The name you will want to remember is Simone Lamsma. She is a young violinist (20 or 21) who played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto tonight with the Utah Symphony. I love this concerto and it was played brilliantly by this young woman tonight. The audience leapt to its feet when she had finished. (And this time it wasn't a hold-over from the days before Abravanel Hall when all the concerts were held in the Mormon Tabernacle where the pews were exceedingly uncomfortable so any excuse to stand was welcome! Now those pews have been replaced with ones that fit modern bodies far more comfortably....)
The first piece on the program was Anton Von Webern's "Fuga (Ricercats)" from Musickalischen Opfer by J. S. Bach. Imagine a reading where every word is spoken by a different person so that each person's part makes no sense but when wll the parts are put together you hear the reading properly. This piece is constructed similarly by taking the notes of the Musical Offering and spreading them out over the orchestra. The piece uses only the notes Back wrote but presented this way, they are totally new. Very interesting, indeed.
After the intermission the augmented orchestra (extra players were brought in) played Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. It is a very big piece, rich and melodic. During the second movement the viola section carries the main melody showing off the mellow, golden timbre that only the viola can produce. (Perhaps a little prejudice is showing here since I played the viola for years.)
It was a grand concert. This week the new season was announced (the program for 2012-13) and the fact that Thierry Fischer's contract has been extended through 2015-16. The latter is very good news, indeed!
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