OAKLAND—In one of the adventurous Oakland Symphony’s boldest and most exotic ventures, half of the Nov. 15 program was devoted to Korean music which, though timeless in style, seems downright avant garde to Western ears.

The centerpiece was Cal grad Jean Ahn’s concerto “The Woven Silk,” with soloist Soo Yeon Lyuh playing the two-stringed bowed haegeum fiddle, which resembles the Chinese erhu. The orchestral effects are difficult and unfamiliar, with swooping gestures, low trombone rumbles, and furious drumming. The restless haegeummeanwhile produces glissandos, outcries and a Korean-type minimalism. The elegantly attired Ms. Lyuh performed with cool professionalism and assertiveness, with dulcet tones confined mostly to the cadenza.

Texu Kim, 39, contributed his brief “Dub-Sanjo,” meaning “being performed together,” as he explained. He incorporates a few Western elements like counterpoint to traditional Korean forms, starting with tempos of a ritual procession, he accelerates, with melismas on strings, microtones and woodwind “darts.” From this perspective, it’s a restless piece calling on unusual effects, like tapping on cello wood, and finishing up with fast-flashing tempos and episodic progression.

He finished with one of his trademark novelty pieces, this one called “Blow, Fly, Pop!!” that brought down the house. The assortment of sounds embraced noisy whipping of plastic sheets, much quieter musicians’ blowing bubbles in water glasses, the popping of balloons on cue, and various irregular accents, culminating in Music Director Michael Morgan blowing festive soap bubbles filling the air, garnering an ovation of bemusement at the Paramount Theater.

Morgan, who has slimmed down noticeably and also turned less demonstrative, conducted European works, the piece de resistance being the familiar Grieg Piano Concerto. Soloist was a marvelous young talent from Juilliard, Chang-Yong Shin, who had won the 2018 Gina Bachauer Competition. Shin was a subtle and expressive interpreter who also mastered all the rapid runs flawlessly, so popular that he was brought back for a solo encore in a Chopin waltz.

The Oakland Symphony was not up to the level of recent years, but it showed a lustrous cello section, and a fine flue soloist in Alice Lenaghan, who carried off the Fauré “Pavane,” Op. 50.

NON-MUSICAL NOTES—-Evidently under fire from some quarters, the Symphony flew to its own defense in unprecedented fashion. Both in posted signs and in texts read at the opening, the Symphony asserted that it allows “No sexism, no racism, no ableism, no ageism, no classism, no homophobia, no transphobia, no fatphobia and no hatefulness,” and any one discriminated against should contact the O.S. administration.

The O.S. should never have to be so defensive in matters of racial/ethnic bias. In our NorCal region, it is far ahead of all other orchestras with regard to minorities, having played numerous programs of spirituals, jazz specials, and Latino music. Furthermore it has at least three African-American conductors on its roster: Besides Morgan, there is Chorus Director Lynne Morrow and Joseph Hébert, who is also the number two man in the cello section. What orchestra anywhere can top that?

Oakland Symphony in music of Grieg, Fauré, Kim and Ahn Nov. 15, Paramount Theater, Oakland. For OS info: go online: www.oaklandsymphony.org.

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