Chamber Artists delight audience

UTAH CHAMBER ARTISTS, Waterford School Concert Hall, Sandy, Tuesday.

SANDY — 'Tis the season for "yuletide carols being sung by a choir." And Tuesday, Utah audiences heard just that at the Utah Chamber Artists' annual Christmas concert.

The program was a balance of a classical work — Rutter's "Magnificat" in the first half — and some more traditional Christmas favorites in the second half, including several sing-alongs.

Under the direction of conductor Barlow Bradford, the choir and orchestra gave a festive and enjoyable presentation.

Overall, the group does fine work. It's clear they have found their "voice" together and have a good sound going. It's also clear that the Utah Chamber Artists is a collection of musically capable individuals. The only problem is, they sounded like they needed some tightening on this repertoire.

While the faster movements of the "Magnificat" held together fine, some of the slower movements exposed ragged edges in terms of articulating together (sometimes within the choir or orchestra, and sometimes between the choir and the orchestra). The folk song "Suo Gan" also exposed some sloppy consonant diction.

That notwithstanding, the choir performance was very enjoyable. And it was at its best when reaching the heights and depths of the "big" pieces, such as the "Magnificat anima mea" and "Gloria Patri" of the "Magnificat," or Bradford's arrangement of "Sussex Carol."

The soloists of the "Magnificat" also delivered very good performances by sopranos Linda Bergstrom, Cami Mower and Alisa Faber, who had an especially nice color and warmth to her voice. The audience enjoyed the "Magnificat" enough to give it a standing ovation.

Except for the sing-along, the second half of the concert featured Bradford's own arrangements of traditional Christmas carols. His newest, "Winter Wonderland," was set in a 3/4 waltz (premiered at these performances) and was a wonderfully delightful setting of this piece.

The others were also very good, especially the aforementioned "Sussex Carol."

At the end of the concert, the enthusiastic audience received an encore — a sing-along of "Silent Night."

---

E-mail: rcline@desnews.com