At Symphony Hall, echoes of Tanglewood

After taking the unusual step of incorporating a medieval vocal ensemble into last week's program, the Boston Symphony Orchestra returned to the comfort of the familiar last night in Symphony Hall. This week's program seems eager to please, with two popular masterworks - Dvorak's Cello Concerto and Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony. It's the kind of combination one finds often at Tanglewood, and in fact, both works were recently performed there, the Beethoven in July and the Dvorak the previous summer.

Guest conductor Marek Janowski was back on the podium, presiding over a reading of the "Pastoral" that was most appealing for the solo contributions of the various woodwind players. In particular William Hudgins (clarinet), Keisuke Wakao (oboe), and Elizabeth Rowe (flute), as well as James Sommerville (horn) brought the second and third movements across with usual vividness. The third-movement string playing was robust without wearing its rusticness on its sleeve; the thunderstorm was an exercise in well-ordered chaos.

Before the Beethoven, the young German cellist Alban Gerhardt tackled the formidable solo part of the Dvorak Concerto, seemingly without breaking a sweat. His passagework was unimpeachable, his tone was warm and full and impressively clear as he climbed the A string up into the stratosphere. Yet certain interpretive tendencies, like a habit of backing off before the culmination of a climactic phrase, gave the work a less bold or heroic profile than one might have expected. This was a reading stronger in its poised lyricism than in its Romantic fireworks. It nonetheless won a fervid ovation.

The retired BSO cellist Luis Leguia once told a story about rehearsing the Dvorak Cello Concerto on a week that Rostropovich was the scheduled soloist. But the great cellist apparently did not make it onto the stage in time for the iconic first entrance. So the entire BSO cello section blasted out the famous opening notes of the solo part, and then just kept going, through page after page, playing from memory. Years later, Leguia was still proud of that day. It must have been something to hear.

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