Concertgoers could hardly escape noticing that the past month or so has been the season for hearing big symphony and opera orchestras from abroad. The Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Phil- harmonic, for example, were both here for weeks at the same time, and they weren't the only ones.

Why is it, you may wonder, that they all seem to want to come to Japan simultaneously? It would certainly be nicer if they could be neatly spaced out over the course of the year, to be considerate of our thirst for music, not to mention our financial means.

The answer is simple. This is when they can best afford to be away from their audiences at home. And so they come.

It's not only the big orchestras that come, of course. So do the small ones -- chamber orchestras and ensembles from places you might never have thought of before, like Budapest and Ostrobothnia, for instance.

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

Oct. 21 in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Divertimento for String Orchestra (Bela Bartok, 1881-1945), "Malediction" for Piano and Orchestra (Franz Liszt, 1811-86); Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A Major, K. 414 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-91), both featuring Harumi Hanafusa, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp Major (Liszt, arranged for string orchestra by Peter Wolf)

Harumi Hanafusa's interpretation of Mozart's rarely performed A-major concerto was classically clear, distinguished by impeccable motivic identification and gracious nuances. The performance appeared to have been under-rehearsed, however, as the treatment of grace notes by the soloist and the orchestra remained different throughout, a detail which is normally ironed out during rehearsals.

The lion's share of the preparation may have been dedicated to Liszt's showy "Malediction," where Hanafusa's more aggressive side was on display. Admittedly it is not so profound a work as the Mozart (which, like all of Mozart's concertos, is profound), but nevertheless it was an entertaining work, and it was given an exemplary performance.

The unsung hero in all this was the superb Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, one of the finest chamber orchestras ever to come this way. The 16-member orchestra was formed in 1963 in Budapest, Hungary. Under the quiet leadership of concertmaster Janos Rolla, the beautiful balance and mellow tone, splendid ensemble and perfectly disciplined dynamics, incredible textures and plastic phrasing were marvelously unified in a pervasively romantic conception.

Not surprisingly, the Bartok Divertimento was simply extraordinary. How many times must they have performed this work together to achieve such a complete gestalt?

The concluding work of the mostly Hungarian program was Liszt's second Hungarian rhapsody, arranged for string orchestra by Peter Wolf (for whom no credits were listed). I think of the Magyar culture as a little more passionately zesty than the gentle, gracious sounds we were treated to, but, like the rest of the program, it was certainly a beautiful bit of string playing.

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra

Nov. 11, Juha Kangas conducting in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Divertimento No. 3 for String Orchestra in F Major, K. 138 (Mozart); Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in D Minor (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-47) featuring Tatsuya Yabe and Izumi Tateno; "Holberg" Suite for Strings in G Major, Op. 40 (Edvard Hagerup Grieg, 1843-1907), Concerto No. 2 for Piano and String Orchestra, Op. 41 (Uuno Klami, 1900-61) featuring Izumi Tateno

The 19-member Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1989 in Kokkola, the capital city of the province of Ostrobothnia, 500 km northwest of Helsinki, near Finland's western coast. This was the group's first appearance here.

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra's solo concertmaster Tatsuya Yabe is one of the more venturesome of Tokyo's corps of concertmasters, playing through many unusual works featuring the solo violin, with aplomb if not with distinction. Partnered with pianist Izumi Tateno, they romped through Mendelssohn's double concerto for violin, pianoforte and string orchestra, written in 1822.

The lengthy introduction was left entirely to the accompaniment, the two soloists waiting patiently while the orchestra displayed the best of the performance. Kangas' unified, plastic musical conception produced a balanced, mellow string tone and unforced textures enlivened with sprightly accents.

This is an enticing work for its instrumental combination, and for its overt musicality. The orchestration is not that of a mature hand, though. While the rest of the orchestra is kept busy, long sections of the score are left without a note for the second violins. Mendelssohn was but 13 at the time he completed the scoring, and the precocious composer didn't yet understand the principles of string mass and part doubling. He also didn't yet understand the relative weight of the piano to the strings.

Neither, apparently, did Tateno. He obviously conceived of the composition as a bravura piano concerto with violin obbligato and string accompaniment. If it was a contest, Tateno won, for he was dominant throughout the performance. The principal loser was the composer, for little was left of Mendelssohn's lightness and delicate chamber-music exchanges.

The pianist nearly redeemed himself with a dynamic, rushed reading of the eclectic second concerto for piano and string orchestra by Finnish composer Uuno Klami. The neoclassical forms of the three-movement concerto were filled with flashes of rhapsodic exoticism, selfconsciously derivative of Prokofiev. Except for some effective figurations, the disparity in the imitation seemed to favor the orchestra.

The Mozart Divertimento was polished off in a bright, tasteful style. Grieg's "Holberg" Suite displayed the same discipline and dynamics, an inner core of momentum and intensity, and a wonderful melos. The first two movements were taken just the way I imagine them to be. It was a pleasure to hear such fine playing from these unheralded musicians from the north of the north country.