Some musicians have perfect pitch, just as some concerts - conceived for an occasion - strike a perfect pitch as well.
That was the case Wednesday in the Utah Symphony Chorus and Centennial Festival Orchestra celebration for Utah, conducted by Edgar J. Thompson, Michael D. Huff and Kurt Bestor.A Utah centennial concert needs certain elements: it has to be grand, inspirational, traditional, and blend several cultures. But most of all, it needs to be industrious.
Wednesday's concert was.
This may have been a concert, but powerful language battled the music for center stage every step of the way. Composing music is a lark, of course, when a flannel-mouthed librettist hands you a stack of sentences full of open vowels and easy sentiments. But putting the work of high-octane poets like Robert Frost, Edward L. Hart and Terry Tempest Williams to music requires deftness and an unbreakable will.
Randall Thompson, Robert Cundick and Kurt Bestor were obviously up to the task here.
Opening with some historical narration by J. Spencer Kinard and a tribute to the early Franciscan fathers with "Ubi Caritas," the choir and orchestra slowly worked down through years.
"The Gathering" by Hart and Cundick showed the Mormons coming to the state. Two devotional pieces arranged by Mack Wilberg showed their staying power.
With Wilberg's work, you can often guess what's coming: an understated beginning, the gradual stacking of voices and instruments, some modulations to freshen the verses and a big finish that rocks your socks. But like a good storyteller, Wilberg gives an audience goose-bumps every time he does it. The ovation for "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" was almost as stirring as the piece itself.
Four poems by Frost set to music by Randall Thompson offered a bucolic interlude, with Aaron Copland's popular "Hoedown" and "The Promise of Living" closing the first half on a celebratory note.
After intermission, Bestor took the baton to conduct his own work.
His "Lamb of God Overture" drew on many sources, sprinkling in several surprises. The reverent "Hallelujahs" at the end were especially effective. But the composition the crowd had come to hear was "Timpanogos: A prayer for mountain grace" with words by Terry Tempest Williams.
Bestor calls the work a "tone poem," which is on the money. Like a symphony, various themes repeat throughout the five movements, tempos range from largo to allegro; but for the most part, the 25-minute piece remains in the mind as a full-bodied, primeval yelp of grandeur.
The Ute tribe patiently tutored the choir, composer and poet in their language, which is fortunate. Without the Ute words and some occasional Latin, there would have been no lyric moments to smooth out the jutting, craggy chords.
The climax brought the audience to its feet, where they remained for several minutes.
Will the piece survive the test of time? I believe so. After one listening, it's hard to see how all the parts and fragments pull together as a whole. But one senses they do. It will take repeated listenings, however, to see it. Which means, of course, many of us anxiously await another performance.