The three works presented by Andreas Delfs and the Honolulu Symphony shared more than just their French origin.

Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," Maurice Ravel's Concerto in G Major, and Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" are exceptionally colorful works, each masterfully orchestrated.

All three composers used their forces fully, showcasing musicians with wonderful solos quite literally in every section: Paul Barrett on bassoon, William Parrish on English horn, Scott Janusch on oboe, Ignace Jang on violin, Eric Shin on glockenspiel, Adam Snider on tuba, and so on.

Even more fun were the numerous musical effects: imagine contrabassoon melodies, a climax about "drowning" in sound, a duet between English horn and offstage oboe, and ranks of tympani rumbling distant thunder.

Who but Berlioz would paint the sound of a guillotined head falling, and who but Ravel ever began a concerto with a slapstick?

Composers still study the way these three orchestrated.

Whatever their similarities, however, Saturday's program marked their differences, sandwiching Ravel's abstract and less-well-known concerto between two wildly popular programmatic works.

"Abstract," or "absolute" music is purely about the music itself, while "programmatic" music has extra-musical connections, such as a story, picture, or poem.

Dukas's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" relates a famous ballad by Goethe but is best known in this country through Disney's animation, while Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" is one of the most famous examples of depicting a story through music.

Ravel's concerto tells no story but is nonetheless a thoroughly charming work that interweaves piano and orchestra so tightly that it hardly seems a soloist's display piece at all. Ravel apparently had richer goals in mind.

Pianist Pascal Roge of France, a noted expert in interpreting French music, was a perfect match for Ravel.

His technique was flawless, but his focus was less on the notes than on how to play them. He created unusual effects: growling bass lines, embellishments scurrying around the orchestra, or melodies meandering dreamily, falling like silver droplets through shimmering trills.

Roge played with grace, sculpting the touch of each phrase, balancing parts smoothly, and pedaling judiciously, choosing precisely when to blur and when to separate.

The first and third movements were impressive, but the second movement was absolutely stunning, its lyric beauty floating in memory and soul.

However skilled Roge, on Saturday familiarity trumped all. Delfs conducted compelling stories, and the audience responded readily, leaping to their feet at the end of Berlioz's irresistible finale.