SALT LAKE SYMPHONY, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, April 20

The Salt Lake Symphony likes a challenge. And it certainly raised the bar and challenged itself at Saturday’s concert, playing one of its most ambitious programs to date.

With guest Gerald Elias on the podium, the Salt Lake Symphony showed itself to be one of the best of the many community orchestras that dot the landscape. The ensemble took on Béla Bartók’s immensely difficult Concerto for Orchestra and triumphed, playing the tricky score with conviction and a self assurance that was impressive.

But before the Bartók, the orchestra gave a vibrant account of George Enescu’s well known Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. Elias started the piece with a leisurely tempo, that allowed the orchestral colors to come through, and built a remarkably well modulated climax that brought everything to a musically rewarding close. The orchestra played with articulation and precision, and the solo work by principal clarinet Gary Merrell and principal oboe Hilary Coon was particularly noteworthy.

The Enescu was followed by the first performance of Adagio in Romantic Style for strings by University of Utah doctoral candidate Igor Iachimciuc. The piece is unlike anything else Iachimciuc has written up to now. It’s filled with intoxicatingly lush sonorities and is more than just passingly reminiscent of Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio. The strings of the symphony did a wonderful job with this charming piece, with Elias eliciting a warm, rounded tone from them.

After intermission, Elias and the orchestra gave an impassioned, energetic and radiant account of Bartók’s concerto.

Elias has quite a history with the Bartók. As associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, and before that as a member of the Boston Symphony, he played it numerous times. (With the BSO, several of his colleagues who played it at the premiere in 1944 were still in the orchestra.) But this was the first time he had conducted the piece.

And Elias’ years of experience with the concerto paid off. He coaxed the best out of his players and they responded by giving a nuanced and dynamic performance in which they outdid themselves. Each individual player was amazing, as was each section. Elias demanded a lot from them, and they didn’t hesitate in giving what he wanted – it was an intense, driven and forceful reading with Elias and the band capturing the characteristics of each movement convincingly and with authority.

(Gerald Elias is a contributor to Reichel Recommends).