Music by the bay: Reischl uses her distinctive style to create a great performance By Erik Erikkson News-Chronicle In an auspicious beginning to a new season, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra Music Director Bridget-Michaele Reischl proved that two fifths can make a satisfying whole. The scheduling of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor") and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 demanded a lot of the orchestra, but Reischl's inspired - and meticulous - leadership commanded just that. No mere evening of pretty music-making, the concert stirred profound thoughts and emotions. Beethoven completed his fifth and final piano concerto in 1809. It was premiered in Leipzig in November 1811; Vienna heard it the following February with the composer's pupil, Carl Czerny, as soloist. Heroic, intimate and humorous - yes, humorous - by turns, it quickly took its place among the great keyboard concerti and has held that position for nearly two succeeding centuries. Pianist Andreas Klein played handsomely with a technique well in place, if not quite infallible. His conception was anything but "klein" (small), but he gave as much emphasis to the sunny lyric stretches as to the stormier portions. His balanced approach called to mind such masterful pianists as Wilhelm Kempf and Edwin Fischer, artists whose patrician integrity offered examples too seldom followed today. Reischl similarly respects the great maestros of the past and has forged her own distinctive podium personality by including in her work many elements of their art. Thus, there was weight and fleetness, grandeur and impetus, each apportioned in measures that worked. For her and the soloist, the orchestra was attentive to detail and able to move between songful address and thundering outburst - often, as the score requires, with hair-raising alacrity. It was a thoroughly mature reading, and decidedly satisfying because of it. This past August, the Peninsula Music Festival orchestra gave a shattering performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, the composer's supposed "apology" to the Soviet regime (Stalin, that is) he so offended with his opera, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District." PMF Music Director Victor Yampolsky shaped an interpretation that lacked nothing. Without such a virtuoso orchestra, Reischl achieved a performance at an astoundingly high level, inspiring her players to meet the frighteningly difficult challenge. The Shostakovich Fifth is one of the most imposing monuments of the 20th century's orchestral oeuvre. It was, of course, no apology at all, but a superficially patriotic work whose subtext spoke with irony and bitterness about a crushingly repressive society. Finding the true measure of the symphony is a task that has defeated many a major conductor. Reischl, however, had discovered the portal to its center through both intuition and unblinking application. Ever sensitive to its kaleidoscopic tonal effects, she fired her players to surpass themselves in finding the right timbre (sometimes downright rude in character) and realizing the strange beauties that recurrently flavor the piece despite its inner horrors. The Largo was eerily compelling, unsettling in its anguish. Tempo variations were astutely judged: contrasts between manic activity and still, aching suspension were highly effective. For an orchestra of its size, the GBSO can boast a solid complement of players. The best of them are exceptional musicians and others work diligently to keep raising their standards. Thus, Reischl has a pliant, willing ensemble. Many other communities of this size have cause for jealousy. With conductor Patrick Miles once again on the podium, the Green Bay Civic Symphony (another ensemble of which the community can be proud) begins its new season Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The program begins with a grand gesture, the Prelude to Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger. Next, by way of contrast, comes Domenico Cimarosa's Sinfonia Concertante for 2 Flutes. Drawing from opera for a second time during the evening, Miles and the orchestra will perform Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1, then provide a big ending with Tchaikovsky's "1812" Overture. Tickets will be available at the door prior to the performance at Green Bay's Southwest High School. On Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Norbert College's Walter Theatre, the Dudley Birder Chorale will present the latest of its three-decade series of All Saints Day concerts. Full details next week.