Had everything gone as scheduled on Friday, Jeffrey Kahane would have led the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Hall. As we all know, life doesn't always unfold as planned.

A case of extreme hypertension forced the orchestra's music director to chill for a month, resulting in some changes - in conductors, naturally, but also in repertory.

We'll not judge whether Kahane's promised symphonic rarities by Sibelius and Lutoslawski were the better choices than the single work chosen to replace them by pinch-hitting conductor Christoph Campestrini. But the modest-size crowd Friday certainly approved of the program change.

Campestrini led a full-bore account of Schubert's sprawling Ninth Symphony, which thrilled his audience.

Though laid out in the usual four movements, the "Great" C-major Symphony doesn't really offer a slow movement. Yes, the second is partially marked Andante, implying "take it easy." But Campestrini was more interested in following the instructions of the second half of Schubert's marking: con moto. There was motion, all right - an unstoppable energy that spilled into the two blistering movements that followed.

More than simply direct a propulsive performance (led from memory, by the way), the Austrian conductor also managed to lure some spectacular playing from the CSO. The strings sang Schubert's lovely tunes and then turned muscular when the music demanded it. The winds (spearheaded by Peter Cooper's plaintive oboe, and Bil Jackson's ingratiating clarinet) produced an ideally cohesive blend.

To open the program, veteran pianist Ivan Moravec, still spry at 76, generously offered two solo works - each a concert-hall rarity: Mozart's seldom- heard Concerto No. 14 and César Franck's never-heard Symphonic Variations.

With due respect, there's a reason why these two aren't often heard: They're not all that great.

Moravec played with accuracy and sensitivity, but his square phrasing in the Mozart and monochromatic approach to the Franck failed to bring any new luster to these neglected works. Campestrini and company offered robust accompaniments, but it wasn't enough to make one want to hear either piece again anytime soon.

Colorado Symphony

• Grade: B

• When and where: Repeated at 7:30 p.m. today and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis streets

• Cost: $15 to $67.50

• Information: 303-623-7876

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296