SSO, guest excel in varied program By Chuck Klaus, contributing writer Saturday, January 21, 2006 Friday's SSO program had visceral appeal aplenty. The concert began with Steve Cohen's "Juggernaut," as showy a piece of orchestral writing as I have heard in this relatively new millennium. The 2002 work clearly marks Cohen as an Eastman School-involved composer. The confident combination of a clean, crisp orchestration for a large group and the relative accessibility of the materials and harmonic touches of the work have strong roots undoubtedly planted by American composer and longtime Eastman guiding spirit, Howard Hanson. "Juggernaut" works its way through other influences as well, such as the minimalism and pop/rock rhythms typical of John Adams, as well as the sweep and dash of some of the popular concert and film works of John Williams. There were more advanced styles on display as well, but the gestures of the mechanistic and glowering opening, which occasionally returned throughout the piece, were eventually outweighed by the vigor on display. The composer joined Grant Cooper and the Syracuse Symphony on stage for a friendly reception by the SSO audience.