KEITH LOCKHART, UTAH SYMPHONY; "Symphonic Dances' (Reference Recordings) ***
Since the late 1980s, the Utah Symphony has been conspicuously underrepresented on CD.
Except for two albums — the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, conducted by John Williams, and the 1999 recording of Brahms "German Requiem" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, under the baton of choir director Craig Jessop — recorded performances by the Utah Symphony have been woefully nonexistent.
At last, this drought has come to an end with "Symphonic Dances," the Utah Symphony's first CD with music director Keith Lockhart, and the orchestra's second for Reference Recordings (1982's recording of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" with then music director Varujan Kojian was the first).
For their landmark album, Lockhart chose two well-known and popular works — Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, op. 45.
Rounding out the CD is Gabriela Lena Frank's Three Latin American Dances, a work she dedicated to Lockhart's son Aaron.
The Utah Symphony plays these works radiantly, with crystalline precision, crispness of detail and with finely crafted articulation. The album is a wonderful testament to the orchestra and underscores what local audiences have known for several years now — that the Utah Symphony is one of the most accomplished and talented orchestras in the country.
Interpretation-wise, however, the CD is a mixed bag.
On the one hand, Lockhart gives a polished, dynamic, smoothly flowing and cohesive reading of the Bernstein dances. Lockhart is obviously in his element here. He lets the orchestra cut loose in a delightfully invigorating performance that is zesty, full of life, sexy and brimming with high-powered energy. In sheer dramatic intensity, it rivals the recording Bernstein made of this piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the early 1980s.
The Frank dances also enjoy an invigoratingly compelling reading. The work is imitative, drawing on inspiration from the Bernstein of "West Side Story" and from Bartok in its rhythmic drive and Ginastera in its thematic ideas and harmonic language — all of which Lockhart captures in his stylish interpretation.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Rachmaninoff. Here, Lockhart labors to bring an element of cohesion to each of the three movements. He endeavors to bring dramatic flair to his reading, but some rather deliberate tempos in places and an over-romanticized approach to the music in general make his interpretation rather anemic, hollow and unsatisfying. There are countless better performances of this work already on the record shelf.
Is the album worth purchasing? Yes, mainly because it has been so many years since the Utah Symphony has recorded anything. Today's Utah Symphony is light-years ahead of what it was two decades ago in terms of virtuosity and musicianship.
The old recordings just don't paint an honest portrait any longer of the men and women who make up this remarkable ensemble. And that is what makes this album memorable.
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com