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Brahms' String Quintet No 1 in F is another infrequently heard work. A sunny, playful score awash in Brahmsian melodies, the final movement features complex, rapid fire fugal writing that was played with virtuoso zeal by Buswell, Agostini, Dunham, Westphal and Greensmith. The sheer intensity and drive of this performance were riveting. Playing an unusually large viola, Westphal produced streams of dark, perfectly focused tone that soared through the opera house. The cheers and enthusiasm this performance engendered were well deserved.

Student participant concerts at Holley Hall on 12 and 14 June 2008 produced a plethora of wonderful music making. A chamber version of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite was an utter delight, sensuous yet wonderfully intimate. The impressionistic languor of Charles Martin Loeffler's L'Etang ('The Pond') was rendered with a kaleidoscopic array of colors and hues by pianist Pauline Yang, oboist Kristin Kall and the spectacular violist Luke Fleming (from New York's Juilliard School). Pianist Jun-Young Cho (from Juilliard) exhibited high voltage, competition-winning playing in a brilliant, fiery version of the Rondo alla Zingarese from Brahms' Piano Quartet in G minor, Op 25. Yang's voluminous, high powered pianism ignited the Allegro from Brahms' Piano Trio No 2 in C, Op 87. Stunning, brilliantly executed performances of movements from Bartók's String Quartets Nos 1 and 2 spotlighted the impressive string contingent. Pianist Henry Kramer's large scale, powerhouse thunder brought the Allegro ma non troppo from Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat to vivid life. A welcome revival of Spohr's Grand Nonetto, Op 31 was elegantly spun. One only hopes there will be a place for all of these talented young musicians on America's musical horizon. For audiences, faculty and student participants alike, the Sarasota Music Festival proved a memorable experience.