National Symphony sexy, suave

Imagine a Mediterranean village waking from its afternoon siesta with vendors singing of their wares and customers entering the marketplace. While a merchant’s daughters dance a seductive tango to lure shoppers, a circus arrives with jugglers and monkeys and a ringmaster.

The scene is strange and wonderful, filled with oddities and enchantment. Such a scene materialized musically Saturday night at the Maine Center for the Arts when the National Symphony Orchestra performed Walter Piston’s Suite from the Ballet “The Incredible Flute.” Under the direction of the fervent associate conductor Barry Jekowsky, and in conjunction with the NSO’s 10-day American Residencies Program in Maine, the orchestra gave its opening classical performance, which will be repeated in Caribou, Augusta, Lewiston and Portland before the NSO returns to its home next week at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Piston’s suite was particularly notable in the evening’s program because Piston was born in Rockland in 1894, and had an impressive career, which included two Pulitzer Prizes, copious professional honors, and the tutelage of Leonard Bernstein, who went on to be one of America’s most popular composers.

But it wasn’t just Piston’s history that made the piece interesting. It was a wild combination of sounds — piccolo, horn, tuba, snare drum, cymbals, triangles, tambourine, piano and whoops from the musicians. One musician even barked at the end of the circus segment.

Filled with exotic imagery, a curvaceous flute solo and the dance rhythms of waltzes and polkas, the piece was one surprising delight after another. The NSO captured all the fun and flair. It was loud and raucous, sexy and suave, dainty and bodacious.

The concert opened with George Chadwick’s Jubilee (No. 1 of Symphonic Sketches), which had the sweeping sentimentalism of a movie score. It was a lively opening to the concert, but the piece itself was the least interesting of the program. Presumably, the NSO chose Chadwick because he is a New England composer, born in Boston and certainly representative in style and theme of American classical music. It was, however, the final smashingly dynamic note that was the most endorsable moment of this work.

Fortunately, the NSO included Haydn’s more substantial Symphony No. 1 in D major, and gave a satisfyingly graceful performance of this lovely composition. Similarly, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor had an overall engaging quality. The excruciating volume and engrossing emotion were exhausting — apparently as much to the musicians as to the listeners.

Still, that didn’t stop the NSO from offering a final round of vitality in two encores. The audience members, who filled just over half of the concert hall, stood throughout a bounding version of “The Maine Stein Song.” They cheered and clapped and raised their fists in solidarity and appreciation for this kindly and superb performance.

The vividly played 3 1/2-minute Russian Sailor’s Dance from Reinhold Gliere’s ballet “The Red Poppy” was splendidly bold. An animated conductor throughout the evening, Jekowsky had all-out gusto in this final number and seemed so enthusiastic that the only improvement would have been to see him do a Cossack dance across the stage.

Although not the most outstanding orchestra to perform at the Maine Center in recent years, the NSO offered an accessible, well-crafted evening of orchestral color and melodic gifts.