Utah Symphony - Mozart and Shostakovitch

This past weekend the Utah Symphony and maestro Thierry Fischer gave one of the most unforgettable performances of the season with Shostakovitch's 7th Symphony, "Leningrad" at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City.

The first half of the concert, February 7th, was reserved for Mozart's "Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis." Written when he was only 17, this is a monumental work that shows the budding of this genius. The piece opened with a stunning "Kyrie." With clear text and energy, the new choir under direction of the newly appointed Barlow Bradford (who, unfortunately was not present for this debut, he was with his university group to UMEA in St. George this weekend), showed a clear change! The choir has historically sounded like an opera chorus (as they also usually are the chorus for Utah Opera's productions) and this evening they sounded like a true choir. They had balance and blend that hasn't been heard from them in ages. Unfortunately, the Kyrie proved the highlight of their performance and following it, energy was lost and they fell into a certain indifference for the work they were performing. With the exception of some entrances and inner lines during the more intricate counterpoint (and some questionable latin vowels, specifically "o" and "e" that were prone to the American diphthong side), the notes and rhythms were mostly correct. However, the lack of energy made the music incredibly boring and this reviewer caught two people around himself falling asleep. The piece, after the Kyrie, was not treated with the dignity and exquisiteness a masterpiece by a young genius deserves, and left the audience to forget and dismiss it.

The second half of the concert was a performance of the entiretly of Dmitri Shostakovitch's 7th Symphony. This monumental work calls for a monstrous-sized orchestra, including 21 brass players. Maestro Fischer showed an intense knowledge of the work through and through. As it opened simply, the sound of war drums slowly come out of nowhere until we are completely overwhelmed by the sound of three snares at their loudest.  The drama was intense, sweeping the audience into the story as the "invasion theme" grew louder, higher, and more intense. By the end of the 25-minute first movement, the audience had already experience what music can do to them. We saw peace, love, family, war, violence, death. Each of the following movements has it's own mood and manner, originally gives subtitles like "Memories," and "Our Country's Wide Open Spaces" (a fact curiously not mentioned in the program notes, not to mention others) finally climaxing attacca with the fourth and final movement with the orchestra rising in dynamic to an unsettlingly loud ending, that by no means peace and happiness.

The symphony was in fine form, playing with such precision and accuracy and passion that has become characteristic and standard under the baton of Fischer. The audience could see the intensity of each instrumentalist's face as they responded to each nuance of the conductor. They showed true passion and dedication to the work and to the composer that was one of the most truly unforgettable experiences presented on the Abravanel Stage.