UTAH SYMPHONY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, Robert Henderson conducting, with violinist David Park, Ogden Park Hotel, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Abravanel Hall, Oct. 24, 8 p.m.
"All Strings Attached" was the title of the Utah Symphony's first chamber program of the season Thursday at Abravanel Hall. And that's what we got - music for string orchestra, with and without violin soloist, and occasionally a harpsichord (which, in case you hadn't noticed, has strings too).
But if there was a deeper connection running through associate conductor Robert Henderson's selection of pieces, I suspect it was Bach.
Not only did the evening open with his E major Violin Concerto, but Henderson himself took microphone in hand (in what he called "my Leonard Bernstein imitation") to demonstrate the Bachian elements in the work that followed, the Five Pieces for String Orchestra of Paul Hindemith.
Then, moving from Germany to Italy, we heard Vivaldi - including the A minor Violin Concerto, Op. 3, No. 6, from "L'Estro Armonico," on which Bach is known to have modeled several of his concertos - and Respighi, the Third Suite of "Ancient Airs and Dances," which concludes, in similarly Bachian fashion, with a Passacaglia.
(It may be worth pointing out that Henderson's other chamber program of the season, next January, also features Bach, in this case the Magnificat.)
Performances were estimable, if not always the last word. Given his resume, I expected more from Utah Symphony assistant concertmaster David Park, who soloed in the two concertos. Witness his dutiful ardor in the outer movements of each, as well as a tendency to slip below the pitch when the solo line dipped.
But he did not disappoint in the slow movements, that of the Bach being projected with an almost subliminal grace, from the moment his violin stole in quietly over the orchestra to his gentle trills and controlled vibrato. This was rarefied musicmaking, and for once the applause that followed did not seem unwarranted.
Similarly the central Largo of the Vivaldi was smoothly phrased and raptly lyrical, supported by the silky sound of the strings and Henderson's wonderfully hushed accompaniment.
If anything, that hush was even more pronounced in the piece that came before, the same composer's B minor Sinfonia, "Al Santo Sepolcro," which never lost sight of the music's churchly origins. And that was true even of the second part, whose dignity shone through even as the writing gained in beauty and density.
As for the evening's 20th century components - well, I acknowledge Hindemith's debt to Bach, particularly in the opening of the second of the Five Pieces and the canonic counterpoint of the third (which, as Henderson took pains to point out, is a double canon). But the composer I am most reminded of in these pieces is Bruckner, the Germanic heft of whose similarly classical constructions never seems very far away.
That's not a bad thing in something like the fourth piece, marked "Very Slowly," to whose somber extensions Henderson & Co. brought a remarkable serenity and depth. But the finale might have been livelier, though here the focus was arguably concertmaster Ralph Matson's violin solos.
Not so the Respighi, whose opening Italiana was taken as quickly as I have ever heard but still managed to exude grace and charm. After which things slowed for the courtly airs of the second section, with their regal overtones, and even more for the familiar Siciliana, followed in turn by the Passacaglia, at once vigorous and richly profound.