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Just as the familiar tune “In the Hall of the Mountain King” gradually builds speed “accelerando,” as the compositional notation is known, some birdsong does too, like that of the nightingale.

“He was ready,” Hughes wrote, “with big rallentendos when they were needed for expansive lifts and with accelerandos when fleet footwork was involved.”

He will add accelerandos, add ritardandos; he will change things in his own piece.

On Friday, during the elaborate “Fledermaus” overture there were moments of shaky coordination; a few accelerandos started out tentatively before settling into a groove.

Mr. Fischer is of this second school, and here he displayed a malleable pulse, amply yet sensibly using driven accelerandos and aching rubatos.