A musician stood up and jangled a heavy iron chain. A trombone player occupied the spotlight and made wheezing sounds that resembled a sick whale mired in primeval mud. Children in bright blue robes played hand bells. Someone rang sleigh bells. Scattered in the balconies, five trumpeters held foil pie plates up like mutes and blew. The string section looked like errant students assigned to the back of the room to repeat the same musical sentence at least 25 times. That was just about the case (see below). High on a ramp, the strings...

