Dallas Symphony Music director Jaap van Zweden pulled off a neat bit of programming in Thursday night’s concert at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center—and, intentionally or not, gave a boost to the folks next door at the Dallas Opera with a taste of symphonic Wagner, two weeks before that company takes on Tristan und Isolde.

The great thing about the repertoire for the evening was the way it revolved around Wagner, inviting the listener to ponder that titan of romanticism in terms of what came before him—represented by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor—and what came after—represented by Debussy’s La Mer.

The evening opened with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, a reflective delicacy from a composer more frequently associated with expansive time frames and fevered passion. Van Zweden took an appropriately translucent view of the work, emphasizing its general serenity in a performance with the orchestra reduced, as is customary for the piece, to chamber proportions.

Thence onward to the darkest of Mozart’s large orchestral works, which was also the Mozart Concerto most well-known to Wagner and his contemporaries. Soloist David Fray and Van Zweden took a fairly romantic approach to the piece, exploring timbres and resonance (Fray particularly displayed a subtle and rich approach to pedaling) and bursting, when appropriate, into the stormy passion this work demands.

After intermission, the full orchestra assembled onstage for another Wagner excerpt, the “Good Friday Spell” from Parsifal. Although this work is somewhat less frequently encountered in the concert hall than the Siegfried Idyll, its rich, quasi-religious aura (a counterpoint to the slowly smoldering eroticism of the Siegfried Idyll) emerged beautifully in the performance.

Debussy emerged on the European music scene at a time when the influence of Wagner was at its apex; while his music was very much a revolt against Wagner, it would have been impossible without Wagner’s orchestral innovation. This conundrum is evident throughout La Mer, with its brilliantly experimental colors, innovative harmonies, and constantly shifting moods. The orchestra was for the most part up to the challenges of this score, with a few rough spots and many wonderful moments.

While La Mer can be enjoyed as merely an amazing description of the sea, it can, in the hands of a great conductor, emerge as much more. And, quite often, in this performance, it did.