Marin Alsop had only to walk onto the stage of Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Friday night to receive a standing ovation. Rare have been the evenings with that hall so full for a concert by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in recent years. One can only hope that the honeymoon will be long-lasting for Alsop and Charm City. That this renewal was consecrated over a program of John Adams and Mahler is all the more remarkable. The future looks bright for all who want to hear more contemporary music from the area’s major ensembles.

Fearful Symmetries provides a good workout for an ensemble, requiring a different sort of sustained virtuosity. Composer John Adams has described the work as fitting into a genre he calls “traveling music,” in that its pulsating rhythms and harmonies arranged in symmetrical patterns evoke a voyage through an urban landscape. Many of the sounds seem intended to remind the listener of trains: the rattle of the tracks and chug of wheels, the wail of sirens and clanging of crossing bells.

In Friday night’s performance, the BSO performed with a good sense of shape, guided well by Alsop in color and scope. The only lack was in the ensemble unity, which just never quite gelled, and Alsop’s three or four gestures to various corners of the orchestra — two fingers stabbed at her eyes — indicated that all parties were not on the same page. The brass section occasionally seemed to be pushing the edge of Alsop’s beat, while the most off-kilter pacing came from the synthesizers, placed far away and at the side. If Alsop could forego some of her dancing, crouching act on the podium, her beat might be clearer. Even with minor imperfections, this piece can provide, when you listen with your eyes closed, some beautiful expansive American landscape imagery. With regular workouts like this, the BSO is hopefully headed toward a honed, specialist sensitivity to contemporary music.

Photo of Marin Alsop on her Vespa by Paul Schraub