BUTLER TWP - Elisabeth Heath-Charles, director of the Butler County Symphony, is known for her informality and element of surprise, and her entrance for the first concert of the season reflected that style.

After the Star-Spangled Banner was conducted by a stand-in director, the lights went out, and a realistic motorcycle sound permeated the auditorium. When the lights went on, there was Heath-Charles, in riding garb, standing by a motorcycle in the front of the auditorium.

This antic was an introduction into American composer John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine."

This was the fast-paced introduction to the concert entitled "Mercury" in the symphony's season series revolving around planets.

"Short Ride in a Fast Machine" is riveting but not tuneful.

Beginning with the wood block in the percussion section, the composition lasts for less than five minutes with the wood block keeping the beat for most of that time. The xylophone takes over with the incessant one-note beat towards the end.

There was nothing boring about the composition, however, and it was fun to hear what would occur next.

The featured work was Beethoven's "Triple Concert, Opus 56, in C Major." The three soloists were pianist Nanette Solomon, violinist Warren Davidson, and cellist Paula Tuttle.

The work of three movements was sensitively executed. The first movement began with an orchestral tutti followed by each of the solo instruments cleanly introducing the theme in turn, the cello first, the violin second, and the piano last with a slight elaboration on the theme.

Anticipating the first entrances of the soloists was exciting as each repeated the theme.

The middle movement was the predictably slow one and the cello segued into the final movement.

All three of the soloists are on the music faculty of Slippery Rock University.

After the intermission, the orchestra played Howard Hanson's "Merry Mount Suite." Hanson, who was born in Nebraska, was one of our country's finest composers.

His opera "Merry Mount" is based on a Nathaniel Hawthornesque New England tragedy and the foreboding tone belies his usual upbeat romanticism. The third movement, "Love Duet," actually does remind the listener of his Second Symphony but with a somber tone.

The last movement, "Maypole Dances," almost sounds like an Irish jig until the listener counts the beats and discovers the piece is in four-four time and not six-eight.

The concert concluded with "Espana" by nineteenth-century French composer, Emmanuel Chabrier. This lively finale was an appropriate way to end the "Mercury" concert.

The concert was dedicated to the memory of Shumila Ram, a member of the symphony association's board of directors.

This is the symphony's 57th season.