The Seattle Symphony's Visiting Orchestras series, which brings full-size and chamber orchestras to Benaroya Hall each year, gives Northwest listeners a window on the rest of the world with live music by orchestras we usually hear only on recordings.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of the highly regarded Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a conductorless ensemble that has raised musical democracy to a high art. Self-governing, with musicians whose positions rotate from work to work on the same program, the Orpheus takes its lead from a different player in each piece.

Over the years since its founding (in 1972), Orpheus has established a reputation for excellence, yet reviewers often hedge that the ensemble and interpretation are both "as good as it can be for a conductorless orchestra," or some equivalent reservation.

Tuesday's Benaroya concert did indeed have several minor episodes in which entrances (as in the woodwind chords early in the second movement of the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3) were a little ragged, and there were a few other ensemble problems surprising to hear in such a virtuoso ensemble.

It also was clear that the Orpheus is capable of glorious playing. With its rich string sound and strongly individualized woodwinds (including a former Seattle Symphony guest oboist, Randall Ellis), this group gave a glowing account of Sibelius' seldom-heard Suite from "Pelléas et Mélisande." Even better was the crisply dancelike Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 ("Classical"), where the ending of the third "Gavotta" movement was all subtle delicacy. The Orpheus players were less convincing in the "Concordanza" of Sofia Gubaidulina, a 1971 piece (very much of its time) that seemed more like a collection of sound effects than a unified work.

The evening's star was violinist Joshua Bell, whose beauty of sound and impeccable technique were a consistent pleasure to hear in the Saint-Saëns. The small orchestra's transparency assured that we did indeed hear the soloist, in every nuance.

Bell's "speaking" tone, lovely and refined, shapes the music the way a gifted singer shapes sound, communicating to the listener as clearly as a spoken conversation. Whether he was giving a slow-movement melody an exquisite arch, or powering his way through rapidly ascending double-stop octaves, Bell established his absolute mastery of this concerto in a performance that brought loud bravos and repeated curtain calls.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com