I admit it is somewhat of a relief every year when the holiday season ends and regular concert programming resumes. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra offered an interesting, well balanced concert last weekend: an impressionist masterwork, a favorite 20th-century concerto, and a seldom heard, big romantic symphony.

British guest conductor Edward Gardner, music director of English National Opera, took an athletic, technical approach to Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. I was struck by the difference in his extroverted physical gestures and the lovely subtleties coming from the orchestra. I think I understood it.

Though Debussy’s music sounds like a moody mist of sound, it requires exactness and sharp attention to detail. Gardner’s energy worked well in leading Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, which was premiered down the road in Chicago in 1921. To his great credit, soloist Jeffrey Biegel approached this difficult piece with elegance and grace, its enormous technical demands organically incorporated into a satisfying musical statement. Biegel is an unassuming presence on stage, an understated virtuoso who found every bit of lyricism possible in what is usually considered a percussive piece. He was dazzling in a brilliant encore,

Rush Hour in Hong Kong by Abram Chasins.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 is rarely programmed, and though it wanders around a bit, it sounded fresh. Gardner’s operatic abilities and temperament were obvious in this 45-minute, sprawling work. He dove into the exaggerated melo- drama of some sections without irony or self-consciousness. I would bet that Gardner is good at Verdi. He showed an encouraging, free, rather flamboyant conducting personality in this expansive music; the orchestra responded with expressive playing. The shape and phrasing of the cello section melody in the second movement was especially notable.

Anyone following the local media already knows that the MSO has announced that noted conductor Edo de Waart will become music director in September 2009. This is surprising, happy news. I’ve written quite a lot about the improvement of the orchestra during the tenure of Andreas Delfs. The MSO is at level now where bad performances almost never occur. The future seems bright.