It might not be possible to give great performances of Mozart's last piano concerto and last symphony on a single program. Can any artist express sprightly joy and wizened melancholy in the same concert? There were many excellent qualities in Ignat Solzhenitsyn's rendering of the Piano Concerto No. 27, in which he both conducted and took the solo part. Even though Mozart himself played his concertos this way, it is difficult for a modern musician to pull off this feat without inducing some hiccups in the pace of the music. No such problem here. Solzhenitsyn, although his conducting was robust, conceived of this work in an almost chamber music-like way, finding the organic unity and textural precision that is so important in Mozart. His own playing was crisp and alert, with tasteful and insightful embellishments to the original score (we can assume the composer would have approved; he constantly improvised on his own music).

But the score is just a blueprint. It is up to the performers to find the soul, and this performance skirted the elusive core of this music. This concerto sounds like a last work, with subtle passion and bittersweet nostalgia. Solzhenitsyn hinted at that meaning in his cadenzas, which had a rhythmic freedom and dynamic range that would have greatly benefited the rest of the performance, even in a small dose. Tempo was an issue; overall it was shade too brisk, without an essential sense of repose. This presentation was entertaining and bright, but a great performance of this music can make you weep, and these musicians were not in that world.

The performance of the last symphony, which finds the genius from Salzburg in an entirely different mood, was great. The elements in the playing of the piano concerto that were so admirable appeared here in abundance: beautiful interweaving of solo lines, nimble negotiating of the florid passage work and vivacious dynamics. It was, above all else, the marvelous sense of pacing on the part of Solzhenitsyn that made this music soar. His virile and buoyant pulse made the symphony, which with all repeats taken went for nearly an hour, fly by with delight. The sound of the famous concluding fugue was as cogent and powerful as any rendition that I can recall, more so for the splendid lucidity of the playing. Mozart lives!

IN BLACK BOX: The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, June 4, Perelman Theater