choices — clarity or complexity? Melody or counterpoint? Detail or underlying structure?

In part because of programming, in part because of individuals' interpretations, Friday's program by the Honolulu Symphony offered new perceptions of familiar works.

The concert took the audience backward through musical history, from John Adams' "Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra" of 1985, through Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto from circa 1940, to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 from 1888, one of the most beloved works in the repertoire.

Adams' "Foxtrot," the concert's introduction, anchored perceptions in 20th-century minimalism, a compositional technique from the 1960s to 1980s inspired by Asian music. The technique layers repeating "cells," or rhythmic/melodic patterns, rather like building blocks. Because of the extensive repetition, even tiny changes transform the character of a cell and how it interacts with other cells.

Minimalist pieces require intense mental focus from its musicians, who must be able to play the cells with absolute precision, without getting lost among the many repetitions, while requiring the audience to relax mentally and "go with the flow."

Guest conductor Alasdair Neale described Adams' version of minimalism in "Foxtrot": "What John does is get these motoristic rhythms going ... and then (he) superimposes these more Romantic, cantabile melodies. As musicians, we always want to milk it, but if you do, the piece begins to unravel."

Although it was clear Friday night that the piece was unfamiliar to the orchestra, Neale not only kept it from unraveling, but also was able to include the sensuality and wit of Adams' more Romantic side.

Juxtaposed with the Adams piece, Khachaturian's Concerto sounded unexpectedly like a forerunner of minimalism and much more lush, late-Romantic and conventional than usual.

The Concerto's featured soloist was Ignace "Iggy" Jang, the Ho-nolulu Symphony's concertmaster and a local favorite. Rather than giving in to the work's lushness, Jang kept the piece from flooding its banks by holding close to the beat and allowing the music's depths to flow beneath a taut surface. Jang's cool precision underlaid with emotion was especially appealing in the languid, seductive second movement.

Jang flew almost nonchalantly through the daunting cadenza in the first movement, and managed to contain the last movement's sprawling structure with impressive virtuosity. At the end, the audience fairly shimmered with enthusiastic applause.

In contrast to the Khachaturian, Tchaikovsky's Fifth sounded concise, contrapuntal and Classical, adjectives that rarely appear in the same paragraph as the composer.

"The Tchaikovsky was my idea," maestro Neale explained. "I've had a long history with the piece. I cut my (musical) teeth on it."

That familiarity was immediately audible Friday night. In the Khachaturian, which he was conducting for the first time, Neale's conducting was straightforward and close to the score; in the Tchaikovsky, he dispensed with the score altogether and became freer, more expressive, more passionate.

Throughout, Neale gave each moment its due, allowing the music time to live fully. Perhaps as a result, the orchestra delivered outstanding solos.

Clarinetist James Moffitt became almost a featured soloist himself with numerous excellent contributions throughout the evening. Bassoonist Paul Barrett shone in each of his several solos, as did bassoonist Dan MacNeill in the Khachaturian. John Parrish brought delicacy to that famous French horn solo in the second movement, and the string basses, led by Kirby Nunez, closed the first movement with a wonderfully mysterious "growl."