Ah-choo!

A sneeze officially ushered in the 2006-07 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra season last night at Heinz Hall. A musical version, that is.

Zoltan Kodaly's "Hary Janos" suite begins with a magnificent orchestral depiction of a sneeze.

It's to represent a Hungarian custom, more like a superstition, that if someone sneezes during a tale, it must be true. Of course, any good storyteller would be wise to begin that way to open the audience up for a tall tale, which is exactly what "Hary Janos" does. Among other (ahem) claims, he boasts of defeating Napoleon on his own.

Like any fish story, exaggeration abounds, and principal guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier brought it to life. The prelude was mock melodramatic in a way that perfectly fit the silliness of the whole affair. Solos in later movements impressed. Among them were Randolph Kelly (viola), Michael Rusinek (clarinet), Stephen Kostyniak (horn) and Thomas Thompson (saxophone). And the battle with the French, represented, of course, by the "La Marseillaise" was stout in the brass.

Not to be outdone was the work's most intriguing element, a cimbalom, skillfully performed by Laurence Kaptain. Rarely heard in the orchestral world, this hammered-dulcimer on steroids has a fascinating, twangy sound.

But the second movement, the famous "Viennese Musical Clock" was a bit overstated. While Tortelier's direction here could not have been more appropriate -- his stiff and sharp movements made him look like a clock figurine -- the result was too raucous for a refined mechanical clock.

Tortelier then gave a charming speech in which he explained how wonderfully Debussy had used the cimbalom in a waltz. Just as he had tantalized the audience to the point that we wished we could hear the work, he turned around and the PSO played Debussy's "La plus que lente." This is how the PSO should be enhancing its concerts, with more music, set-up like this.

Speaking of a set-up, violinist Leila Josefowicz had to deal with a famous one, Sergei Prokofiev's audacious Violin Concerto No. 1. It's a piece that reversed the order of traditional concerto movements and turns the concept on his head, all while being incredibly difficult technically and deep emotionally.

I wanted to hear more of the mystery and weirdness of this typical Prokofiev mind-bender in the opening's haunting theme and at some other key moments later. But Josefowicz was brilliant in the concerto's many pyrotechnics. Few can play with such solid fingering and burnished timbre at such a blistering speed.

Typically, when the Pirates schedule fireworks night during a PSO concert it heartily disrupts the music. Not so when Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" is playing.

Under Tortelier, a sound akin to a wine's rich bouquet emanated from the stage. The soloists excelled, including concertmaster Andres Cardenes' representation of the Scheherazade from "Arabian Nights," but the tutti sections were the most moving. Lush strains and beguiling colors washed over the audience.

I'll sneeze to that.