Marc Albrecht Conducts Mahler & R. Strauss

I was so happy to be back at Abravanel Hall for a Utah Symphony concert last night!  Before Covid-19, I spent most Friday nights at Abravanel Hall listening to the Utah Symphony and I really missed that during lockdown.  After finally being able to attend several concerts last fall, it was a bit of a blow when all Salt Lake County performing arts venues were closed again last December.  But now it looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel because these venues are open once again and several concerts were announced to finish out the Utah Symphony 2020-2021 season (I bought tickets to all of them).  Last night's concert, featuring guest conductor Marc Albrecht, was absolutely wonderful!  I was already feeling emotional just listening to the orchestra warm up so their performance of the Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler just about did me in!  This piece is incredibly beautiful and otherworldly but it also quite mournful (it was performed at the funeral of Bobby Kennedy in 1968) so, of course, I loved it.  I especially enjoyed the theme played by the harp.  The concert concluded with the Suite from Der Burger als Edelmann (Le bourgeois gentilhomme) by Richard Strauss which is so charming.  I read the satirical play about a social climber by Moliere (in French!) when I was in high school so it was a lot of fun for me to imagine what was happening as I listened to the music.  I particularly liked "The Fencing Master" because it is very lively and energetic (with a great trumpet solo) as our protagonist tries to learn fencing from a master who takes advantage of his ignorance and "The Dinner" which is quite stately and dramatic with exaggerated pomp as our protagonist tries to impress his aristocratic guests (I loved the timpani).  I loved all of the music featured last night but I think what I enjoyed the most was the experience of being in an audience at a live performance because that, more than anything else, is a sign that things might be returning to some semblance of normalcy.  I am so ready for that!  I believe there are a limited number of tickets available (go here) for tonight's concert featuring the same program and I highly recommend getting one of them, especially if you have missed live performances as much as I have!

Note:  The 2021-2022 season was announced this week and I am so excited!  I have already subscribed to the Films in Concert Series (featuring The Return of the Jedi, Back to the Future, Home Alone, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and I'm trying to decide on the concerts I want to include in my Design-A-Series subscription (Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Piano Concerto No. 2 are already on the list).  Go here for more information.