The sum total of Strauss' orchestration as a whole consists of what has been termed its "exposed" quality, resulting in a "vast piece of chamber music."[76] The extensive range of his imagination reveals itself in constantly novel combinations and kaleidoscopic variety of effects that are unprecedented. His command of dynamics is superb. His synthesis of thematic counterpoint in all the voices of the different choirs is at times so reckless that the euphony of its harmonic corollary is endangered and the resultant effect presents a chaos of cacophony unless the auditor accustom himself to follow the Melos not vertically but horizontally. The orchestration is the most vivid in existence. Realism is accentuated. The tonal tints are scintillating and glowing. Every single instrument in the orchestra has an indispensable rôle assigned to it. The scores abound in clever orchestral devices, in startling contrasts, powerful crescendos and exciting climaxes, and disclose the mind of a master possessed of poetic fancy, natural humor, artistic culture, strong individuality, philosophical insight and intellectual power. [Footnote 76: Appendix, Ex. 97.] The titanic achievements of Richard Strauss have caused him to appear as the most conspicuous living musician, and in the arrangement of a modern program, his works are at present the accepted companions to those of his models in rich and massive orchestration, Wagner and Liszt; to those of Brahms, conservator of classic models and loftiest ideals; to Saint-Saëns' scintillating and unrivalled tableaux; to Tschaikowsky's sombre tone-pictures, to Dvo[vr]ák's brilliant and vivacious portrayals, to Grieg's poetic and popular conceptions. XIV.