For the rest, the orchestra displayed its typical agility and finesse.
The orchestra displayed a nice range of expressions, with the flute and oboe melodies carrying an ethereal, otherworldly softness.
The Oregonian David Stabler wrote that during the May 7 performance the orchestra displayed peak condition and "played with a precision and intensity that would have been unattainable a decade ago".
Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro for Strings" is a work for string quartet and string orchestra that displays virtuosity as it evokes both the grandeur and frivolity of Baroque-era concerti grossi.
The quartet expanded to the 47-piece Junkyard Orchestra on display.
It is an excellent opportunity to hear how a great orchestra can display flexibility and a mastery of different styles.
It was just an orchestra, but, displayed in that way, like a set, it was a heart-stopping sight, the cellos gleaming, the vibraphones winking at the lights.
The riches of the orchestra are displayed in chordal passages for a luscious wind ensemble, in explosive percussion interjections or in scintillations from strings being plucked (harp and guitar) or hammered (cimbalom).
But there are advantages, too, in putting the music and the orchestra on display, as the New York Philharmonic did on Thursday night when it invited Lorin Maazel to conduct his compilation "The Ring Without Words," a 70-minute Rhine journey from the birth-of-nature music at the start of "Das Rheingold" to the ecstatic cataclysm that closes "Gotterdammerung".
Opportunities for the orchestra to display the youthfulness, strength and sensitivity it had shown in the Schubert came again after intermission in Brahms's First Piano Concerto, where Mr. Davies gave the introduction maximal contrast of tone and tempo between robust energy and wistfulness.
