The evening's most eloquently argued piece was Daniel Asia's Rivalries, which handled complex instrumental forces with impressive poise and sophistication. With the composer conducting, it also brought some of the evening's best instrumental playing (from the Brooklyn Philharmonic).

Rivalries, by conductor-composer Daniel Asia, is an exceedingly intelligent, clean, engaging, and well-crafted work that pits different orchestral groups against each other, including a delightful jazz trio of soprano saxophone, piano and bass. His music is full of tension and release, sometimes combative, sometimes playfully flexible with the inflections of jazz rhythms: music for the here and now, that should also wear well.