SALT LAKE SYMPHONY EAGER TO PLAY BEETHOVEN’S MONUMENTAL 9TH SYMPHONY

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is in many ways a work that defies description. It points to the future but it’s also firmly rooted in the past. “When I look at the last movement I see that he is being innovative,” Robert Baldwin said in an interview with Reichel Recommends. “But he is also looking back to Mozart and even to the oratorio style of Handel. There is an incredible amount of style in the Ninth, and the style comes through in the work. This isn’t bombastic music by any means.”

Robert Baldwin

Baldwin has been immersing himself in the Ninth for months because he will be conducting it with the Salt Lake Symphony at its upcoming concert next weekend.

This is the first time the orchestra will be playing it, although Baldwin has conducted it before. “That was about six or seven years ago with the (University of Utah Philharmonia).” With his past experience with the symphony Baldwin, who is the Salt Lake Symphony’s music director as well as the director of orchestras at the U., knows that the Ninth is a daunting work for any orchestra on any level, whether it’s collegiate, community or professional. “It’s a huge project,” he said. “It’s a coming of age piece for any orchestra.” He added that the Salt Lake Symphony players have been wanting to do it for quite some time and this season turned out to be the right time. “You have to find the right time to program it,” Baldwin said. “The piece is difficult musically, but it’s actually not more difficult than other works we’ve played. You just need to see how it fits in with your season.”

And, he added, “finding the right chorus is not easy, either.” Luckily, Baldwin and his orchestra have established a collaboration with Utah Voices and he realized that this was the right chorus for the Ninth. “This will be our third performance with Utah Voices,” Baldwin said. “Last year we did a Kurt Bestor concert with them and two years ago they did Messiah with us. And (Utah Voices music director) Mike Huff and I work well together.”

Joining the symphony and chorus will be a quartet of soloists whom Baldwin knows well: soprano Jennifer Larson; mezzo-soprano Kirsten Gunlogson; tenor Robert Breault; and bass Steve Meredith. Gunlogson and Breault are colleagues of Baldwin’s at the U. and Larson and Meredith sang in the Salt Lake Symphony’s performance of Handel’s Messiah two years ago. “They’re all wonderful singers.”

Also on the program next weekend will be the Gloria movement from Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, which Huff will conduct.

Baldwin said that having a piece from the Missa Solemnis on the same program as the Ninth is fitting. “They’re both some of the last things Beethoven wrote, and his entire output was leading up to these two works.” And both have similar messages, he added. “The Ninth says the same thing as the Missa Solemnis but without the denominational expressions.” It espouses the same concepts of brotherhood, understanding and compassion that every major religion and philosophy embrace, he added. “That’s why the Ninth is so important. Everything is there. It takes you on a journey right from the opening notes.”

CONCERT INFO:

  • What: Salt Lake Symphony and Utah Voices, Robert Baldwin and Michael Huff, conductors
  • Venue: Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah
  • Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. March 17
  • Tickets: $10
  • Phone: 801-531-7501
  • Web: www.saltlakesymphony.org
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About Edward Reichel

Edward Reichel, author, writer and composer, has been covering the classical music scene in Utah since 1997. For many years he served as the primary music critic for the Deseret News. He has also written for a number of publications, including Chamber Music Magazine, OPERA Magazine, 15 Bytes, Park City Magazine and Salt Lake Magazine. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He can be reached at ed.reichel@gmail.com. Reichel Recommends is also on Twitter @ReichelArts.

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