Fischer returns to lead Utah Symphony in Mahler’s epic Fifth
Thierry Fischer is back in Abravanel Hall this weekend for the first time since stepping down as music director of the Utah Symphony in 2023. And as music director emeritus he returns in a big way, leading the orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 5. (He returns next weekend to lead the orchestra in Mahler’s monumental Sixth Symphony.)
Fischer has a strong connection to the music of the Austrian composer. Early in his tenure with Utah, he began a years-long project of programming the nine symphonies, and he and the orchestra have also recorded the First and Eighth.
As he showed at Friday’s performance, Fischer had a clear vision of how he wanted to present this five-movement work. His reading captured the large canvas’s broad arc, from the darkness of the opening funeral march, to the eerie dreaminess of the third, and the almost folk-like good cheer of the finale. And throughout he elicited emotionally charged playing from the orchestra.
Travis Peterson opened the first movement with a crisply enunciated trumpet fanfare that set the stage for some illustrious playing by the expanded brass section throughout the symphony. Peterson, principal horn Jessica Danz and tuba player Alexander Purdy stood out for their extensive solo work.
Fischer took a deliberately expansive tempo in the opening dirge that underscored the somber mood of the music and allowed him to create some powerful climaxes that helped bring definition to his interpretation.
In the broadly laid out second movement, Fischer brought cohesiveness to the constantly changing textural, tempo and dynamic contrasts, which carried over into his account of the third movement. There, the conductor chose a grandly flowing, broad tempo that served the ever-changing moods of the music well, from its effusive beginning to its more darkly tinged, reflective passages.
The Adagietto, scored for just strings and harp, is undoubtedly the Fifth’s most famous movement, and one of Mahler’s most sublime creations. Fischer coaxed lyrical, expressive playing and delicately crafted phrasing from the string section that underscored the movement’s transcendent beauty (and offered a much needed moment of repose in this emotionally charged symphony).
Fischer’s shimmering reading of the Rondo finale allowed the orchestra to indulge in the playful exuberance and vibrant spirit of the music and brought the symphony’s emotional journey to a triumphant conclusion.
During Fischer’s tenure as music director, he began a perusal of Joseph Haydn’s symphonies in chronological order. But since the inclusion of the symphonies was only an occasional occurrence, Fischer didn’t get very far into the composer’s extensive symphonic oeuvre. Still, he continues that tradition this weekend with Haydn’s Symphony No. 13, which opened the concert.
In its outer movements, the symphony is bright, airy and exuberant, with trumpets and timpani adding to the lighthearted nature of the work. But there are two remarkable moments that make this work stand out from Haydn’s other early symphonies — the trio of the minuet and the slow movement.
The trio section of the minuet features a delightful interplay between the flute, played with lyrical charm by Mercedes Smith, and the strings. And the slow movement is unusual in that it’s simply a work for solo cello and strings. At the start of this movement, Fischer set the tempo then stepped off the podium and sat down while cellist Matthew Johnson mesmerized the audience with fluid, beautifully expressive playing, supported by simple chords in the strings.
The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday. utahsymphony.org
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