UTAH SYMPHONY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA with eighth blackbird, St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, Wednesday.
Music director Lockhart is back in Utah this week to close out the Utah Symphony's Deer Valley Music Festival with three concerts — the first being an eclectic program on Wednesday that included Mozart's Symphony No. 39 and a new work.
David Schober's "Split Horizon," which was premiered last March by the evening's featured performers, the contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird, was written the sextet, comprised of Michael J. Maccaferri (clarinet), Molly Alicia Barth (flute), Matthew Albert (violin), Nicholas Photinos (cello), Lisa Kaplan (piano) and Matthew Duvall (percussion).
Called a concerto by the composer, "Split Horizon" doesn't follow the traditional concerto formula, in which the orchestra takes an active role in presenting and developing the thematic material. In fact, in three of the work's four movements the orchestra is superfluous, interjecting itself only sporadically into the sextet's music.
The one exception is the slow, evocative third movement, with a finely woven interplay between the soloists and the orchestra, in which both work together to create a whole.
"Split Horizon" is a wonderfully imaginative work, in which Schober makes good use of the coloristic possibilities of the solo ensemble. A major drawback, however, is its length. At 30 minutes, the piece becomes more than a little monotonous. There isn't enough material nor means of expression to sustain this work. It needs to be more concise, which would make it more cohesive and effective.
The ensemble gave a stunning performance, however, playing with an immaculate precision that wasn't devoid of feeling or nor vibrancy. What made eighth blackbird's performance all the more remarkable was that it played the piece from memory. Given the complex nature of the work in terms of rhythm and texture, this was no mean feat.
The Schober was preceded by Prokofiev's charming trifle "A Summer Day," op. 65.
The concert concluded with Mozart's Symphony No. 39, in a performance that wasn't worthy of this masterpiece of late 18th century symphonic writing. Lockhart's trademark fast tempos worked against him Wednesday. The opening movement lacked precision and sounded somewhat garbled in articulation and expression, which was partly Lockhart's fault and partly the orchestra's indifferent playing. The trumpets and French horns in particular had a rough time of it.
The second movement andante, while marked "con moto," was nevertheless played too quickly. Lockhart's interpretation didn't allow for any expressions, and the richness of the texture was lost in the tempo.
The best thing about the minuet was clarinetists Russell Harlow and Daron Bradford's duet in the trio section.
Fortunately, things finally fell into place in the finale. It was a commendable performance, in which the delicate interplay between the violins and the woodwinds came through beautifully.
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com