BSO blows out 100 candles> Audience taken on wonderful ride

The next time you hear people say there’s no culture in Bangor, kick them in the shin. Better yet, pose this question: What other city this size can boast of having a 90-piece symphony orchestra that is 100 years old?

According to the folks at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, you’ll win that argument, because they say there isn’t another town in the nation that has had a community orchestra disseminating musical culture for as long as the BSO, which celebrated its 100th birthday over the weekend. Two big-bash concerts at the Maine Center for the Arts were festive commemorations of that renowned event Nov. 3, 1896, when Bangor music man Horace Pullen directed an orchestral concert at City Hall. Pullen might have suspected from the success of that concert that he had made his mark in Bangor. But he couldn’t have known just how astonishingly historical that mark would be.

Anyone attending this weekend’s concerts knows, however. Each of the concerts featured the BSO film “The Unfinished Symphony,” a poignant history of the organization and a plug for its current endowment campaign. Afterward, music director Christopher Zimmerman led the orchestra in a dazzling performance of John Adams’ brief and rousing work, “Short Ride in a Fast Machine.”

In more ways than one, the Adams piece was a savvy programming choice for this notable concert. Because Adams is a living composer, there is an immediacy to his music that underscored the vibrancy of the BSO on its 100th birthday. Additionally, the grandeur of this musical fanfare — with its vaulting percussion and brass parts — points to the millennium, and that had a truly chilling effect in performance. It was rip-roaring, exulting and filled with promises for a dynamic future. The Adams piece also showed off the BSO at its most dramatic. That quality may have reminded more than a few of the legacy of the late Werner Torkanowsky, whose music direction during the 1980s pushed the orchestra to snazzier places and taught it a thing or two about high-voltage presentations.

Although “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” gave both concerts an early climax, there was still more fun to be had during this musical birthday party. Jack Perkins, the well-known broadcaster, paid tribute to the esteemed place the BSO has held in the hearts of its supporters in the past century. For those who “thirst for cultural delights,” the BSO is an oasis. It is “our community’s greatest single source of pride,” said Perkins at the Sunday concert. He also introduced Pearl Hamlin, a 100-year-old Brownville resident who upstaged the orchestra simply by standing up and taking a bow.

The concert hall and stage were dark as Perkins, lit by a spotlight, gave his emotional oration. Meanwhile, members of the orchestra randomly held up penlights until 100 points illuminated the stage as if it were a giant birthday cake. The ebullient Perkins invited the audience to join him in blowing out the “candles,” and a breathy breeze shot forth in compliance. It was followed by a performance of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor — “The Unfinished Symphony.” The BSO chose this title for its centennial endowment campaign because that original group of musicians performed this symphony on opening night in 1896.

To re-create the mood of that night 100 years ago, only 15 members of the current BSO began the Schubert piece. This, too, was an evocative moment at both concerts, although it summoned the past rather than the future. Minutes into the first movement, the rest of the orchestra joined in and caught hold of the adventurous harmonics of Schubert’s themes. Hearing the entire orchestra play the work made a fine point about its growth over the years. Yet given the ambience of the moment, it was hard not to wish for a more intimate rendition by the 15 opening musicians.

The finale of the program was Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90, which was a comparatively unremarkable performance. However, Scott Burditt distinguished himself Saturday with a beautifully played horn solo in the third movement, and the strings soared in the final section.

Both concerts played to responsive houses and lots of first-time symphony-goers, including elementary-age children who had purchased tickets for 25 cents through their schools. Afterward, receptions with birthday cakes gave everyone a reason to celebrate.

It’s undeniable that the BSO has added much to the quality of the cultural life in Bangor — and that it’s one of the healthiest performing arts organizations in the state. Remember that the next time you have to go to bat for the nation’s only community of this size with a perky 100-year-old orchestra.