UTAH SYMPHONY, Abravanel Hall, April 25; second performance 8 p.m. April 26, tickets at 801-355-2787, 888-451-2787 or www.utahsymphony.org 

The pay off at this weekend’s Utah Symphony concerts comes after intermission. It was only in the second half, devoted to a single work — Tchaikovsky’s Third Orchestral Suite — in which guest conductor Andrey Boreyko put his podium skills on display.

Boreyko, making a return visit to Abravanel Hall this weekend, wasn’t up to snuff in the first half of the program, and the two works — Messiaen’s L’Ascension and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture — suffered as a result.

Messiaen was a devout Catholic, and much of his music is an expression of his almost child-like wonder of the glories of nature and the mysteries of Catholicism.

L’Ascension is an an early work that is a vibrant statement of the composer’s feelings about Christ’s ascension. Even though it falls early on in his output it has most of the elements that characterize his work throughout his life — sections of pungent harmonies resolving into passages of simple lyricism; dense clusters of sound contrasted by sparse lines; and imaginative and colorful orchestrations that frequently pit one section against another. 

While there was some expressive and stunning playing by the orchestra, Boreyko’s oftentimes heavy handed direction obliterated the carefully structured layers of sounds. And in the first movement, scored for brass, the entrances weren’t clean and precise. It was rather sloppy playing from a section that has shown it can do so much better.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s overture didn’t fare much better, either. It, too, received a heavy treatment that favored the brass at the expense of everyone else.

There was a bright spot at Friday’s performance, though. The star of the evening was Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Orchestral Suite No. 3, wherein Boreyko showed that he does possess considerable artistic merit.

The four suites, as well as the first three symphonies are without question Tchaikovsky’s best works for orchestra. They lack the puerile bombast of the Fourth Symphony and don’t wallow in the self pity of the Sixth. They are gorgeously structured works that are wonderful expressions of the composer’s fertile gift for melody and neat orchestrations. The music in these works flows naturally and nothing seems forced.

Boreyko captured the textured lyricism of the music with his deft direction. From the bucolic opening movement, that is reminiscent of Delius’ Florida Suite, to the joyful finale, Boreyko brought out the essence of each movement. His account emphasized the transparency of the orchestral writing, even in the fuller sections, and underscored the expressiveness of the work.

The orchestra played it fabulously. And there were many notable solos, in particular concertmaster Ralph Matson’s delightful solo playing in the fourth movement.