Local universities use the West Virginia Symphony's concerts for students to gain fine arts credits. So it was no surprise that the balcony had a number of collegians in it Friday night. One of them left rather noisily through a side door early in Antonio Pompa-Baldi's performance of the slow movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major.

Maybe today's youth can't handle slow music (and we won't even get into the glacial pace of the harmony of hip-hop). But I was left wondering, "Does this student realize he is leaving in the middle of the finest performance of a Beethoven concerto I have ever heard?"

I did not hear anything in the rest of the slow movement or the finale to persuade me otherwise. I don't know if Pompa-Baldi is always this exceptional, although his placement in major competitions suggests he can be. To be sure, Friday night, he was stellar.

It was his rhythm that impressed first. He did not fudge shifts among subdivisions of beats, even the often-fuzzy shift from duplets to triplets. That neatness of rhythm aided beautifully crystalline textures.

His tone was never forced or steely. Even in the loudest passages there was remarkable warmth.

In the slow movement, his playing of little cadenzas with difficult thirds and sixths was lucid and the little obbligato figures that float through the final section were perfectly shaped.

The hiccupping theme of the final rondo was rowdy without overheating, and Pompa-Baldi's laser-precise rhythm drove the proceedings nimbly.

The conductor Grant Cooper led the scrupulously polished accompaniment with élan. The myriad little solo moments for winds and strings shone and the horns, trumpets and timpani sounded robust.

This was one of the finest performances I have heard in 18 seasons as a music critic.

Cooper led a well-proportioned interpretation of Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat. The famous trio for trombones in the fourth movement, with principal Chris Dearth playing the small alto trombone, was lovely in its rich hues.

A couple of brittle horn notes were the only distractions in the opening movement. Cooper made the rhythms surge and the textures churn pleasingly.

I still find the odd scherzo intriguing with its long expanses of music suspended over a bass range C.

The finale sprawls a bit, but Cooper kept things tightly controlled and the rhythm and accents snapped with energy.

The concert repeats at 8 p.m. tonight at the Clay Center and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Blennerhassett School in Parkersburg.

Local universities use the West Virginia Symphony's concerts for students to gain fine arts credits. So it was no surprise that the balcony had a number of collegians in it Friday night. One of them left rather noisily through a side door early in Antonio Pompa-Baldi's performance of the slow movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major.

Maybe today's youth can't handle slow music (and we won't even get into the glacial pace of the harmony of hip-hop). But I was left wondering, "Does this student realize he is leaving in the middle of the finest performance of a Beethoven concerto I have ever heard?"

I did not hear anything in the rest of the slow movement or the finale to persuade me otherwise. I don't know if Pompa-Baldi is always this exceptional, although his placement in major competitions suggests he can be. To be sure, Friday night, he was stellar.

It was his rhythm that impressed first. He did not fudge shifts among subdivisions of beats, even the often-fuzzy shift from duplets to triplets. That neatness of rhythm aided beautifully crystalline textures.

His tone was never forced or steely. Even in the loudest passages there was remarkable warmth.

In the slow movement, his playing of little cadenzas with difficult thirds and sixths was lucid and the little obbligato figures that float through the final section were perfectly shaped.

The hiccupping theme of the final rondo was rowdy without overheating, and Pompa-Baldi's laser-precise rhythm drove the proceedings nimbly.

The conductor Grant Cooper led the scrupulously polished accompaniment with élan. The myriad little solo moments for winds and strings shone and the horns, trumpets and timpani sounded robust.

This was one of the finest performances I have heard in 18 seasons as a music critic.

Cooper led a well-proportioned interpretation of Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat. The famous trio for trombones in the fourth movement, with principal Chris Dearth playing the small alto trombone, was lovely in its rich hues.

A couple of brittle horn notes were the only distractions in the opening movement. Cooper made the rhythms surge and the textures churn pleasingly.

I still find the odd scherzo intriguing with its long expanses of music suspended over a bass range C.

The finale sprawls a bit, but Cooper kept things tightly controlled and the rhythm and accents snapped with energy.

The concert repeats at 8 p.m. tonight at the Clay Center and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Blennerhassett School in Parkersburg.