International orchestras play concerts in Abu Dhabi about once a year. During the Abu Dhabi Festival.

Today was that one day, and we were happy to drive up to Emirates Palace and watch/listen to the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. From Venezuela.

For those of us who appreciate classical music but prefer pieces with some recognition level for the less-than-elite fan (that would be me) … this worked out well.

But what made it special was the size of the orchestra.

Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor of the Simon Bolivar orchestra as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic (which I have yet to hear in the Disney Hall, which kills me), brought with him something like 100 musicians.

Apparently, it takes a (big) village to raise an orchestra. Or it does in Venezuela, anyway.

They almost ran out of room on the stage of the hotel’s plush auditorium. I was actually worried someone might elbow someone else in the face while doing some frantic bowing on the violin.

I counted more than 20 violinists and, for the first half of the production, no fewer than 10 double basses. The viola and cello numbers were around a dozen, each. (They sat so close together, it was hard to count.)

The orchestra played The Tempest, by Tchaikovsky, which I didn’t know … and the Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, also by Tchaikovsky, a piece I know well.

It was during the latter that I came to appreciate the enormity of this orchestra, and the dynamics it could produce.

The louds were louder and the soft bits were clearer. I more deeply appreciated contrapuntal lines I had heard before but perhaps not fully appreciated.

Back to the double basses. Near the end of Romeo & Juliet is a bit that is supposed to sound like a dirge, and with the 10 basses I heard the single, very deep note being bowed — because it was being played by 10 people. It made the visualization of the tale that much easier.

After intermission, they came back with Beethoven‘s Fifth Symphony, which is a cliche to most classical fans, but 1) they did well to stick to the familiar in a market like Abu Dhabi, where the appreciation of classical is not exactly as refined as it would be in New York, Paris or Vienna and 2) it allowed the listener to compare and contrast between previous hearings and how the Simon Bolivar crew handled it.

Again, the greater dynamics offered by raw numbers was, in my non-expert opinion, crucial. I found myself thinking, “I don’t usually notice that theme beneath the melody” and also sitting up to appreciate when Dudamel had his people interpret a passage or a bar in a slightly different fashion.

It also helped that these musicians were very good. Apparently, the orchestra has more than 150 members (the roster lists no fewer than 26 “first violins”), total, but they must have left behind.

We heard the Czech Philharmonic in the same venue last year, and they were talented, but they did not make the same impression.

By examining a photo showing the stage, before the concert, a year ago, I am convinced far more chairs were filled tonight than were a year ago.

I liked it.

I also liked that the all-Venezuelan orchestra was really into what they were doing. Playing a stringed instrument looked like serious exercise, and most everyone swayed with the music as it was played.

Oversize orchestras may be financially prohibitive, in most of the world. I can understand that; elite musicians should be paid accordingly.

But to stumble into a really big band … was a felicitous event.