CMC thrills children at S.L. Library concert

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CONSORTIUM, Salt Lake City Library Auditorium, Sunday.

The Contemporary Music Consortium presented a children's concert Sunday afternoon as part of its regular season. This was the first concert aimed toward young people that CMC has performed since flutist Laurel Ann Maurer has been co-director of the series, and it went a long way toward dispelling the myth that new music is an ominous region better left unexplored.

Programming a children's concert can be tricky. Invariably, the question arises as to how best to present classical music for youngsters. All too often these types of concerts relinquish sophistication in favor of over-simplification and ignore the fact that children are much more in tune than many adults think.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case at Sunday's CMC concert.

Even though the series was established to present new music, Maurer did an exceptional job in programming a concert that appealed to both youngsters and adults alike. This was no "Contemporary Music for Dummies," and Maurer must be lauded for taking the concept of introducing new music to youngsters seriously and doing so in an intelligent manner.

The concert opened with a substitute piece. Instead of the scheduled premiere of a woodwind quintet by Dana Paul Perna, Maurer began with one of the 20th century's most famous works for solo flute, Claude Debussy's, "Syrinx." Maurer gave a wondrously poetic reading. Her seamless playing captured the sensuousness of the music dramatically.

After "Syrinx," Maurer was joined by Utah Symphony associate clarinetist Russell Harlow for Utah composer Phillip Bimstein's "Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa." Besides the flute and clarinet, Bimstein's piece incorporates taped sounds of animals, rushing water and drumming. The tape runs continuously throughout the piece, and the two live performers offer lyrical counterpoint to the recorded sounds. The work is light and humorous, unassuming and quite captivating.

The concert, which was played without an intermission, continued with two well-known works in not so familiar arrangements — Maurice Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" and Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," both of which were played in commendable versions for woodwind quintet.

For these two final works of the concert, Maurer and Harlow were joined by oboist Bonnie Schroeder, bassoonist Luke Pfeil and Utah Symphony French horn player Ron Beitel. And percussionist Glenn Webb joined the wind players for the Prokofiev.

The five musicians, exhibiting remarkable ensemble playing, gave a dynamic performance of the "Mother Goose Suite" that captured the character of each movement.

Equally striking was their performance of "Peter and the Wolf." This arrangement showcases each instrument to the extreme, and each musician played with dramatic flair.

Venerable local personality Gene Pack was the narrator, and his performance, as much as that of the musicians, gave "Peter and the Wolf" its dynamic verve and spirit.

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E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com