Autumn isn't normally associated with music festivals. But in some ways it's a better time of year than summer. At least in Leslie Harlow's mind.
That's one of the reasons Harlow began the Autumn Classics Music Festival last year. An offshoot of the summer Park City and Salt Lake City Music Festival, she directs both with her husband, Utah Symphony associate principal clarinetist Russell Harlow.
"Fall is a great time of year for concerts," Leslie Harlow said. "It's getting colder, people don't want to be outdoors as much, and they go to concerts more."
The Autumn Classics Music Festival kicks off Wednesday in Libby Gardner Concert Hall on the University of Utah campus with a program that spotlights works not all that often heard in concert — Beethoven's String Trio, op. 8, Boccherini's Cello Quintet in C, and Copland's Sextet for Clarinet, Strings and Piano.
Reintroducing audiences to chamber music that has fallen to the wayside over the years has been a trademark of the summer festival, and something that Harlow has carried over to its fall sibling. "We like to do works that you don't always hear."
And this year's fall edition includes a number of works that have been neglected by musicians, as well as a few that are new to the festival's repertoire.
Russell Harlow programs the concerts. "I wanted to find new pieces to do this year," he said. The three works on the opening-night concert are new to the festival.
Also receiving their premieres at the festival are Rachmaninoff's "Elegiac" Trio, op. 9; Bartok's Rhapsody No. 2 for Violin and Piano; Carl Baermann's "Adagio" for Clarinet and String Quartet; Ernst von Dohnanyi's Quintet for Piano and Strings, op. 1; Sergei Taneyev's Trio for Two Violins and Viola; Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 3; and Martinu's "La Revue de cuisine."
Conceived in 1927 as a ballet for kitchen appliances, Martinu's "Revue" captures the irreverent, frothy spirit of the period. Scored for piano, violin, cello, clarinet, bassoon and trumpet, the work is lighthearted and frivolous. "I hope the clarinet is the toaster," said Russell Harlow, without further explanation.
But there is more to the concerts than obscure works. "That's not all we do," Leslie Harlow said. "We also like to do the standard repertoire." Among better known pieces are Brahms' F major Cello Sonata and Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor.
The fall festival isn't a carbon copy of the Harlows' summer festival. For one thing, the festival includes a concert by the Sonolumina Chamber Orchestra and the Choir and Choristers of the Madeleine Choir School. They'll perform Britten's "Cantata Misericordium" and Mozart's Requiem under the baton of choir director Gregory Glenn in the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Oct. 1. "We're really excited about this one," Leslie Harlow said. "Greg is always a real pleasure to work with."
Conductor/violinist Scott Yoo will be returning to the fall festival again, joining some of the musicians in concerts on Sept. 28-30.
Other returning artists include violinists Paul Rosenthal and Charles Castleman, cellist Jeffrey Solow and pianists Gail Niwa and John Novacek. They'll be joined by musicians new to the festival, including Armen Ksajikian, principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Utah Symphony pianist Jason Hardink.
"We have an excellent group of musicians joining us this fall," Leslie Harlow said. "I'm really thrilled about the festival. I think people will enjoy what we have to offer."
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com