Upon hearing the New York debut of Jascha Heifetz, famed violinist Fritz Kreisler turned to fellow soloist Efrem Zimbalist and declared, "You and I might as well go home and smash our violins across our knees!"

Thankfully, he never did so, because we would have been deprived of the chance to hear Kreisler's violin played so exquisitely by Nikolaj Znaider last night at Heinz Hall. He recently received the Guarnerius del Gesu on loan from the Royal Danish Theater.

With the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra behind him, Znaider called on its every nuance and its glowing resonance in Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D minor, conducted by Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos.

Some of his playing channeled Kreisler, but the reading was unquestionably Znaider's -- strong, yet refined, smooth, yet precise. This was his best showing yet here, and he captured the twisted soul of this work.

More than anything else, Sibelius wanted to be a violinist, and one reading of the D minor concerto is that it holds all the hopes and pain of that unfulfilled dream within it. It struggles to establish a "happier" D major throughout, concluding most ambiguously.

Whatever interpretation is placed on it, there may be no more bittersweet passage in all of music than those of the short yet gloriously Romantic second theme. Sibelius marked it largamente (broadly), expressivo and then affettuoso (with affect). Znaider opened his heart to this passage, ushering in a timbre both noble and weeping. The young violinist will be a virtuoso to contend with for decades to come precisely because he seeks not to play the notes, but to reveal what lies behind them.

Fruhbeck also appeared to look to the soul of the work and perhaps went too far in creating an almost morose interpretation. The orchestra was too subdued under his baton, and it did not quite match the double quality of sound that Znaider was offering, of beauty and sorrow.

The restrained approach found a more appropriate home in Debussy's "Nocturnes," especially in a well-balanced "Nuages." Solos by English horn player Harold Smoliar contributed greatly to its success, but the entire woodwind section was brilliant throughout "Fetes" and "Sirenes." The latter gained from the wordless utterances of the women of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, directed by Betsy Burleigh.

The men joined in for Suite No. 2 from Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe." Fruhbeck's reading was energetic but allowed the seams to show in what should be a seamless fabric.

The program repeats at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.