Utah Arts Review

Markus Poschner returned to Abravanel Hall this weekend for his first performances of the 2025-26 season, conducting the Utah Symphony in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.  Pianist Vadym Kholodenko joined the orchestra for Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3.  

Poschner appeared as a guest conductor in 2022 and 2023 and in November 2024 was announced as the music director designate. His first full season as music director will be in 2027-28. This weekend was the first of four programs he’ll present in the 2025-26 season.

The program opened with Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Written as a gift for his wife, this was Bartók’s last work and the orchestration was completed after his death in 1945. 

The concerto begins with a shimmering texture in the strings, and Kholodenko matched that with a  bright quality and lively and expressive rhythms. Kholodenko approached Bartók’s complex melodic chords and arpeggios with an aggressive but spritely technique that  suited the score and kept the first movement moving forward.

The ensemble approached the second movement with a profound clarity. The rhythmic shifts in the piano were straightforward and unencumbered by dramatic delivery, and the string sections matched this simplicity with less vibrato, highlighting the nuanced harmonic differences. The string tone transformed into a complex background to highlight the birdsongs Bartók wrote in the woodwind sections.

The third movement opens with a complex syncopated interplay between the winds and piano, which was full of vitality. Bartók builds up layers of instrumentation as the movement progresses, and this depth of sound and increased tempo led to a frenzied but triumphant ending.

Kholodenko delighted the audience with Rachmaninoff’s piano arrangement of Kreisler’s Liebesleid as an encore. 

The second half of the program was Mahler’s First Symphony No. 1, the “Titan.” The Utah Symphony has a long history with the Mahler symphonies, starting with Maurice Abravanel’s complete recording of the symphonic cycle in the 1960’s and 70’s. Previous music director Thierry Fischer programmed all of Mahler’s symphonies during his tenure and recorded two of them. At a lecture preceding the Saturday night performance Poschner confirmed his interest in carrying on the Mahler tradition.

The symphony contains continuously shifting moods, tones, and tempos and Poschner underlined those changes to show off the adaptability of the orchestra. He conducted with a simple, precise style.

In the first movement Poschner’s use of rubato was masterful, and the ebb and flow of phrasing in the orchestra felt as effortless as breathing. They exhibited great patience in the development section, letting the bright violin texture slowly fade against the minor melodies in the cellos and woodwinds.

Poschner took a slower tempo with the second movement, which made it feel less formal and more comical. It highlighted the playful manner in which the melody bounces between the woodwinds and strings. 

In the third movement, the orchestra focused on magnifying small moments, with the counter-melody in the oboe full of lift in contrast to the muted legato of the Frère Jacques main theme. Again, Poschner adeptly used tempo to embellish the different motifs, with a languid steadiness in the lower strings that instantly switched to a whirling folk dance in the percussion and woodwinds. The textural difference in the lieder development was sublime in the balance of flutes and muted strings. 

After all the attention to detail in the first three movements, the agitated finale provided stark contrast. The fast pace led to a wash of sound, rather than clear articulation between the percussion and strings. Due to the large horn section in the orchestration, overbalance and pitch was an issue during quieter moments. 

The mood shifted during the lyrical string section, with a warm lush tone that led seamlessly into the return of themes from the first movement. The brass section was eager to take up the fanfare as the orchestra raced unwavering to the end.