New York music lovers were caught with their pants down when Alan Gilbert was named the music director of the Philharmonic, leaving most awaiting a conductor whom they had never heard. At Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, fans had a golden opportunity to get acquainted with the new sheriff in town.

Mr. Gilbert attended the Curtis Institute of Music but had never before led its Symphony Orchestra. Those of us who have experienced his style in a smattering of Phil concerts find him to be a thoughtful, but not a flamboyant, leader. By all accounts, the Philharmonic players like him, but the big question is whether they will respect him. This is, after all, the orchestra whose members once upbraided Joseph Stransky about his behavior, one wag expressing for all the sentiment that “if you don’t stop mistreating us, we will begin to follow your beat.”

It was clear that there was a respectful the ebullience and high energy of the young tunesmith. Early on, it was apparent that this orchestra had been working very hard, each rhythmic transition crisp and refreshing,

Mr. Gilbert conducted in a physically somewhat exaggerated manner, employing interpretive dance to accomplish changes in tempo or volume. This was a departure from his professional style and was geared to the experience level of his charges. It worked marvelously, every section of the ensemble clicking on all cylinders.

There are 162 aspirants at Curtis and this academic year each one of them is studying the same work, the String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor of Beethoven, known as the “Serioso.”

It was Gustav Mahler who urged his protégé Arnold Schoenberg to flesh out his string sextet Verklaerte Nacht for full string orchestra, and Mahler himself expanded this Beethoven quartet in a similar manner. Mr. Gilbert led an exceptionally well-played account of this piece that Mahler used as a novelty with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Much more than just a copyist’s assignment, Mahler alters the character of the work by emphasizing the lower register of the orchestra, giving much heft to cellos and double basses. He even includes a harp for color. The aggregate string sound of these talented students was impressive and could not have been achieved overnight. If Alan Gilbert can get the New York Philharmonic to sound like this, he will have accomplished a lot.

The inclusion of the Symphony No. 3 of the Dane Carl Nielsen brings up the question of repertoire. Mr. Gilbert makes his home in Sweden and conducts a fair share of Scandinavian music. Just this week, he led the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Second Symphony of Nielsen and holds out the promise that the music of this rich area will be explored when he settles into his new post. The Phil has not had a conductor conversant with the symphonies of Jean Sibelius since Leonard Bernstein. With his Swedish orientation, Mr. Gilbert will hopefully delve into the four fine symphonies of Franz Berwald, an unjustly neglected 19th-century composer at least on the same level as Robert Schumann. This Nordic bent, coupled with Riccardo Muti’s interest in the hidden corners of the Italian literature of the last two centuries, may make for some interesting music making. Hey, this new arrangement might really work.