Ema Condori-Teves

Professor Lynn Brown

Music 1010 Intro to Music
6th December 2018
Concert Report

On November 3rd, 2018 I attended a concert performed by the Salt Lake Symphony titled

“Triumphs and Fanfares” at the Libby Garner Concert Hall. This concert was conducted by

musical director Robert Baldwin, and features Peyden Shelton on the trumpet.

The first piece was the “Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The thieving Magpie)”, a piece by

Giacomo Rossini (1792-1868). The military march like opening snare-drum solo sets the stage

for the whole first section of the overture. The first section of the overture is then followed by a

regular sonata movement featuring woodwind solos and ending with what is known as the

“Rossini Crescendo” in which a simple theme is repeated in a variety of different ways until a

climax is reached. La Gazza Ladra is a sentimental comedy opera that is supposedly based on a

true story where a girl is being accused of stealing a silver spoon and is sent to be executed for

her crimes when, in actuality, the magpie was to blame for the crime.

The second piece, “Cherish: Seven Fall and Winter Scenes (World Premiere)” by

Nathaniel Eschler (b. 1976) is a local piece. The piece is an eleven-minute tone poem in which

each of the seven movements highlights a different Salt Lake Valley canyon: Butterfield,

Bingham, City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek, Big Cottonwood, and Little Cottonwood. This

piece was meant to combine experience, memories, histories, and topographies of each canyon

represented in the piece. The excerpt itself was a “conservation piece and plea to protect the

land”, where the title “Cherish” came about from. Composer, Nathaniel Eschler noticed how the
mistreatment of these lands were destroying them and warns us to protect the lands we cherish.

This can especially be heard in the last two movements where the “large 12-note chords toll a

warning”.

The entire piece sounded very eerie and intense with small moments of lightness woven

in between, this was purposefully done to portray what the composer felt about these canyons as

he visited them in late fall and winter. Eschler mentioned that as he visited Butterfeild and

Bingham in the late fall, he felt that the land was very desolate and dry, City Creek and

Emigration were barren and intimate to him, and as he visited Millcreek in the dead of winter, he

mentions the view of a deep pollutant haze that covers the valley below and the snow and ice-

capped cliffs seen from within the canyon. Finally, Eschler mentions how Big Cottonwood to

him resembles an observer, taking on one object at a time, while Little Cottonwood was written

with a nostalgic feeling.

The third piece, “Concerto for the Trumpet and Orchestra” by Aleksandra Pakhmutova

(b. 1929) featured Peyton Shelton on the trumpet. Dr. J. Peyden Shelton has been featured as a

soloist in many ensembles and as a chamber and ensemble musician, has performed with

numerous groups earning his reputation as an active performer throughout the United States and

Canada (Norton). Peyden Shelton was also a featured performer for artist such as: The Beach

Boys, Gloria Estefan, Pharrell Williams, etc. The first part of the piece was the Andante; Allegro

which was a faster more upbeat beginning, followed by the Adagio part of the piece where the

song drastically slowed down and became much quieter than the first section of the piece. The

third section and final section of this piece the sped back up with the Piu Mosso; Allegro part of

the excerpt, ending very smoothly and dramatically.

 After the intermission, the program ended with “Symphony No. 5” by Jean Sibelius

(1865-1957). The first section of the piece was in Tempo Molto Moderato, meaning very

moderate. The second part of the piece was Andante Mosso, Quasi Allegretto meaning the tempo

was a little slow but seemingly at a fairly brisk tempo. And finally ended in an Allegro Molto

tempo, being a very brisk quick tempo. Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer and violinist

whose “music grew out of the Romantic tradition of Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, and Wagner”

(Fessel).

The music director/conductor of the overall program in this concert was Robert Baldwin,

who is the Music Director and Conductor for the Salt Lake Symphony, as well as the Director of

Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Utah. He is currently an active

violinist and viola d’amore player and has had a variety of experiences and guest appearances

across North America, Europe, and Asia. His performance as a violinist, viola player, and

conductor has allowed him to receive international attention and given him the opportunity to

appear as a soloist with several orchestras in the Western United States.

The overall concert was very enjoyable and included a variety of different pieces, which

each portrayed their own different feeling or mood. The first piece included very known tunes

that allowed the majority of the audience to engage and connect with the performance while the

second excerpt introduced completely new music that was very personal and local. The third

piece featured the trumpet soloist Peyden Shelton, whose playing was expertly accompanied by

the orchestra, and finally after the intermission, the final piece gave a sense of a classical

orchestral piece that allowed the audience to reflect upon the entirety of the program.
 Sources Cited
Laki, Peter. “Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie).” The Kennedy Center,
www.kennedy-center.org/artist/composition/3021.
Fessel, Hjame. “Jean Sibelius.” Claude Debussy - Long Biography - Music Sales Classical,
www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/short-bio/jean-sibelius.
Salt Lake Symphony - Welcome. saltlakesymphony.org/.