Fantastic 'Fireworks' in symphony music director Thierry Fischer's debut

This weekend marks the first appearance of the new season of the Utah Symphony's new music director, Thierry Fischer. With all the attention his arrival in Salt Lake City has been getting, the Swiss conductor had a lot to live up to. And, needless to say, he exceeded all expectations.

For his season debut, Fischer chose a particularly demanding program that included two works of one of his icons, Igor Stravinsky — "Fireworks" and the complete "Firebird" ballet score. Both are tour de force works for the orchestra, and Fischer elicited stunning playing from his musicians. It was an auspicious start to what unquestionably will be a remarkable collaboration.

"Fireworks" is one of Stravinsky's earliest pieces. It's almost never heard in the concert hall, no doubt owing to the fact that it demands utmost precision and a keen sense of rhythm from the orchestra. It's almost as if conductors don't feel that the brief, five-minute piece is worth the effort.

But not so Fischer. The 52-year-old conductor got a forceful and dynamic reading that captured the brilliance of the orchestral colors and the vibrancy of the rhythms.

No less brilliant was Fischer's interpretation of "The Firebird." It was perceptive and brought insight into the sprawling score.

The new music director underscored the impressionistic leanings of the score in his account. But unlike "Fireworks," the impressionism in "The Firebird" has a distinctly Russian flavor in the angularity of the themes and the boldness of the harmonies.

The orchestra was in top form here. It played with conviction as it maneuvered around the challenges of the music with precision, clean intonation and clarity. It was a harbinger of the great things to come with Fischer at the helm.

Soloist this weekend is one of the violin world's brightest young stars, Hilary Hahn. At Friday's concert, she gave a breathtaking performance of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's concerto, easily the most famous and best known violin concerto in the repertoire.