By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Paavo Jarvi held onto the last note of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique on Friday, like a rubber band about to break. When it did, the audience erupted into cheers, for the powerful, seat-of-your-pants performance in Music Hall.

Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are warming up for their first international tour together to Japan next month, and the electricity is building. Besides revisiting Berlioz, which they performed and recorded three years ago, Jarvi and the orchestra introduced a brilliant young violinist, Akiko Suwanai, who will perform with them on tour, and premiered Searching for Roots by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur.

Berlioz's symphony on a drug-induced fantasy world is entertaining, if for nothing else than its brilliant orchestration and vivid story-telling. In Jarvi's hands on Friday, it was high-powered and larger than life, and the orchestra responded with polished, colorful and wonderfully expressive playing.

The detail of the loved-crazed "Reveries, Passions" was brought out in living color. Jarvi led for maximum impact, from moments of frenzied passion to the hymnlike conclusion. "The Ball" was a light, swirling waltz, where the strings ensemble glowed.

Musicians shone in orchestral solos, such as the mournful shepherd tune (ranz des vaches) in "Scene in the Country" (English hornist Christopher Philpotts) and the hair-raising E-flat clarinet solo in the "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath," by the immensely talented Anthony McGill.

Jarvi picked up the step in "March to the Scaffold," where rhythms were clipped and the brass let loose full throttle at the climax. The finale was over-the-top, with grotesque special effects, a fierce, full-blooded fugue, and chimes ringing through Music Hall from the rear foyer.

For an encore, Jarvi led the Rakoczy March from Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust.

The Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major was a marked contrast. Suwanai is a violinist with a ravishing tone and a big, relaxed technique (who also happens to play a spectacular violin, the "Dolphin" Strad that belonged to Jascha Heifetz).

Her reading was appealing, gentle and sweet-toned, and she consistently phrased with feeling. The slow movement was especially effective, as Suwanai spun a line like liquid gold.

The 30-year-old violinist's technique was immaculate, and she tossed off runs and double-stops effortlessly. It all seemed a bit careful, and I sometimes wished for more spark and contrast. Although Jarvi and the orchestra supported her with color, the gypsy finale didn't quite take fire.

This was the first area performance of Tuur's Roots. It opened with mystical tintinnabulation and evolved into a steely canvas of strong rhythms and bold strokes, before dying away.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com