My orchestra opened its season with Samuel Barber's "Toccata Festiva,"
for organ and orchestra.  Wow.  And I thought I had heard everything.
It's @17 minutes, very virtuoso and it has some deliciously wicked chord
progressions.  (Moments of poetry too, of course--it's Barber.)

Highly recommended.

Other highlights of our season, (The Camellia Symphony Orchestra, Eugene
Castillo, dir; based in Sacramento, CA; BTW), include:

Saturday, February 8th:
Judith Weir--"Musicians Wrestle Everywhere"
Dominick Argento--"In Praise of Music"
Vaughan Williams--"Serenade to Music"
Kenneth Leighton--"Symphony #3"

Sunday, March 30th:
Michael Tippett--"The Shires Suite"
Carol Barnett--"Sumervar"
PDQ Bach--"The Seasonings"
Silvestre Revueltas--"Sensemaya"
Ottorino Respighi--"Roman Festivals"

Yes, an adventurous program.  In fact, we won ASCAP's 2002 award for
adventurous programming--it makes counting all those silly mixed-meter
measures before my orchestral piano plinks and plunks a little more
gratifying.

John Smyth