According to his bio, Douglas Boyd is “a new shining star on the international conducting scene.” Even by the standards of publicists’ hyperbole, that’s a little embarrassing. Nevertheless, Mr. Boyd is an interesting and worthy conductor, as he proved with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra on Tuesday night.

He was born in Scotland and began his musical career as an oboist. He is now music director of the Manchester Camerata, in England, and the artistic partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, in Minnesota.What’s an “artistic partner”? I don’t know, but it sounds like a step en route to full marriage.

Tuesday night’s program began with a brief piece by Jacques Ibert, the Frenchman who lived between 1890 and 1962. This was “Hommage à Mozart,” composed in 1956, the Mozart bicentennial year.You may recall that, late last week, the orchestra’s program began with Frank Martin’s “Ouverture en hommage à Mozart,” also composed in 1956. In any case, the Ibert piece is a lot of fun: wacky and swinging, full of doodles and squiggles — also full of allusions to Mozart.

It would have been even more fun if the orchestra had given us tighter execution.They were pretty ragged, spirited as they were.They also sounded bad — worse than they had all festival long. This problem of tonal quality would persist throughout the evening. At times, their sound was downright amateurish, even when other aspects of their playing were fine.

Mr. Boyd had a crack at a very big piece when, to conclude the evening, he conducted Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D, the “Prague.” In that previous concert, the orchestra had played another big symphony in D major, with a nickname: No. 35, the “Haffner.” Have you had a little too much of Mozart? Then this is not your festival, I’m afraid, and this is certainly not your year. (The 250th-birthday bash will end December 31, in time for Mozart’s 251st on January 27.)

Mr. Boyd showed several admirable qualities on the podium. Chief among them was vibrancy, which is connected to energy. There is energy in this executive. He is a coiled, fairly intense fellow. He is also musical, as we heard in his phrasing, which was both sensible and stylish. His tempos were similarly commendable, neither dragging nor rushed. Evidently, this conductor does not commit eccentricities. But his account of the “Prague” was not especially distinguished or instructive. Neither was it shabby. It “suffered from the quality of okayness,” as I’m sometimes forced to say.

The orchestra was quite loose, at times barely managing to hang together. Strange, unwritten noises emitted from them now and then. And the final notes of the symphony were very, very poor — off-pitch, botched, wrong. It’s really unfortunate to end badly, even as it’s unfortunate to begin badly. Of course, it’s not advisable to blunder in between, either.

In the middle of the concert, Alexei Lubimov came on to play a Mozart piano concerto. Mr. Lubimov is a Russian (obviously) who, as we learned from his own bio, was one of the last students of Heinrich Neuhaus. This great teacher taught Richter and Gilels, among others, and had himself studied with Godowsky. In any event, Mr. Lubimov’s concerto was No. 21 in C, sometimes called the “Elvira Madigan.” Why’s that? Because Bo Widerberg’s 1967 movie used the slow movement. Purists absolutely loathe the nickname “Elvira Madigan.” They must console themselves by listening to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata.

Mr. Lubimov proved a quite interesting pianist, whose playing was well-defined, even super-defined. It was also clear, characterful, and precise. He played some unusual accents, but not wrong ones. And he phrased beautifully (speaking of that). I should say, too, that Mr. Lubimov is a pianist of the old school, which is to say free, imaginative — unfearful of the “period” cops. He indulged in some Romantic pauses, and some questionable shifts in tempo, but he never really violated taste.

I should further say that some of the notes Mr. Lubimov played were his own, not Mozart’s! And I suspect that the composer would have enjoyed that. He made room for invention at the keyboard (mostly his own, to be sure). And when I speak of Mr. Lubimov’s notes, I’m not referring to the cadenzas: Those were written by Paul Badura-Skoda. It has been a good Mostly Mozart Festival for Mr. Badura-Skoda. In last week’s curtain-raising gala, Garrick Ohlsson, performing Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto, played his cadenzas, too.

All in all, Tuesday night’s concert was on the strange side, but not dissatisfying. And, frankly, I’d like to hear that zippy little Ibert piece again.

Until August 26 (Lincoln Center, 212-721-6500).