There is something extraordinarily compelling about an orchestra that doesn’t shy away from being titanic. It’s fair to say the Bangor Symphony Orchestra certainly was just that at its season-opener concert Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts.

Although much of the all-Brahms program had a bigness to it, the most memorable segment of the concert happened in the last half-hour, when music conductor Christopher Zimmerman led the musicians in an over-the-top performance of the last movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. That’s not to say the earlier movements didn’t have a searing intensity. They did. Also, oboist Louie Hall and violinist (and concertmaster) Lynn Brubaker came soaring onto the scene with their fine solo work.

But it was the unfolding of the last movement with its sweet dignity and blazing triumph that shot the symphony into hyperdrive. Clearly, Zimmerman (who conducted without a score) has a passionate attachment to this piece, which was an epic step in the composer’s own life and has come to represent a landmark in his creative development.

A serious brooding makes up a good portion of this symphony, which is often compared to themes from Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies. But Zimmerman never let it dip into heaviness. Instead, he found nobility in the drama, and the result was both inspired and huge. If you were looking for a spot to take a breath, forget it. There wasn’t one in this performance.

The same could not be said for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, which opened the program. In particular, the second movement was so slow at parts that it might have qualified for Brahms’ lullaby status. Still, guest pianist Matti Raekallio, a Finnish musician whose tastes run in the direction of Prokofiev and Beethoven, was at his dreamiest in this movement.

In the other movements, Raekallio utterly pounded on the piano with a nearly shocking forwardness. Some might have found the result a bit unwieldy, with about as much subtlety as a Jimi Hendrix wind-out. But the boldness was unmistakably domineering and had muscular merit for those of us who appreciate a good, musical attack. The finer points of Brahms’ boggling concerto were sometimes muffled, and that’s where Raekallio’s work was less beguiling. But the orchestra, and the string and reed sections in particular, came through with talented spontaneity.

A tough-minded finale was hardly over before orchestra and soloist were flooded with a round of bravos — perhaps a record number at least in recent memory. Brahms, whose work is showing up in centennial celebrations throughout the world this year, will be on the program again at the end of the season. Yesterday’s concert gives us an inkling of what to expect — something quite colossal.