It was a tale of two halves last night at Heinz Hall, and, no, this isn't a football reference. In fact, in a perfect world, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra also would have the region fawning over it and fans looking to eBay for hard-to-get tickets.

It is that good: One-hundred-some local residents who perform at a high level every weekend.

But in that perfect world, it wouldn't take the PSO until the second half to get to that level, as it did under Pinchas Zukerman. It's ironic that Zukerman holds the early-music movement in such contempt since he often directs in the period fashion, which is to say with little actual conducting.

Sometimes that hands-off approach works wonders, but his lackadaisical podium approach was not what the PSO needed in a night when its concertmaster, Andres Cardenes, was absent, performing the Brahms Double Concerto in the second half with PSO cellist Anne Martindale Williams.

Ensemble and energy lacked in Elgar's Serenade in E minor and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2. Better cues would have helped in the sumptuous Elgar, which often had unwanted delay effects within sections and staggered entrances between them.

And, while ensemble was better in the Beethoven, Zukerman offered little in an architectural conception. Too often, he allowed the group to play through crucial structural moments.

Did it sound nice? Yes, but nice doesn't win Super Bowls or bring a concert to that glorious pinnacle that leaves one moved (OK, there's your football reference).

Enter Williams and Cardenes. Mix and match soloist luminaries all you want, but there may not be a better fit for the Brahms Double than this duo. Not only do they have ample experience performing together in the Carnegie Mellon Trio and other events, evidenced by their scintillating cohesiveness last night, but they also fit the character of the parts.

Williams, with musicality visibly flowing through her, matched the emotional outbursts of the cello line, while Cardenes assumed the role of the rational brain, with interior-minded violin playing. No better place was this seen than in the second theme of the opening movement, brought out first in passionate thrusts by Williams and echoed with restrained elegance by Cardenes.

A second half comeback?

Indeed.

The program repeats tonight at 8.