Kristjan Jarvi wows in New Year's Eve bash

As the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's brass and percussion sections built to a fever pitch at the conclusion of Duke Ellington's "Harlem," the New Year's Eve audience in Music Hall rose with a shriek.

It was a rock-star welcome for conductor Kristjan Järvi, making his debut with his brother Paavo Järvi's orchestra Monday night. One thing is certain: he knows how to make an orchestra swing. The younger Järvi projected the kind of enthusiasm, electricity and panache that resulted in the highest-octane New Year's Eve concert in recent memory.

Järvi's program paired Ellington's "Harlem" with Bernstein's Symphonic Dances and Concert Suite No. 1 from "West Side Story," a juxtaposition that illustrated the roots of Bernstein's orchestral jazz. It was an ideal program for the audience of about 2,200 revelers, many who stayed to toast the New Year at the symphony's gala fundraiser ball.

The 35-year-old conductor is known to Cincinnati Opera fans for his fine work in the pit of "Nixon in China" last summer. For pure visual effect, the lanky conductor didn't disappoint onstage, as he crouched, snapped his fingers, jumped and tossed back his boyish mop of hair. Yet every gesture made musical sense. He led with a precise, clear beat, anticipating every syncopation and jazz riff and communicating, too, the fun he and the musicians were having performing this music.

A whole row of saxophonists entered for Ellington's "Harlem," an exuberant postcard written in 1950 and intended for Toscanini's NBC Symphony. (The maestro rejected it.) The piece unfolds like a jazzy tone poem in many moods, strolling through Harlem neighborhoods past churchgoers, a parade and a funeral. (Too bad there were no printed program notes to help the listener.)

Järvi paced it well and for best dramatic effect, working through the slow, sultry themes and raising the roof in the wild moments. The piece offered a chance for orchestral soloists to strut their stuff, including big band-style screech trumpets and sensuous solos for trombone and clarinet. The percussion section put on a show with a flurry of bongos and fantastic drumming (a clear precursor to Bernstein's "Mambo") while Järvi shook his shoulders to the beat.

The evening opened with a splashy performance of Bernstein's Overture to "Candide," before Järvi launched into the Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story." The dances, full of so many familiar tunes, were well-played and vibrantly led, from the finger-snapping cool jazz to the white heat of "Mambo." One of the memorable themes was principal French horn Elizabeth Freimuth's solo in "Somewhere."

After intermission, Concert Suite No. 1 featured soloists Ellie Dehn and Rodrick Dixon in songs and duets from "West Side Story," and here Järvi proved an able accompanist. Dixon, who has appeared in many PBS television shows, impressed in his beautifully felt "Maria," ending in a high falsetto. The singers, who used microphones, communicated wonderfully in their duet, "Tonight," causing the audience to bring them back several times.

For encores, Järvi repeated Bernstein's "Mambo" and the audience sang along to "Auld Lang Syne."

People were buzzing after this show. Were you there? What did you think?

Coming up: Paavo Järvi conducts the CSO on Jan. 12-13 in Music Hall, with pianist Alexander Toradze. Tickets: 513-381-3300, www.cincinnatisymphony.org.

Photo: Peter Rigaud