The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debuted a new series, Sundaes with the Symphony, Sunday at Riverbend by performingworks by three of Russia's best-known composers.

        Conductor John Morris Russell led the orchestra through beautiful, powerful interpretations of each musical masterpiece by Modeste Mussorgsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninoff. (Some may add a fourth featured composer to the list, as the orchestra played Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain as arranged by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov.)

        And featured pianist Anna Polusmiak, a 19-year-old Northern Kentucky University junior, performed with the virtuosity of someone three times her age.

        The concert opened with Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, the composer's tone poem about witches and the secluded mountains where they gathered to honor the devil. Rejected and abandoned on several occasions, the work was eventually revised after Mussorgsky's death by his friend, Rimsky-Korsakov, who reworked some of the orchestration.

        The contrast in dynamics in the first few measures — as the violins grow more menacing — was effective.

        The orchestra was sharp. Mr. Russell worked the changing tempo well, as the orchestra never rushed, which added to the adrenaline rush you get when listening to this piece (most may recognize it from Fantasia).

        Pianist Polusmiak moved from her native Ukraine to Northern Kentucky in 1998 and has won numerous competitions in Europe and the United States. Hearing her perform Prokofiev's Concerto No. 1 in D-Flat Major, it is evident she is a performer with profound interpretive and technical abilities.

        Prokofiev's single-movement concerto begins like some might think it should end — with a spiraling, lyrical theme fit for a finale — played by the orchestra, then joined by the pianist. The “Allegro brioso,” played with tenacity and wit, gave way to the “Andante assai” in which Ms. Polusmiak worked in more subtle phrasing.

        The cadenza — here a recombining of themes — was played with great clarity.

        The evening ended with the orchestra performing Rachmaninoff's romantic Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27. Opening with a lush, beautiful cello melody — in the first movement, “Largo. Allegro moderato” — it eventually swells to include the other string sections.

        Several well-played solos in the last movement, “Allegro vivace,” revealed an orchestra in top form.

        The audience seemed to think so, and showed it even before the symphony came to its grand, climactic, finale.

        The orchestra met with unabashed applause between movements and the audience quickly rose to their feet for a long standing ovation just as the sun was setting.

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