On Wednesday night, the New York Philharmonic’s concert began with a bang — or more like a pow: It was the opening note of Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Op. 72b. It was utterly arresting. And you figured that Maestro Lorin Maazel and his orchestra would have a pretty good night. And a very good night they had, from first note to last.

That overture was tense, sweeping, and ultra-dramatic. Mr. Maazel was not just powerful, but nuanced as well. He committed a few of his Maazelisms: funny little ritards and stutters. But these were harmless. And he had the orchestra producing an unusually admirable sound: vibrant and rich at the same time.

By the way, when Beethoven was making his pivotal transition — hushed — a cell phone in the hall went crazy. Is it time to jam these halls, making such interruptions impossible? Is such an action feasible?

After this bracing beginning, Anne-Sophie Mutter, the famed German violinist, came out to play the Berg Concerto. This is one of the most intricate, subtle, and sublime works in the entire violin-and-orchestra literature. It also carries one of the most famous dedications in music: “To the Memory of an Angel.” The composer dedicated this piece to the dead teenage daughter of Alma and Walter Gropius.

Ms. Mutter knows this piece, and so does Mr. Maazel. After long experience, they have this music under their skin. And they were sensitive, smart, and transfixing. They largely let the music speak for itself. It was beautiful and bleak; serene and agitated; abrasive and angelic. This account was suffused with complicated human emotion, having much to do with memory — and that’s Berg’s concerto.

One is struck by the profusion of violinists in the concert world today. In the past month or so, New York alone has seen: Midori, Gidon Kremer, Sarah Chang, Christian Tetzlaff, Hilary Hahn, Sergey Khachatryan, Leonidas Kavakos, Lisa Batiashvili. And I am speaking only of violinists I have heard personally.

And some readers might naturally ask how A-SM — Anne-Sophie Mutter — looked. Well, she wore a bright-yellow dress — shoulderless, of course, in her signature style — and she looked like a movie star. That is, if you can find one today that glamorous.

After intermission, Mr. Maazel conducted two works that he should eat up — and eat them up he did. The first was Stravinsky’s “Chant du rossignol,” or “Song of the Nightingale,” a “symphonic poem” taken from his opera “Le rossignol.” From Mr. Maazel and the orchestra, it was colorful, virtuosic, and splashy — but not splashy in the pejorative sense. Splashy like making a splash. This playing was both rhapsodic and precise, controlled. And Mr. Maazel paced the score wisely, letting the notes relate the drama.

When you have nightingales — or other birds — you have flutes, and the Philharmonic’s principal, Robert Langevin, played marvelously well. Also contributing outstanding solos were the trumpet, Philip Smith, and the concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow.

Following Stravinsky was Ravel, in his “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2. Can music so familiar come off fresh and exciting? Oh, yes: Mr. Maazel was completely alert and energized, and so were his forces. This maestro is an excellent, and an underrated, “French” conductor, and he had the orchestra sounding very French. They used to say that, under Charles Munch, the Boston Symphony Orchestra was a French orchestra. The New York Philharmonic, under Mr. Maazel, has been a French orchestra, when it has wanted.

Ravel’s work was shimmering and wondrous, unfolding gloriously. In fact, Mr. Maazel provided a kind of lesson in musical unfoldment. The sunrise here filled you with warmth, and the final dance made your hair stand on end.

And, once more, Mr. Langevin played marvelously — this was a very soloistic night for the flute.

Cocking an ear to the critical chatter, you can sense an impatience for Mr. Maazel to leave the Philharmonic’s podium — he is scheduled to do so in 2009. And as I was listening to him conduct the “Leonore” Overture No. 3, I felt almost physically ill: Why should anyone be in a rush for this amazing, if flawed, musician to leave? Some people want someone younger. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has just hired Gustavo Dudamel, aged 26. Whoopee! Lorin Maazel is 77 — so I guess L.A. beats New York by 51 points.

Is that any way to think about music? But people don’t think about music, do they?

Also, some people say they want a conductor immersed in new music. I say: Mr. Maazel not only conducts this music, he composes it — and how many of his critics can say that?

If he continues to conduct as he did on Wednesday night, the desire should be, not for Mr. Maazel to leave, but for the Philharmonic to extend his contract.