The Press Democrat  Post-Minimalist work a study in contrasts Monday, February 11, 2002 By Diane Peterson  The Santa Rosa Symphony under Music Director Jeffrey Kahane took a flying leap Saturday at the Burbank Center for the Arts with a thrilling program of reconciliatory works by Johannes Brahms and John Adams. In a time when the symphony is building bridges with other institutions, it is refreshing to hear it perform works that also attempt to be greater than the sum of their parts. In both Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 and Adams' "Harmonielehre," the composers forged a fresh language out of something borrowed and something new - Brahms straddles the Classical and the Romantic eras, while Adams borrows from the lush language of the Romantics and filters it through the dry, rhythmic repetition of his Minimalist peers. To help understand Adams' post-Minimalist style, Kahane invited the 54-year-old Berkeley composer to speak to the audience before and during the concert. Dressed in an off-white linen suit and wearing horn-rimmed glasses, the Harvard graduate explained how he came to write the piece in 1985, after suffering an 18-month writer's block while serving as composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Symphony. Overwhelmed by media attention, the emerging composer became frozen by fears of being "artistically bought." The huge pounding chords of the opening movement represent a dream that Adams had - in the dream, he was driving over the Bay Bridge when he saw a tanker ship turn vertical and take of like a "rocket in the sky." The dream not only helped Adams break through his writer's block but produced a work of uncommon beauty and power. "Harmonielehre" - the title comes from a Schoenberg treatise on tonal harmony - is a vibrant score incorporating soaring, Romantic melodies along with disturbing dissonances and jangly rhythms.  Since the work calls for an army of musicians and a bevy of percussion instruments, it is a visual feast to behold. But be forewarned: You have to keep your eyes peeled to catch which instruments are producing all those surprising sonorities.  Under Kahane's steady baton, the orchestra was able to navigate neatly through the endless oscillations and choppy time signatures of the first and third movements. In the eerie second movement, the strings were equally adept at spinning out dreamy melodies as they were at screeching to a halt. Saturday night, there was a handful of deserters during the Adams work, but most everyone else stayed to give the piece and its players an enthusiastic standing ovation. During the first half, pianist Horacio Gutierrez illuminated the dual nature of Brahms with a workmanlike rendition of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor. Gutierrez began the first movement with measured restraint, and at times, he played so softly that it was difficult to hear him over the orchestra- a basic balance problem. But as the piece progressed, Gutierrez became more and more impassioned. It's as if he wanted to pay homage to the composer's Classical roots before giving himself over to the emotionalism of the Romantic era. Gutierrez delivered all the musical goods during the elegiac Adagio, which glittered with delicate trills and sublime phrasing. In the breezy Rondo, he unleashed the redoubtable power of his left hand and brought the work to a fervent and dramatic close, eliciting another standing ovation. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this guy loves to play. The Santa Rosa Symphony will repeat the Saturday program at 8 tonight at the Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Tickets: $20-$40. Phone: 546-8742.