From the ISO, three at the 19th-century cool-kids' table: Liszt, Saint-Saens, and Augusta Holmès

Karem Abdullah brings diversity to the table.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has put the classical part of Race Month into high gear with programming that ticks the diversity box as well as offering great representatives of the century where almost everyone's symphonic hearts still lie: the 19th.

Friday night the novelty was a lengthy tone poem in symphonic form by Augusta Holmès, an ambitious Frenchwoman of Irish parentage who (incidentally) turned aside marriage proposals by Camille Saint-Saens, one of the concert's two eminent figures. The third composer was the continental favorite from Hungary, Franz Liszt.

It's worth starting this account by holding up the Liszt Piano Concerto in E-flat, the program's companion

Benjamin Grosvenor in a pensive pose

piece to Holmès' "Roland Furieux (Symphony after Ariosto)." That's because it received an especially sparkling rendition that went well below the surface as played by Benjamin Grosvenor, a British pianist making his ISO debut this weekend. 

"There are lots of good moments given to the orchestra, " Grosvenor enthused in Words on Music remarks before the performance. "There's beautiful interaction between the soloist and the orchestra."

Grosvenor was not only sensitive to that in his concerto appearance, but he was also engaged with how much of a unit the writing for both piano and orchestra is throughout the work. In that he had a sympathetic partner in guest conductor Kazem Abdullah. Their rapport went beyond the evident thematic links that are subject to transformations of mood as well textural and tempo treatment. Liszt's own words about such reworkings, quoted in the program notes, sum it up as his original "kind of binding together and rounding off a piece." 

What the composer set down was aided in Friday's performance by Grosvenor's rhythmic acuity and intuitive command of his instrument's role in point after point. The partnership lent itself to the second movement's relaxation of intensity in favor of a tenderness that the composer often had access to as much as he did to scintillating virtuosity.

With his Liszt magic, Grosvenor already had the audience eating out of his hand. He took that a step further in the encore, "The Stars and Stripes Forever," the best-known John Philip Sousa march.  Long ago it was turned into a showpiece for solo piano by Vladimir Horowitz. Like the Russian master on the concert stage, Grosvenor gave full vent to the march's thunderous portions while inserting delicate touches in the Trio section (famous for its picccolo obbligato and also for the parody lyrics "Be kind to your web-footed friends: a duck may be somebody's mother"). It brought the house down.

Not many people know the literary inspirations for a host of 19th-century program music. The legendary hero Roland provided inspiration to the Italian poet Ariosto, who in turn generated the elaborate handling of parts of the epic by Holmès, divided lavishly among three movements. 

The work takes its time in expatiating on its material. In the slow movement, the cello section enjoyed a long-phrased melody, reinforced by oboe and English horn, that characterized the hero's infrequent moods of calm and contentment. His turbulence and restlessness, immediately announced in a first movement that doesn't bother to conceal its indebtedness to Richard Wagner, takes over furiously in the third. It features, nonetheless, a lyrical melody that shows more mastery than the score's previous tunes of the same character. At length, of course, the dramatic tumult takes over, and the piece ends in noisy splendor. 

What remains on this program shows more enduring splendor. Chase Loomer, an organist on the musical staff of Christ Church Cathedral, the ISO's neighbor across Monument Circle, was featured in Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 in C minor ("Organ"). 

The balance of forces was exemplary, from the moment the organ enters in the first quiet music of any extent. The suavely linked finale, ascending to an unparalleled spectacle for the ears, made an overwhelming impression. The score turns up many virtuoso demands on the orchestra, which responded with nimble precision. 

There is no piece more indicative of the kind of rational control that French art exerts over even extravagant notions than the "Organ Symphony," and Friday's performance met it on its own terms. Along with the Liszt concerto, it confirmed the guest conductor's well-honed knack for effective collaboration with apt guest soloists.