The soloist and orchestra wowed the audience with an all Rachmaninov program presenting a pair of twos: Symphony No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 2. The explosive works performed expertly and emotively, gave the composer yet another last laugh. At one time critics.relegated Rachmaninov to a footnote instead of putting him in the prominent place he richly deserves.

      Playing to a packed house, Gustav Meier, Biegel, and the GBS emphatically brought out the monumental qualities of the composer's works.

      "Monumental" is a key description that fit everything, from interpretation, to performance, to individual segments that included Soloist, strings, brasses, and woodwinds.

      The evening opened with the symphony played in its uncut version. What a feat it was to so successfully sustain the wringing emotions for more than an hour that began with the tension-packed first movement.

      In the first movement, the strings brought a wonderful repose, an idyllic and melodious tranquility, even if momentary, to a sustained dramatic section

      Meier inspired the GBS to bring the score to its full epic- proportion and to segue so effortlessly and seamlessly from mood to mood.

      The full-bodied brasses, later joined by the winds, played with the intensity of a controlled hurricane.

      The winds were a Perfect bridge, acting of a single mind with the strings as they brought undertones of strong tension.

      The symphony's intensity alternated between lush melodies and nearly ominous tensions that seemed to be lurking around the next comer, ready for the sound of

Fluid style: Jeffrey Biegel performed the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Saturday night.

      The GBS made the lush melodies, a frequent motif, swell with emotional intensity, from soulful to poignant. It was the painful, sad response to beauty that a number of 19th century poets believed to be the proper one.

      By the last movement, Meier led the orchestra past the cornposer's pursuit-like tension into the grandiose swath of joyous emotion that replaced the tension. It rose to the heights of an epic.

      "Epic" too was Biegel's first class interpretation of Concerto No. 2. He made the melodies float over the keyboard and weave around the orchestra in a perfect partnership. The soloist's fluidity and dexterity were marvels to watch, yet he raised them miles above flawless technique with his heartfelt interpretation.

      Rachmaninov loaded the concerto with emotion and Biegel was of a mind with it.

      He had a fascinating blend of force and delicacy.

      Biegel moved with effortles s grace from th e extended reveries to the showy runs that could be likened to Astaire-like feats on the ivories.

      It's a rare performance quality: he made it seem so spontaneously effortless. But that's the mark of a rarified artist - and the signature of the GBS this past season.