Pitts Sanborn, music critic of the New York Globe and later the World Telegram, once wrote about summer concerts that “you learn to park your critical faculties with your car.” I thought of this maxim often at the kickoff of the summer season, the New York Philharmonic’s free Memorial Day bash at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Dynamic assistant conductor Xian Zhang began with what would have undoubtedly been a rousing account of the Carnival Overture of Antonin Dvorák, except that the acoustics of the high rounded ceiling coupled with the sound bouncing off of the artificial barriers erected for construction turned the swirlings of the Bohemian master into thick pudding. For a moment, at least, it seemed we were in for a difficult evening.

But some judicious use of cotton balls, brought for the occasion and inserted in the ear, helped to dampen the echoes significantly — there was little danger of inaudibility at this elevated volume. The resulting performance of the Symphony No. 1 of Johannes Brahms was indeed listenable with a healthy suspension of disbelief and a concentrated effort of auditory analysis.

Three separate acoustical anomalies were at play. The first, of course, was the reverberation, making every note, every chord sound again and again. The second was the cathedral’s parabolic effect wherein the sounds from the back of the ensemble are decidedly louder than those from the front, producing in this case a fusillade of percussion and lower brass and a corresponding recoil of strings. The third, at least from my seat about 10 rows back on the stage left side, was that the lower strings — especially violas and double basses — had their sound travel much quicker to the ear, while the violins sounded consistently about a third of a beat behind. Luckily it was Brahms First, so I didn’t mind hearing everything twice.

Passages loud or fast were affected adversely by these phenomena, and therefore the only movement that could be evaluated objectively was the Andante sostenuto. The Phil did quite a good job with this lovely essay: Strings were lush but disciplined and the “voices ascending unto Heaven” of concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and principal hornist Philip Myers were superb. Little things make for great performances. It was especially impressive to observe Ms. Zhang hold the orchestra on its last note as she fixed her eyes upon Mr. Dicterow’s bow. When he was about to reach the bottom of the second down bow of his beautifully sustained final note, she cut off the ensemble perfectly. This may have been a holiday concert, but she was in full midseason mode.

The other movements were fine as long as you could accept the basketful of caveats. Ms. Zhang is a nononsense conductor, the polar opposite of her boss Lorin Maazel. She led a brisk reading, pausing only slightly between the first and second movements and not at all between the third and fourth. Her propulsion and desire to get on with it are admirable, although sometimes the big Romantic gesture that depends on a caesura falls by the wayside.

It was a matter of conjecture as to what the players heard in this echo chamber and, more significantly, what Ms. Zhang must have experienced. But she kept complete command, cuing expertly and pacing thrillingly. Overall, this was a very enjoyable performance, although we had to take the presumption of precision mostly on faith. Of course, we were in just the right place for that.