“…surely, there could be no better argument for the survival of the NMSO than the brillant concert it proceeded to play at Popejoy Hall…Anzolini led (Brahms Third Symphony)… (with the) seemingly intent on polishing every detail. Anzolini applied his reading consistently throughout the work with a strong pulse and no lack of passionate outpouring… The Andante was a show of woodwinds with luxurious phrases, probing great depths of solemnity, as though a musical depiction of a sunset…The Poco Allegretto, no kpking Scherzo, sings a brooding minor theme. The finale expends all its energy in the first half, then slowly increases in glowing grandeur, ending with a quiet reverence -the very opposite sentiment of the mood in which the symphony began…”