{"id":29893,"date":"2015-09-26T08:33:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=29893"},"modified":"2020-07-27T16:01:33","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T22:01:33","slug":"a-gentle-power-persists-utah-chamber-artists-at-twenty-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/a-gentle-power-persists-utah-chamber-artists-at-twenty-five\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gentle Power Persists: Utah Chamber Artists at Twenty-Five"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2015

photo by David Christensen<\/p><\/div>\n

Style and passion, with remembrance\u2014these attributes, when elegantly assembled, create a realm fit for a silver anniversary.\u00a0For Utah Chamber Artists (UCA),\u00a0its annual Collage concert at the Cathedral of the Madeleine can provide the bridge to such a needed domain.\u00a0The expansive, golden-lit glow of the interior of the cathedral offers just the necessary vibrant atmosphere. The sense of style continues in a sustained, playful, and at times resolutely moving fashion. This year\u2019s concert was an understated triumph to the start of the 25th anniversary season for UCA, which was founded in 1991.<\/p>\n

This choir of 48,\u00a0that also\u00a0counts with it\u00a0a chamber orchestra of 35 local musicians, phrases and balances smoothly, in a supple and all-embracing vista of sound. Its co-founder and principal conductor, Barlow Bradford, uses his effusively nimble conducting style to obtain a choral tone polished like obsidian, but with warmth to share. The assistant conductor, Eric Schmidt, from Germany, who studies under Bradford at the University of Utah, supports this style with his own concentrated flexibility. This is a desirable combination.<\/p>\n

UCA\u2019s Collage programs often include a number of brief choral works or excerpts combined with instrumental solos.\u00a0These are sometimes then augmented with movements from concertos for a particular instrument.\u00a0That was the case for this evening\u2019s performances.\u00a0Each composition lasted five to ten minutes.<\/p>\n

The Collage concerts also feature lighting design by Chip Dance, who has worked in this capacity for a number of years. The designs range from almost fully-lit to those immersed into total darkness, with only the choir or another soloist highlighted.\u00a0Such thoughtful design discretely augmented the performances.<\/p>\n

The passion was channeled tellingly from the beginning in British composer Kenneth Leighton\u2019s\u00a0Let all the World in Every Corner Sing<\/em>.\u00a0Leighton lived from 1929-1988.\u00a0This composition\u00a0is a brief anthem for choir with organ, and the words are by the English poet George Herbert.\u00a0Gabriele Terrone, the cathedral organist, was at the keyboard, with the choir perched up with him in the organ loft.\u00a0The choir phrased this work richly and with translucence.\u00a0The words \u201c\u2026the heart must bear the longest part\u201d were especially energizing. The organ\u2019s rhythmic lyricism peppered the chorus\u2019s vivacious harmonic lines, and ended the piece in a poised flurry of emotion.<\/p>\n

The lighting here evoked little lanterns of beehives resting on a bed of honey. While at first glance not the most inviting composition to begin the evening,\u00a0Let all the World in Every Corner Sing\u00a0<\/em>left\u00a0a distinct impression to take notice and listen intently to what follows \u2014 it served its purpose well in this instance.<\/p>\n

French composer Maurice Ravel\u2019s (1875-1937) two piano concertos grace Abravanel Hall about once a decade.\u00a0Hearing\u00a0one in a cathedral acoustic somewhat dampens\u00a0its intricacies but not at the expense of its overall appeal.\u00a0The G major\u00a0concerto\u00a0(composed 1929-1931) is a finely crafted and delectable concoction, and the second movement, an\u00a0Adagio assai<\/em>, is an almost-jazzy reverie.\u00a0Here pianist Richard Marshall, a former UCA accompanist, was succulent with his harmonies, sensitively direct phrasing in the meandering melodies, and pensive passion.\u00a0This was an idiomatically dreamy, wistful, even romantic take on the movement\u2014a twinkling twilight taking time to rest, and the orchestra was excellent.\u00a0As a hint of twilight, the lighting was darkened entirely, except for above the orchestra and pianist.<\/p>\n

Twentieth-century American composer Aaron Copland\u2019s second and final opera\u00a0The Tender Land<\/em>\u00a0(premiered 1954) has never been performed by Utah Opera. His small output of choral music is heard occasionally, but \u201cThe Promise of Living,\u201d the last song from the second opera, often appears separately on choral programs.\u00a0Its gently bittersweet poignancy pierced the reverie that floated from the preceding Adagio assai <\/em>from the Ravel concerto.\u00a0The entries of the chorus were lush and clear, and the intense lyricism and gently radiant harmonies rendered themselves with fervor and discipline.<\/p>\n

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was perhaps the pre-eminent French composer of the mid-20th century.\u00a0The cathedral\u00a0organist, Gabriele Terrone, used the cathedral\u2019s organ to perform a brief section from L\u2019Ascension<\/em>\u00a0following the Copland. This organ work is an early composition of Messiaen, for whom the organ was the instrument of choice. The selected section was\u00a0Transports de joie d\u2019une ame\u00a0\u00c2me\u00a0decant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne<\/em>, translated as \u201cTransports of Joy from a Soul Before the Glory of Christ which is its own Glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

With its densely saturated harmonies,\u00a0Transports<\/em>\u00a0found an inviting dwelling place in the vast spaces of the interior of the cathedral,\u00a0unsheathing its densely rumbling colors and textures.\u00a0The warm lyric urgency of\u00a0The Promise of Living<\/em>\u00a0now faded and descended into a dawn-lit canyon seething to notice light.\u00a0Transports<\/em>\u2018\u00a0cascading rushes of harmonies, explosive rises and descents in color, and impulsive, almost deafening surges in dynamics were resplendent. Terrone suavely shifted the dynamics, spotlit the dark colors, and bounced the harmonies and rhythms robustly.\u00a0The monumental architecture of this excerpt was sifted into a convincingly played quieter ending.\u00a0For those who thrive on the unique world of organ music, this is a thrilling composition, but those less attuned to the wonders of the organ may have\u00a0found\u00a0it all too overwhelming.<\/p>\n

A skillful rendition of\u00a0Sed Amore<\/em>\u00a0by the American composer Dale Warland (b<\/em>.1932) followed. Rocking gently in its harmonies and translucent textures, a lightly painted pallet passed its poise to a drifting eternity.\u00a0The piano accompaniment was crystalline.\u00a0This was a striking contrast to the Messiaen, but these two compositions joined in their celebration of instrumental color\u2014only the human voice can rival and conquer the king of instruments.<\/p>\n

A composition by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) seldom detracts from any musical program, but it can at times overshadow\u2014especially in its complexities\u2014the works it complements.\u00a0Indeed, his sonatas and partitas for solo violin remain at the summit of all violin repertoire.\u00a0The\u00a0Largo<\/em>\u00a0from his Sonata in C major BWV 1005, played by local\u00a017-year-old violinist Aubrey Oliverson, now studying in California, engaged the aural senses in the cathedral\u2019s ascending monumentality with its comfortingly tart and tensile harmonies.\u00a0There was a mixture of pensively wandering\u00a0ones seeking the gleam they wish for, and by having Aubrey play in the middle of the main center aisle with only two lamps to guide her, the sense of a soloist merging with the attentive audience was sustained.<\/p>\n

The Largo <\/em>was followed by a Barlow Bradford (b<\/em>.1960)\u00a0arrangement of the hymn tune For the Music of Creation<\/em>, with a text by Shirley Erena Murray.\u00a0For the Music of Creation<\/em> was especially successful in its expansive and lush lyricism and harmonies with a touch of stark longing.\u00a0It roared most gently like the halo of a bursting star.\u00a0The choir\u2019s precise diction and enunciation augmented the powerful impression this arrangement made\u2014a most suitable choice for the conclusion of the first half.\u00a0Both\u00a0For the Music of Creation\u00a0<\/em>and Sed Amore<\/em> were\u00a0accentuated by being interspersed\u00a0with the Bach between them.\u00a0For the Music of Creation<\/em> was the cresting wave of the evening\u2019s performances\u2014the most emotive by many horizons.<\/p>\n

To launch the second half, after a 20-minute intermission, Latvian composer \u0112riks E\u0161envald\u2019s (b<\/em>.1977)\u00a0New Moon<\/em>\u00a0held the cathedral\u2019s sky cohesively in its resonance.\u00a0It was sung by the choir in a half circle around\u00a0the baptismal font, with lighting\u00a0just above and the rest of the cathedral in darkness. This composition relies more on tone colors and textures to generate lyric urgency, and is far more soft-centered in its harmonies than the Leighton, which is imbued with astringency and a vortex of rhythmic dynamism.\u00a0New Moon<\/em>, in its center section, moves its harmonies into a trancelike vortex, abetted by a faint twinkle of chimes\u00a0and a ringing gauzy glaze from the fingers of some choir members\u00a0circling rims of\u00a0champagne\u00a0flutes\u00a0partially filled with water. Utah Chamber Artists has augmented its repertoire in the last few years with intelligently chosen compositions by\u00a0living Baltic composers, who are some of the most adventuresome choral composers writing today. Its performances of these compositions have all been superb, and this one was no exception.<\/p>\n

The third and final movement of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G came next.\u00a0It is marked\u00a0Presto<\/em>, and using its scampering, sensually motoric rhythms and minutely dashing and splashing colors, pianist Marshall\u2019s pellucid sense of line spread the colors in invigorating fashion. The orchestra played with precision.<\/p>\n

Samuel Barber (1910-1981), along with Aaron Copland, was one of the most prominent mid-20th century American composers. His Violin Concerto is by far his most performed piece.\u00a0His few choral compositions conceal themselves closer to the fringes of even the choral repertoire.\u00a0To Be Sung on the Water<\/em>, one such piece, was conducted by Eric Schmidt, UCA\u2019s assistant conductor.\u00a0He and the singers garnered a panoply of sounds into a tightly and flexibly wound coil,\u00a0with its aqueous, sensuously vigorous harmonies and seeping rhythms accentuated.\u00a0In a suggestive move\u2014wood with water\u2014this piece was sung behind the wooden screen that partially hides a portion of the cathedral\u2019s ambulatory on its northern end.<\/p>\n

Goin\u2019 Home<\/em>\u00a0was\u00a0presented in an\u00a0arrangement by Barlow Bradford, based on the Largo theme from\u00a0the Czech Anton\u00edn\u00a0Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s\u00a0Symphony No.9, with a text by William Arms Fisher.\u00a0Jim Sorenson (co-founder of the UCA) was the tenor soloist, and his daughter Cami Mower (a current member) the soprano soloist.\u00a0 Their solo introductions and duet, with piano, were simply moving, with unadorned poignancy.\u00a0This was a touching moment, with some needed hint of fragility in an otherwise exultant program.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Gloria<\/em>\u00a0from the\u00a0Missa Rigensis\u00a0<\/em>(premiered 2003)\u00a0by the Latvian composer U\u0123is Prauli\u0146\u0161 (b<\/em>.1957)\u00a0possesses an urgent, robustly fine lyric line, with a shifting sense of rhythms.\u00a0There is an atmosphere of ethereal neutrality in the harmonies.\u00a0All of this was conveyed by the choir alone and conductor Eric Schmidt in a smoothly dramatic performance\u00a0that gracefully\u00a0attempted to surround\u00a0the baptismal\u00a0font.<\/p>\n

Fritz Kreisler\u2019s\u00a0Preludium and Allegro<\/em>\u00a0(published 1910) for violin and orchestra opened with dramatic, lush harmonies, then settled into rhapsody, with soaring melody and a hint of concealed regret.\u00a0The\u00a0Allegro<\/em>\u2018s\u00a0quaint urgency, soothing bustle of lyricism, and spiky drama gave violinist Aubree Oliverson space to exhibit her playful ease with melodies.\u00a0Kreisler (1875-1962) was an Austrian violin virtuoso and composer on the side, and this is one of his signature pieces.<\/p>\n

The finale was another Barlow Bradford arrangement, this time of the almost universal\u2014at least in North America\u2014hymn tune\u00a0Amazing Grace<\/em>, with a text by John Newton.\u00a0This tune was published circa 1779.\u00a0Jim Sorensen was again the soloist. With its warmly streamlined textures and melodic urgency gathered in an overwhelmingly caressing fashion, it ended the concert with a vibrancy all present could savor.<\/p>\n

In its rapturous tonal clarity and blend, Utah Chamber Artists defines choral excellence in the state\u2019s arts community.\u00a0To experience this with even more sustained passion, music lovers should\u00a0attend one of\u00a0its performances that presents a more extensive work complete.\u00a0The\u00a0Mass for Unaccompanied Double Choir\u00a0<\/em>by Swiss composer Frank Martin beckons for the new year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Utah Chamber Artists
\nJubilate
\nCathedral of the Madeleine
\nMonday, September 21, 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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