There is not an emotion Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto does not touch upon. A staccato, static, drumbeat infuses the listener with Wagnerian strength; the harp resonates hope through the discord of oboes, clarinets and flutes; horns pierce the frantic melancholy of the violin, itself plucking every note of our emotional strings.

At around 25 minutes, the Violin Concerto is one of the most spectacular of Glass’ nearly perfect oeuvre. The Hollywood Bowl, focusing the often frantic, sometimes debilitating, prowess of violin soloist Martin Chalifour left the crowd unable to crunch their chips, drop their wine bottles or utter a word, their bodies paralyzed under the strength of the notes. Even nature seemed moved to silence, birds and the wind genuflecting to the energy, fluttering not wing or leaf, stunned to silence.

While Glass’ work has been practiced at the Walt Disney Concert Hall by some of the same musicians, to be able to look at the stars and moon and trees and witness a cosmic harmony nearly as beautiful as that being produced onstage provided an added dimension of wonder. This was a night of strings, and as the most famous book on the theory proposes, under Glass’ direction it truly is an Elegant Universe.