ESSEN, Germany -- Essen is not a sister city of Pittsburgh (that distinction goes to Saarbrucken to the south), but as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra discovered yesterday, it really could be a twin.

OK, there's only one river (the Ruhr), a Steeler Street instead of the Steelers and its Heinz is its famous native son, actor Heinz Ruehmann. But Essen was once a mighty center for coal mining and coke and steel production -- part of the greater Ruhr region that helped to build and fuel Germany through wartime and peace.

But like Pittsburgh, Essen faced a sharp decline, theirs beginning in the 1960s and '70s, when many of the mills shut down. And like our town it rebounded to become a midsize business and service sector giant, supported by culture instead of heavy industry.

Nothing says this more than the massive Zeche Zollverein, a former coke plant and coal mine that remains as a gargantuan reminder of the past now transformed into a museum and galleries, artist studios, restaurants and even an outdoor swimming pool. In fact, UNESCO recently named it a World Heritage Site. And the city of about 600,000 has been named the center of the European Capital of Culture for 2010. Essen is back in business -- in new business.

It's in this familiar landscape that the PSO opened its first concert of its 2009 European Festival Tour, its first on the continent with Manfred Honeck as music director. The venue last night was the Essen Philharmonie, a hall in which exposed steel beams support the balconies and boxes to remind audiences of what built the city. It opened in 1904 with Richard Strauss conducting and later saw the premiere of Mahler's Sixth Symphony. But the hall was completely redone earlier this decade, reopening in 2004. For my ears, it is on the bright side, which came into play when the orchestra put Bruckner's Symphony No. 4, "Romantic," on its stands. But the venue makes it a point to book top American orchestras, giving the PSO the golden chance to show how it stacks up in its debut here on what is essentially the same field for everyone.

That running comparison took a back seat, however, to Christine Schafer. The Frankfurt-born soprano was the subject of a documentary running on Arte, a German-French TV network for culture, in the days before the concert and can claim Strauss' "Four Last Songs" as something of a specialty.

Schafer is a light soprano, with a tendency to emphasize the bell-like top of her tessitura with a wonderful purity. Yet she brought out a depth of emotion in the reading of the poems that drew one into Strauss' sound world. The orchestra, especially in the moments of hushed playing -- and particularly when it dissolves into a chamber ensemble in the third movement -- provided a groundswell of luxuriant sound supporting Schafer's utterances.

Concertmaster Andres Cardenes matched her with some sweet singing of his own in his extended solo in the third. Honeck cultivated the balance excellently, giving Schafer her space to shine and sigh as the music called for.

The hardest part of any concert tour is adjusting to the hall, and that means piece by piece.

Acoustics that bloomed with the tender, lyrical strains of Strauss melted under Honeck's white hot interpretation of Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. Honeck seeks to bring out the organic elements of the piece, which often means more contrast in volume than is typical. The hall, especially at only two-thirds capacity, could not hold the contrasting volume. The orchestra had to be so quiet as to occasionally lose tone quality, and then play so loud it often produced a harsh sound. There were plenty of standout players, such as horn player William Caballero with the opening, the brass in the finale and the entire viola section in the second movement, but many other solos and interplay sounded exposed in the hall.

Who can say how it came across to the audience, but they were not entirely sure when to clap. Some started to applaud too quickly after Honeck cut off the orchestra, which caused others to refrain from clapping at all. The awkward silence that followed prompted Honeck to turn around with a wink, to essentially say, "You can clap now!" That got a big laugh and hearty applause, leading to two encores: Grieg's "Morning Mood" and Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 5."

The PSO and Honeck will be looking for more cohesive concerts during the rest of this important tour, but it will find more responsive halls, too.