Utah Arts Review

Thierry Fischer, the Utah Symphony’s music director emeritus, was scheduled to lead the orchestra this weekend; however, delays in getting his visa forced him to cancel. 

Instead, James Conlon, making a long overdue Utah Symphony debut, agreed to replace him. The program remained the same, except for one substitution: Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 replaced the originally scheduled Ser by Cuban-American composer Tania León.

Conlon, who is stepping down as music director of the Los Angeles Opera at the end of this season, after 20 years with the company, proved a more-than-worthy replacement for Fischer. The highpoint of the concert Friday was his insightful and deeply felt reading of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. 

The Fourth is the composer’s shortest symphony, and unquestionably the lightest and most immediately appealing of his nine completed works in the genre. And Conlon brilliantly captured the widely contrasted moods throughout, the expansiveness of the opening movement, the teasing eeriness of the scherzo, the emotional weight of the slow third movement and the child-like innocence of the finale in his thoughtful and well-articulated account.

Conlon took the opening movement at a leisurely pace, allowing the music to unfold in broad, sweeping gestures. His tempo shifts were cohesive, the crescendos were carefully modulated, and he exhibited a keen sense of rubato. And the orchestra responded intuitively to his direction, playing with clearly defined phrasing and expression and with a fine balance among the sections.

Conlon also took the ensuing scherzo at a relaxed tempo that underscored the flowing lines and the changing moods. In this movement the concertmaster is required to play a second violin tuned a whole tone above the normal tuning, making the sound edgy and a bit more piercing. In Mahler’s vision, this violin is intended to portray kind of stylized grim reaper. Yet there is little that is sinister in the music, and if anything, the movement had a more carefree Viennese style in the hands of concertmaster Madeline Adkins, who gave a fine account of her solos.

In the third movement, Conlon directed a wonderfully nuanced and sublime reading of the music with his perceptive reading. He explored the depth of emotions that Mahler expresses here, from wistfulness and a touch of sadness to heart-wrenching tenderness, not unlike the Adagietto from the composer’s Fifth Symphony. He coaxed glowing playing from the strings, especially the violins, with soaring phrases and warm intonation.

Siobhan Stagg, also making her Utah Symphony debut, joined the orchestra in the vocal finale, where teh soloist sings “Das himmlische Leben,” a song from the composer’s cycle, Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The setting expresses what a child imagines heaven to be, with a youthful vigor and charm that emphasized the lighthearted, almost playful, nature of the music. The Australian soprano’s voice has a crystalline purity that brought out the lyricism of her part. Conlon’s direction ensured a fine balance between her voice and the orchestra and underscored the simple yet compelling character of this glowing finale.

All of the principals gave fine accounts in their solo passages, in particular acting associate principal horn Lauren Robinson, who played her extensive solos with well crafted expressions.

Stagg was also the soloist in the first half, in Mozart’s early Exsultate, jubilate. She showed herself to be an excellent interpreter of Mozart, singing the florid passages with a clear voice. Her voice has power and depth, and she handled the many leaps from low to high notes with ease, never struggling with the extremes of her range under Conlon’s idiomatic direction.

The concert opened with Mozart’s Symphony No. 32. An exuberant and bubbly work, the brief symphony is written in the style of an Italian opera overture with the three short movements played without break. Conlon elicited articulate, precise and seamless playing from the ensemble.

The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday. utahsymphony.org