INTERMEZZO CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES, Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Westminster College, July 8

Since its inception, the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series has always been a place where musicians from the Utah Symphony could play chamber music during the summer. And the season opener on Monday spotlighted two of the orchestra’s newest members: principal second violin Claude Halter and cellist Anne Lee. Together with pianist and Intermezzo music director Vedrana Subotic, they played a spectacular program of Debussy and Dvorák.

Claude Halter

The first half was devoted to Debussy, and they opened with the Piano Trio in G major, written when the composer was around 18. It’s a melodic work that has no hint of the direction Debussy would take as a mature composer. It is filled with effusive romanticism, and the three gave a luminous account that captured its mellifluous lyricism.

Rounding out the first half were two of the French composer’s last works: the Cello Sonata and the Violin Sonata.

Anne Lee

Both are melodic but not in the same vein as the trio; the music in these sonatas is more abstract and at times somewhat severe. By the end of his life Debussy was ready to move on from impressionism and venture into new territory, as these two works show.

Lee and Halter played their respective sonatas (with Subotic at the piano) with great sensitivity that delved into the subtleties and nuances of the music. There was depth and keenly defined structure in their playing that served the music well.

After intermission the three returned to close out with Dvorák’s glorious Piano Trio in E minor, op. 90 (Dumky).

One of the Czech composer’s grandest chamber works, the Dumky is a wonderful exploration of contrasting moods, and Halter, Lee and Subotic made the most of it. Their playing was effusive and they did a fabulous job in tying everything together.

With so many changes in character throughout the work, it can be challenging to bring cohesion to it. But the three did just that. It was a thoughtful reading that was radiant and gorgeously expressive.