Suk's Serenade for Strings

Last night I had the opportunity to attend an incredibly interesting and innovative concert with the Utah Symphony!  What set this concert apart from the others I've attended is that there was not a conductor.  Rather, Concertmaster Madeline Adkins led the strings through two pieces during the first half.  I absolutely love the fact that the concertmaster is a woman!  I've actually met Adkins very briefly at a Utah Symphony after-party (yes, I sometimes attend Utah Symphony after-parties) and she is so cool!  It was really fun to see how she kept the musicians together with very subtle gestures.  A small chamber group began the evening with Battalia by Henrich von Biber.  I really enjoyed this piece because it mimics the sound of muskets and cannons firing during a battle without the use of percussion.  The musicians stomped their feet several times and the basses plucked their strings very dramatically among other unorthodox techniques.  Then the entire string section performed Serenade for Strings by Josef Suk.  I loved this piece because, while it is very beautiful and lighthearted, I think there is a tinge of melancholy in it, especially in the third movement.  The second half of the concert (after the stage was completely reconfigured in a matter of minutes) featured different groups within the orchestra.  A quartet of percussionists, including Keith Carrick, Eric Hopkins (sigh), Michael Pape, and Gavin Ryan, performed Ku-Ka-Ilimoku by Christopher Rouse which features more than fifty different percussion instruments (some of which are quite unusual).  Ku is the god of war in Hawaiian mythology and this piece brings to mind a savage war dance and it is extremely exhilarating.  I loved it and it was definitely my favorite of the evening.  The concert continued with the final movement of Masque: Incidental II by Toru Takemitsu which features a duet of flutes.  This performance was very dramatic with two musicians, Mercedes Smith and Caitlyn Valovick-Moore, slowly walking onto the darkened stage from either side and circling each other as they played.  I found it to be very mysterious.  The final piece of the evening was Serenade No. 12 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart featuring an octet of two clarinets, two oboes, two horns, and two bassoons.  This piece is both somber and tempestuous which is why I love Mozart so much!  Other than Mozart, I was totally unfamiliar with the composers featured on the program but I enjoyed this introduction to their work.  I really appreciate this opportunity to hear some lesser-known selections from the classical repertoire during these re-imagined concerts!  This program will be performed again Friday and Saturday (go here for tickets) and I highly recommend it.