CONDUCTOR HANS GRAF SHINES IN UTAH SYMPHONY DEBUT

UTAH SYMPHONY, Abravanel Hall, Dec. 6; second performance Dec. 7, 8 p.m., tickets at 801-355-2787, 888-451-2787 or www.utahsymphony.org 

It’s unfortunately not all that common to find a conductor who excels because of his musical merits and not because of the hype surrounding him. Utah Symphony music director Thierry Fischer is one who can stand on his artistry. This weekend’s guest conductor, Hans Graf, is another.

Hans Graf (Photo Credit: Christian Steiner)

The former music director of the Houston Symphony, in his local debut, showed the sizable audience in Abravanel Hall that he is a conductor of considerable musical integrity. He knows what he wants and knows how to convey that to his ensemble. Graf had a commanding grasp of the program he conducted and the orchestra played with remarkable passion and expressiveness.

Masterworks concerts in December usually don’t draw a large crowd in Abravanel Hall, but Friday’s attendance was impressive. And those who came were witness to music making of the highest order.

The program opened with Henri Dutilleux’s Timbres, espace, mouvement, subtitled La nuit etoilée (The Starry Night), in reference to the painting of the same name by Vincent van Gogh, which forms the basis of the piece. Written for an ensemble without violins or violas, the composer created a luminous soundscape that captures the vivid imagery of van Gogh’s famous painting.

The 64-year-old Graf conducted with precision and clarity that allowed the nuances of the score to come through. The orchestra played with finely crafted textures and rich expressiveness that underscored the work’s lustrous lyricism.

Franz Schubert’s emotionally expressive Eighth Symphony, the Unfinished, followed the Dutilleux.

The Eighth is an interesting work in Schubert’s oeuvre, standing as it does on the threshold of romanticism and almost completely devoid of the classicism that characterizes his other symphonies.

Graf and the orchestra gave a beautifully textured reading that brought out the work’s depth of emotions and sincerity of expressions. Graf’s tempos allowed the themes to be presented expansively and his direction captured the breadth of the music. The orchestra played radiantly, the strings had a wonderfully creamy sound that served the music well and the balance among the sections was spot on. This was a performance of the Eighth that ranks right up there with Fischer’s of a few years back.

Rounding out the concert was a wonderfully expressive account of Peter Tchaikovsky’s seldom played Third Symphony, the Polish. The work is effusive in its melodicism and in Graf’s capable hands it was given a delightfully unsentimental reading that captured its lyricism and breadth of expressions. The orchestra played with fluid phrasings, seamless lines and crisp articulation that easily and effortlessly brought out the nuances of the score.

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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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