BONN, Germany -- Over the course of continued listening to an orchestra, a listener's experience runs the gamut from blown away to flabbergasted. With the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's crack ensemble, it has been far, far more the former than the latter. But even as I have enjoyed some fantastic concerts by the PSO, it is moments such as Wednesday night's affair in Bonn that most bring out a pride in the orchestra.

Once again, the orchestra deftly adapted to a difficult artistic situation. This time it came in the person of violinist Viktoria Mullova, soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto. It's pressure enough that the PSO performed Beethoven here at the Beethovenhalle, as part of the Beethovenfest and in Bonn, the birthplace of the composer. But they also had to deal with a soloist adamant about her own conception of the piece.

Mullova comes with many accolades, from victories at the 1980 Sibelius Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982 to acclaimed concerts and recordings. While she studied traditionally at the Moscow Conservatory, she has lately been enamored with performance practice and it was this approach that she took with the PSO. Actually, it was her approach itself that was surprising. She began the rehearsal by shouting that violins were too loud and then proceeded to constantly tell them and music director Manfred Honeck how she wanted them to sound.

It is great that Mullova has strong feelings about the piece and wants to cultivate her own reading. She is the soloist. But to be so demanding was shocking. And to ask so much period sound from what is, obviously, a modern orchestra, is just puzzling.

The PSO is often called an ambassador of Western Pennsylvania, but this time its members were truly diplomats. They and Honeck didn't argue or flinch in the face of Mullova's orders; on the contrary, they adapted their sound to hers as best they could, such as playing more open strings or offering less vibrato.

The great irony came in the concert, when it was Mullova who had trouble with her part, occasionally playing flat and in general not crafting the work on the large scale. While she has a gorgeous timbre and can play out like few violinists, her phrasing was inconsistent -- sometimes broad and full like a traditional soloist, other times with a less lively tone and less vibrato, like an early music specialist. And her cadenzas, newly written, were sprawling messes that detracted from the piece.

One hopes she will improve by the Lucerne concert tonight, but the PSO and Honeck have already shown they are more interested in taking the higher ground and salvaging a good performance than fighting with a soloist.

As for the rest of the concert, which was broadcast live by WDR (West German Radio) across the country, the Bonn was a boon to the orchestra. The acoustics of the Beethovenhall suited the PSO well, allowing a rich, mahogany timbre to unfold in Weber's "Der Freischutz" Overture. Principal clarinetist Michael Rusinek took advantage of it to project a piercing and mournful solo. Also, the strings' aggressive bowing at times and Honeck's calls for highly contrasting dynamics never sounded harsh.

Honeck's naturalistic conception of Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 also benefited from a hall that could support the sort of extreme pianissimo that he has been asking of the players. There were still a few places where tone production wavered, but the light tone made for resplendent moments throughout -- not counting the exceptional rustic tones of the horns in the finale.