The Utah Symphony's Beethoven Symphony countdown is nearing the half-way point, and music director Thierry Fischer continued to shed revelatory light on these well-known masterworks. Friday night, it was the composer's "Pastoral" Symphony (No. 6) that received the Fischer treatment in Abravanel Hall.
The concert, which also included music by Richard Wagner and American composer Christopher Rouse, showed new levels of stylistic definition and ensemble unity, especially during Beethoven's programmatically descriptive symphony.
Fischer reduced the string section slightly, producing a slimmed-down ensemble that performed with the dexterity of an Italian sports car.
The work was highlighted by transparent phrases and authentic, Classical-period articulation produced by the string section's crisp, shortened bow strokes, clarity from the woodwinds and brass and defined sticking by the George Brown on the orchestra's new timpani.
This symphony is not only descriptive of Beethoven's beloved countryside but also of the psychological impressions left by a jaunt into nature.
The second movement, subtitled "By the brook," featured all of the elements of a riparian environment — bubbling stream, rustling leaves and bird calls produced by woodwind principals Lisa Byrnes on flute (nightingale), Robert Stephenson on oboe (quail) and Tad Calcara on clarinet (cuckoo). Principal horn Bruce Gifford also contributed significantly.
Wagner's music opened and closed the concert's second half. A transcendent reading of his Prelude to Act I of "Lohengrin" contrasted with the rousing and uncommonly buoyant "Ride of the Valkyries" from "Die Walküre." The symphony's brass section energized the music with focused muscle and avoided too much bombast.
The evening's soloist, virtuoso percussionist Colin Currie, performed Rouse's "Der Gerettete Alberich," (Alberich Saved), nimbly traversing a battery of percussion instruments, including steel drum and marimba. The Scottish percussionist was as fascinating to watch as to hear. He embodied the eponymous title character, who the composer lifted out of Wagner's operatic cycle, "The Ring of the Nibelungen."
To a background of "Ring Cycle" motifs, manipulated by the composer's modern musical language, Currie musically acted out what the composer imagined Wagner's tenacious dwarf would do if transplanted to modern times.
Frenzied playing at the end, including a rocked-out drum set solo, showed the kind of flair only a percussionist can deliver. —
Utah Symphony
Music of Christopher Rouse, Beethoven and Wagner.
With • Conductor Thierry Fischer and percussionist Colin Currie.
Where • Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City.
When • Reviewed Friday, Nov. 11; repeats Saturday, Nov. 12, at 8 p.m.
Tickets • $22-$56 at the box office, utahsymphony.org or 801-355-ARTS. Discounts with student ID.
Vivace • $48 ticket includes a postconcert party in the First Tier Room of Abravanel Hall; call 801-533-NOTE or order online using promo code "Vivace."
