2014 ANOTHER NOTEWORTHY YEAR FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC IN UTAH

The outgoing year once again proved that classical music is healthy and thriving in Utah. So much so that it was a challenging task choosing the best of 2014 and narrowing it down to the year’s Top 10. We’ve managed to do it, though, and below are Reichel Recommends picks for top honors, listed in chronological order.

Matthias Pintscher (Photo Credit: Emanuel Ammon)
  • Utah Symphony with Matthias Pintscher: The young German composer/conductor Matthias Pintscher made an impressive Utah Symphony debut to start the new year. In addition to his brilliantly orchestrated work, towards Osiris, the 43-year-old music director of Paris’ Ensemble Intercontemporain also led the Utah Symphony in a romantically charged, finely crafted account of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. With his fresh and bold conducting style and wonderful rapport with the musicians, Pintscher will always be a welcome guest in Abravanel Hall.
  • Utah Chamber Artists: For their first concert of 2014 the Utah Chamber Artists, under the baton of their founder and music director Barlow Bradford, gave a deeply moving and heartfelt performance of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem that was at times understated but always filled with depth and spirituality. The lustrous voices of baritone Michael Chipman and soprano Celena Shafer added to the emotional energy of this nuanced and deeply felt account.
Pacifica Quartet (Photo Credit: Anthony Parmelee)
  • Pacifica String Quartet: The Pacifica Quartet is no stranger to Salt Lake City, and it’s always a pleasure whenever this particular foursome comes to town. In March they played a marvelous program that put their artistry on full display. On the program were works by Mozart, Shostakovich and Brahms, all of which put the group’s remarkable sense of interpretation, fabulous technique and gorgeous musicality on display. Everything these four musicians play feels as if it were written for them.  (Incidentally, their four CD set of the complete cycle of the Shostakovich quartets is one of the best out there. Click here to read Edward Reichel’s review.)
  • Utah Opera: Utah Opera finally rose above the mediocre, which has been its trademark for far too many years, and had a huge artistic success with its production in March of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot. It was a lavish, fairy tale-like setting created by the imaginative team of André Barbe and Renaud Doucet, which several companies around the United States have staged. With a marvelous cast spearheaded by soprano Maida Hundeling as Turandot and tenor Jonathan Burton as Calaf, it was without question the best production by Utah Opera in a long time and the year’s must-see opera.
  • Choir and Orchestra of the Cathedral of the Madeleine: Craig Jessop has had a long history with the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and that relationship continued this year when he directed a fabulous performance of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion. The work is dear to Jessop’s heart and his affinity for the music came through in his perceptive, nuanced and beautifully expressed account.  Among the soloists, tenor Christopher Watson as the Evangelist and baritone Tyler Oliphant were remarkable, as were countertenor Miles Romney, bass John Buffett, soprano Rachel Morris and tenor Robert Breault.
“Vanessa.” From left: Beverly O’Regan Thiele (Vanessa); Amanda Tarver (Baroness); Andrew Bidlack (Anatol); Alice-Anne M. LIght (Erika). (Photo Credit: Waldron Creative)
  • Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre: On occasion, UFOMT’s founder and director Michael Ballam hasn’t been afraid to go out on a limb and make some bold programming decisions. In previous years he’s presented Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and the original version of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. And in July, Ballam once again struck gold with Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer Prize winning opera Vanessa. The work, with an original libretto by the composer’s partner Gian Carlo Menotti, is eerily atmospheric with a score that deftly blends romanticism with biting dissonances. A top notch cast, with Beverly O’Regan Thiele in the title role, and solid playing by the orchestra, captured the brooding darkness of the work compellingly. Vanessa was a real treat this summer.
“The Threepenny Opera.” Mark Fossen (Macheath) and Connor Norton (Polly). (Photo Credit: University of Utah)
  • University of Utah Musical Theatre Department: Among its students the University of Utah has many talented singers and actors. Members of the musical theatre department showed their mettle in a superb staging of the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill show The Threepenny Opera. It was stage director Denny Berry’s decision to  bring in professional actor Mark Fossen in the demanding role of Macheath, a decision that might have backfired, but the youthful cast held its own against Fossen. In fact, this was the kind of cast that Brecht undoubtedly would have admired. They were all strong and appealing performers who could handle the musical numbers without turning the piece into an operatic production, and they more than ably managed to focus on and bring out the biting political satire on which the piece is built.
  • Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer: To mark the Utah Symphony’s 75th anniversary music director Thierry Fischer has launched into a two-season-long perusal of Mahler’s symphonies. The First was given an impassioned reading in September to open the orchestra’s 2014-15 season (a performance which was also recorded for later release). And in November, Fischer and his ensemble gave a commanding  account of the Second which featured some of the best playing to date by the orchestra. Under Fischer’s perceptive direction, the orchestra played with finely crafted nuances and polish. The extended choral forces (which included the Utah Symphony Chorus, the Utah Chamber Artists and the University of Utah’s A Cappella Choir and Chamber Choir) and the two soloists, soprano Celena Shafer and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, sang with well defined execution and beautifully expressed phrasings. Overall, it was a performance that did full justice to Mahler’s expansive score.
  • Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet returned to Salt Lake City in early December after a nearly four-year-long absence and proved yet again that its members are all masterful interpreters who get to the core of the works they perform, whether it’s music from the 18th or 20th centuries. They bring emotional involvement and feeling to their playing and there is a remarkable chemistry among the four. For this concert they brought with them violist James Dunham, who showed that he was a solidly supportive and integral addition to the quartet. The five gave stellar readings of Mozart’s dark and brooding G minor Quintet, K. 515, and Brahms’ almost youthful G major Quintet, op. 111. Rounding out the program was a finely crafted account of Bartók’s potent Fifth Quartet.
  • Gerald Elias

    Vivaldi by Candlelight: For over 30 years, the Vivaldi by Candlelight concert has rung in the holiday season in Salt Lake City. And under the guidance of music director Gerald Elias, the programming has been distinctive and unique. Elias always knows how to pick works that make each concert interesting. This year he found a pair of pieces that are unusual, with one of them ostensibly receiving its world premiere at the concert. Joining Elias and a select group of string players was internationally recognized harpsichordist and scholar Mark Kroll. Together they gave a scintillating account of the obscure Portuguese composer Carlos de Seixas’ Concerto in A major and a masterful performance of J.S. Bach’s imposing Concerto No. 3 in D major, BWV 1054 (best known today in the arrangement in E major Bach made for violin and orchestra). Throughout the rather brief concert, Elias allowed the ensemble and Kroll to display their remarkable artistry and virtuosity. It was one of the best Vivaldi by Candlelight concerts in a number of years and a glorious way to end a fabulous musical year.

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN MUSIC (DEC. 24-30, 2014)

(Be sure to visit our monthly concert calendar by clicking on “Events Calendar.”)

KURT BESTOR CHRISTMAS, this much loved holiday tradition returns to the Egyptian each Christmas, December 24-25, 6 p.m., Park City Egyptian Theatre, $29 in advance, $34 at the door, front-of-house $35 in advance, $40 at the door, cabaret seating $45 in advance, $50 at the door, www.egyptiantheatrecompany.org.