Utah Arts Review

Since joining the Utah Symphony in 2016 as concertmaster, Madeline Adkins has frequently appeared on the Abravanel Hall stage as soloist. 

This past December she soloed and led members of the orchestra in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and this weekend she’s in the spotlight in Alexander Glazunov’s infrequently performed Violin Concerto in A minor. a work that the Utah Symphony hasn’t programmed in nearly 20 years. 

While technically demanding the concerto is as much a lyrical outing for the soloist as a virtuosic display of violin pyrotechnics. And at Friday night’s concert, Adkins certainly indulged the audience with her lustrous, lyrically infused playing.

The concerto is in three movements played without pause, with the opening Moderato defined by gently flowing melodicism. Adkins underscored the romanticism of this movement, capturing its billowy expressiveness with her fluid playing. And guest conductor David Danzmayr mirrored her expressions and allowed the orchestra to subtly support the soloist with his attentive direction.

The fine collaboration between Adkins and Danzmayr was also evident in the more dramatic Andante, in which both emphasized the romantic passion of the music without ever overshadowing its expressiveness, and in the lively concluding Allegro, where they captured the buoyant spirit of the music with their lightly inflectedapproach.

The applause hadn’t completely died down after the Glazunov when Adkins and Danzmayr quickly reappeared onstage in what a programmed encore of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise. Originally written for soprano and piano the piece works wonderfully for violin and orchestra. Adkins captured the wistful nostalgia of the music with her expressive playing, supported by the conductor’s delicate accompaniment.

After intermission, Danzmayr and the orchestra gave a supercharged reading of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. The Austrian-born Danzmayr, who last appeared with the Utah Symphony last March, captured the symphony’s intensely passionate and ardent essence with incisive direction that deftly handled the quick dynamic shifts, sudden tempo changes and subtle mood swings that define this work in each of its four movements. 

Danzmayr coaxed crisply articulated playing from the orchestra that managed to capture the expansive nature of the music, particularly at the start of the first movement, played with a warm sound by the cello section, and exemplified by the rich tone of the strings in the pensive start to the Adagio movement. 

In the third movement, Danzmayr’s leisurely paced tempo allowed the music to flow with seamless phrasing and emphasized the lilting melodicism of the music.

The conductor’s brisk tempo and robust direction in the closing Allegro brought out the exuberance of the music to stunning effect. The orchestra played with bold articulation, in particular the brass, and Danzmayr conveyed the impassioned final section convincingly. 

There were several notable moments among the many solo passages in the symphony. In addition to the brass players, flutist Mercedes Smith, English horn player Lissa Stolz and clarinetists Tad Calcara and Erin Svoboda-Scott were noteworthy for their fine playing.

The concert opened with Jessie Montgomery’s short Overture. The piece is principally a work for the string section, with occasional interjections by the woodwinds, brass and timpani breaking up the repetitive chordal textures of the strings.    

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