dutoit conducts violinist Viviane Hagner, making her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 at Symphony Hall last night. (Michael J. Lutch)

The beautiful organ at Symphony Hall has a way of hiding right there in plain view. It lies dormant through weeks of Boston Symphony Orchestra programs, becoming just another part of the hall's architecture rather than its majestic voice box. This week, architecture gets articulate; the hall is speaking back. The vehicle is Saint-Saens's "Organ" Symphony, a work deeply inscribed in the BSO's collective memory. The organist is James David Christie, who handles it marvelously. The conductor is Charles Dutoit, who last night led a memorable reading with plenty of heft and sweep, but ultimately placing the virtues of color, gentle warmth, and lyricism over those of brute force.

In an admirable stroke of programming, Dutoit opened the evening with the "Petite Symphonie Concertante" by the Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974). Even as his best-known work, it is still a rarity on concert programs. It calls for a virtual family reunion of strings: All of the usual varieties, divided into two orchestras, plus solo harp, harpsichord, and piano. The writing is impeccably clear, the harmonies chaste and open, the surfaces taut, yet beneath this music's smooth façade darker currents linger. Drama is intuited more than seen or heard. Much of the piece's distinctive sound world comes from its unusual combination of soloists. Last night's fine players - Ann Hobson Pilot (harp), Mark Kroll (harpsichord), and Randall Hodgkinson (piano) - brought out this music's graceful flow and elegant sense of gesture.

Between the Martin and the Saint-Saens came Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto, with the talented young German violinist Viviane Hagner making her BSO debut. Her playing is distinguished by its generous tone and extremely fluid technique. There were plenty of moments when she keenly fastened onto the work's sardonic bite, its sincere lyricism, its brilliant impetuosity, but the deeper fire and ice at this music's core remained largely unrevealed. Dutoit had the orchestra playing with an uncommon subtlety that Hagner did not always match.

Not too long ago, Symphony Hall's organ was given a sorely needed two-year renovation, coming back to life in the fall of 2004. It now sounds glorious, especially in the context of the "Organ" Symphony (No. 3). Saint-Saens delays its entrance for several minutes into the first movement, and when it arrives, it does so not with heaven-rending chords but with a soft bed of tone laid down for a theme gently unspooled by the strings.

Dutoit's conducting was broad and spacious. The orchestra played with tremendous force when called for in the finale, and with a burnished sound and warm glow throughout.

Jeremy Eichler can be reached at jeichler@globe.com.