Christmas colors American West Symphony program

AMERICAN WEST SYMPHONY, All Saints Episcopal Church, Dec. 10

It's not easy to program Christmas concerts without including at least some well-known classical and popular holiday music. But Joel Rosenberg tries to do just that for his annual yuletide concerts with the Amercian West Symphony. And this year, he even programmed a Utah premiere by American composer Carl Hugo Grimm.

Grimm was a prolific composer in the first half of the 20th century, but today he is all but forgotten. One of his orchestral works is a Christmas Concerto that Rosenberg was made aware of by David Grimm, Carl Grimm's grandson and a member of the viola section of the American West Symphony.

The orchestra played only the third movement of this work at its concert last Friday and it was a delightful piece in which Grimm cleverly weaves a number of Christmas tunes into the score. It's well crafted and the orchestra gave a radiant performance of it.

Not sticking solely to holiday fare, Rosenberg and the orchestra also played Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 31 ("Hornsignal"). It's amazing how much variety and creative inventiveness there is in Haydn's symphonic output. This fairly early work has a large and demanding part for four horns, unusual for the 18th century, but distinctly Haydn in its thematic and harmonic language.

The orchestra gave a well-crafted and articulated reading that captured the vibrancy of the opening movement, the lyricism of the slow movement and the robust energy of the minuet. And the quartet of horns played their part with conviction and solid technique.

There were also two selections by George Frideric Handel on the program: the Concerto Grosso in G major, op. 6, no. 1, and seven arias from "Messiah." After all, a Christmas concert really wouldn't be complete without something from Handel's most famous work.

The ensemble played the concerto well; their account was finely nuanced and wonderfully expressive. And the balance between the large ensemble and the three soloists was also well crafted.

Joining the orchestra for the "Messiah" arias were soprano Laurel James; alto Doris Brunatti; tenor Andrew Maughan; and bass Charles Hamilton. They all have wonderfully expressive voices that did justice to the music. Their singing was fluid and lyrical and nicely shaped.

Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" and Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" also found their way into the program, both played charmingly by the orchestra.

The concert opened with two renaissance pieces for brass to set the mood: a canzona by Giovanni Gabrieli and a setting of "In Dulce Jubilo" by Michael Praetorius.

e-mail: ereichel@desnews.com