What does it take to make a uniquely memorable concert? Merely fine musicians, talented soloists and a knowledgeable leader, all committed to their tasks. That was certainly the case for Thursday's N.C. Symphony concert in Memorial Hall, setting a standard by which to judge the rest of the season.

The themed program was a complement to the Nasher Museum of Art's current "El Greco to Velázquez" exhibit, thoughtfully balancing three composers' views of Spanish culture.

The concert began dramatically with all house and stage lights off, focusing attention on projected images of museum visitors looking at famous Spanish paintings. These photos by Thomas Struth gave Duke-based composer Stephen Jaffe the idea for his commissioned piece, "Cithera mea (Evocations)."

Jaffe uses music for solo instruments or voices written four centuries ago and orchestrates them from a modern viewpoint. He ornaments these ancient dances and hymns with slices of dissonance and unexpected instrumentation, echoing similar re-workings by Respighi and Stravinsky.

Along with additional projections of paintings and texts, Jaffe overlays this pleasing composition with recordings of spoken word and ambient sounds. Despite the composer's detailed program notes about his use of these extra-musical elements, they are more distracting than edifying, especially in their seeming randomness. Nevertheless, Grant Llewellyn led precise performances of the four short sections, bringing out opulent massed string passages and organlike brass phrases.

Following this was one of the orchestra's most thrilling and satisfying performances. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet were soloists for Rodrigo's scintillating "Concierto Andaluz," a joyously sunny piece, but with a soulful second movement to rival the composer's more famous one in his "Concierto de Aranjuez." The four guitarists were bursting with rhythmic verve, each with a different but complementary character. Llewellyn coaxed a sensuous Latin flair from his players, hypnotic in the second movement, electrifying in the outer two.

A wholly different viewpoint came from Richard Strauss' tone poem, "Don Quixote," a 40-minute musical illustration of ten adventures by Cervantes' befuddled hero. The composer assigned the solo cello to voice Quixote's character, which the orchestra's Bonnie Thron accomplished most eloquently, from cranky grumblings to lovesick moanings. Violist Anton Jivaev and violinist Brian Reagin provided vivid additional commentary, supported by Llewellyn and company in an impressive array of musical battles, vigils and escapades. Llewellyn was especially adept at keeping all the sudden changes of rhythm and mood knit tightly together.

If a single concert could represent all that is great about the N.C. Symphony, this would be it.

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