They left it up to the voters Friday night in Symphony Hall, in what I guess could be called the first free elections in Utah Symphony history.

The occasion was the orchestra's final concert of the summer, a "Listeners' Choice" program at which the audience selected the pieces. With associate conductor Kirk Muspratt on the podium and volunteers from the audience manning the applause meter, choices were made from seven groups of three menu items, joining a number of pre-determined entries.And the big winners? Interestingly enough in what has been termed "the Mozart year," not Mozart, whose "Marriage of Figaro" Overture and 40th Symphony went down to defeat in favor of Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" and the opening movement of the Beethoven Fifth, respectively.

Less surprising was the overwhelming choice of Ravel's "Bolero" (which really bent the needle) and Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" to close each half. As opposed to the discliplined thrust of Muspratt's Beethoven, the Ravel built slowly and steadily, allowing one to savor the distinctive wind solos and making the climax all the more impressive.

But it wasn't all sound and fury. Where the first half pretty much took its cue from the bracing account of the Prelude to Act 3 from Wagner's "Lohengrin" that opened it, moving through Rossini and Beethoven to an equally heroic account of Sibelius' "Finlandia" (beating out Grofe's "On the Trail"), after intermission both the orchestra and the audience seemed in a more reflective mood.

Here the tone was set by associate concertmaster Leonard Braus, who kicked things off with a darkly poignant "Serenade Melancholique" (Tchaikovsky) then topped himself with a scintillating account of the "La Campanella" finale from Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2, its artful theatrics registering sparklingly.

A big ovation followed, first for Braus, then for the quietest of the next three pieces, the Adagio from the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony. This likewise gave clarinetist Russell Harlow a chance to shine amid the lushness, as did Holly Gornik's English horn solo in the Largo from Dvorak's "New World" Symphony.

Again, each was a clear winner, and that despite some last-minute electioneering at the polls on behalf of Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" by the house manager, who ominously darkened the hall before flicking the stage lights off and on. Said Muspratt when the meter settled down, "Sorry, David - it's Dvorak."

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Another campaign strategy proved more successful. For as a "special bonbon" Muspratt introduced Dr. Dale Johnson, whose wife had purchased him a chance to conduct the orchestra at the last Symphony Ball. (Who says elections can't be bought?) His piece? Johann Strauss Sr.'s "Radetzky March," in which the orchestra actually gave him more than he asked.

For those without that kind of clout, there was little recourse. So if you felt, as I did, that Bizet's "Carmen" Prelude really got more applause than the Rossini, or that Beethoven's V-for-victory over the Pachelbel Canon was in fact a very near thing, perhaps you should heed Muspratt's advice and "come to Deer Valley" tonight, to see if he again encores with the "William Tell" Overture and perhaps stage a coup of your own.

After all, what are free elections for?

CONCERT

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