JASON WEINBERGER

One of my observations about the implications of orchestra collaborations with bands and other contemporary artists, quoted in today’s Cincinnati CityBeat. And as I suggest in the article this is ‘very healthy for orchestras.’

I was interviewed because I lead several of these cross-genre performances each year in Louisville and Cedar Falls [and I guess I’m becoming an authority on the intersection of social media and orchestras too].

Characteristically evocative music photography from one of my favorite photoblogs and this week’s recommended Tumblr, hello, romantic. by Megan McIsaac. Follow Megan for a steady stream of wonderful imagery, musical and otherwise. [Update: Order a print from Megan]

And if you’d like to make a Tumblr recommendation yourself please consider supporting me this week in the directory.

To paraphrase A Tribe Called Quest, classical music industry people are shady. Case in point: I just received this unbelievable response from a classical music agency after I requested the cessation of its unsolicited emails. [It was a manual request, since none of these emails included an unsubscribe option.]

Way to stay classy, Parker Artists! Not to worry – I have many other ways of learning about ‘artists of worth’.

It’s just this type of false entitlement that makes me allergic to these artist reps. Why on earth would any musician entrust a career - not to mention their integrity - to a group like this? [And for the record, I do not use an agent.]

Sweet gig poster – and it’s for a notable new music ensemble. A recent concert I did with the Louisville Orchestra occasioned a custom silkscreen print of its own, and an upcoming performance in Iowa with Brandi Carlile and Pieta Brown will too. Orchestras: we should do more of this.

ICE poster by Russ Bruggink via Strangely Beautiful Things

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of performing alongside LA’s The Airborne Toxic Event [check the photos]. Here they are in a new film documenting their extravaganza concert at Disney Hall in 2009. Great energy, just as in our Louisville collaboration; I’m looking forward to being onstage with them again sometime soon.

Noël Coward [via Frank Chimero]

I’m endlessly fortunate that this is true for me too.

Gustav Mahler, born 150 years ago today. During his lifetime Mahler was more widely known as conductor than as composer, and that’s how his contemporary Emil Orlik captured him in this 1902 sketch.

Click for much more Mahler.

Filed under ‘Yet Another Reason To Love Tumblr’, a lovely reblog/write-up from popular classical music posters F#%! Yeah Classical. Thanks guys, and please do share audio or video from my performances anytime!

You are welcome sir, and more than deserving of the recommendation. I’m glad to be able to share your work! [Here, for those who missed it.]

To all of my readers: I plan to continue highlighting the many talented musicians, artists and designers I find here on Tumblr [and hopefully to work with some on orchestral projects]. If you would like to share your work with me feel free to send a message and/or links to your stuff via my ask page or my website’s contact page.

… means two things for me:

1] Free concerts with the Louisville Orchestra for the fine folks of Glasgow and Kentuckiana. This year’s program features the music of Copland – check us out if you are in the area.

2] Le Grande Boucle! One of my other Tumblrs, Tweet de France, might be of interest to those Twitter-inclined among you who want an inside view of the spectacle that is Le Tour [in the form of 140 character musings from its participants]. You can also follow the riders or teams at the @tweetdefrance Twitter stream.

Franz Kline – Untitled, 1961

A visually-oriented gloss on an earlier post about silence in music, from one of my favorite artists:

People sometimes think I take a white canvas and paint a black sign on it, but this is not true. I paint the white as well as the black and the white is just as important.

Quoted from Selden Rodman’s Conversations With Artists, 1957 [via Ordinary Finds]

From a music-inspired photo experiment by Christian Villacillo, the man behind this week’s recommended Tumblr, The Photographist.

And if you’re in the mood to recommend my blog …

To paraphrase the question at the heart of Liz Danzico’s thinking on pauses and silence:

What if musicians were more comfortable with the presence of absence?

When I rehearse orchestras or coach young musicians I often find myself emphasizing the importance of silence in music, particularly the many instances in most compositions where sound and soundless meet. Players [perhaps not surprisingly given their total physical involvement in making sound] tend to focus primarily on the start and end of tone, what we think of as articulation and release. I try to keep my attention on the shaping of silence – how pauses begin and the way sound emerges from silence – an approach I believe enlivens the phrasing, pacing and feel of a performance.

Related: A Slate article from last year on notable moments of silence in music that move composer and writer Jan Swafford.

For my vinyl and/or design folks: A colorful jacket for an intriguing recording from a fantastic new collection of vintage record covers. [via Jez Burrows / Woods via ※ ✎ ® ✎ ※]

Bonus: I wasn’t previously familiar with this music by Avshalomov – will have to check it out.

‘Please download, copy and share. Don’t forget to remix.’

Oh, and the sound is an exploratory mingling of two forms – flamenco and hip hop.

I probably don’t need to say that I appreciate the approach these guys are taking.

Happy birthday to classical music’s greatest badass, Igor Stravinsky.

[Previously posted at my other Tumblr.]

In an interview from last fall with The Rumpus filmmaker Brett Gaylor describes what he took away from his encounter with an anti-piracy lobbying effort by the Recording Industry Association of America [RIAA] during the filming of his ‘open source’ documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto:

This was an industry that was really out of touch with not just what was going on, but actually with its place in the world.

I have found this to be true of my experience with much of the classical music industry as well, and it’s the reason why I post so frequently about our need to embrace what Gaylor explores in his own work [just replace ‘film’ with ‘orchestra performance’ and you’ll see what I mean]:

It’s not piracy I need to be afraid of; it’s obscurity. The problem is not that people are ripping off my film, it’s that nobody’s heard of my film, it’s a tiny little film. And that’s why I was very insistent that my film … be free to travel through networks.

Gaylor bases his entire approach on a fundamental notion of cultural influence which also underlies all of music history – that art springs from conversation with other art. Open sharing of recorded musical product doesn’t seem so dangerous from that perspective, does it?

Disclosure: This post comes from the amateur coding nerd in me.

So, I am greatly looking forward to the soon-to-arrive day when HTML5 will allow me to dispense with Flash for sharing audio, video and photos with you on this website. But who knew that HTML5 could already be purposed to create musical notation? [Demo via HTML5 watch]

For what it’s worth, I am only waiting on a few of the media services I use to release their forthcoming embeddable HTML5 players before making orchestra21 Flash-free.

Classical music Tumblress Sandra has been sharing images from her recent trip to Vienna, including this detail of Joseph Maria Olbrich’s stunning Secession building [my favorite architectural curiosity in a city full of them, and previously considered here in the context of Vienna’s musical life.]

GPOYW at home in Iowa celebrating Benjamin’s third week edition.

Also, GPOYW my excuse for not blogging so much lately, I’ll be posting more soon, thanks for understanding edition ;)

Glenn Gould heads are intimately familiar with this, but Neven Mrgan’s chart highlighting the massive disparity in the timings of Gould’s two Goldberg Variations recordings still startles. Neven prefers the ‘81 version by a bit; I’ll take the ‘55 anyday. You?

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Magnolia

When I use the word ‘multi-talented’ to describe my friend and colleague Miguel Atwood-Ferguson I use it literally. In addition to being the composer and entire ensemble here Miguel is also the musical mind behind Suite for Ma Dukes, a set of orchestral reimaginings of music by hip hop icon J Dilla which the WCFSO performed last February. Learn more about Miguel and his philosophy here. [Stellar video work courtesy The Qualities of Light.]

One of my deepest professional passions is presenting music to young people. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had consistent opportunities to do just that since I was a high school music student at The Colburn School, and there is no aspect of my current work I take more seriously than the concerts I give with the Louisville Orchestra and the WCFSO for over 30,000 students annually.

This past April three of those young people joined me onstage to conduct the WCFSO at our youth concerts. In the midst of a concert exploring the legacy of Aaron Copland student volunteers from Orchard Hill, North Tama and Sacred Heart elementary schools tried their hands at leading the composer’s most famous piece, Hoe-Down from Rodeo. Check out the results above. [Tumblr and RSS readers, click through to the actual post for video.]

Here is an excerpt from a letter by Joyce Schon, an attorney currently representing Detroit’s teachers in their efforts to fight massive cuts to arts programs in the city’s public school system. The letter was posted here on Tumblr by JD Green, a fellow Louisville musician who is a grad of the Detroit Public Schools, and found on Twitter via The Roots drummer @questlove:

I am an attorney for the Detroit Board of Education in a lawsuit against Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, over academic control of DPS. Bobb has given layoff notices to every music and art teacher in the district, including those at Cass Tech and Detroit School of the Arts. He plans to have one citywide chorus, one orchestra, one band etc, as extra-curricular activities that students may only qualify for only if they have good grades. Any music or art classes or programs in individual schools would be supported, if at all, only with private funds.

The School Board’s plan includes music and art in every school at every level, with a lobbying effort at the state and federal level to increase funding for art and music education.

I am a product of DPS schools, a life-long classical music and opera-lover, and a great believer in music as one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. I personally cannot bear the possibility that Detroit’s students could be denied the very classes that I considered my lifeline for survival and growth as a student and as a human being.

We believe that removing art and music teachers from virtually all public schools would result in irreparable harm to the children of Detroit.

I hope that the School Board’s appeal manages to stave off yet another omen of this country’s coming cultural apocalypse – the only way we can avoid that outcome is to get serious about making art and music central, rather than peripheral, to our educational systems.

GPOYW with Benjamin Wolf Weinberger edition!

Born at 9:46pm tonight weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces. Mom and baby are doing very well, and Dad will be taking a break from blogging for the next few days.

With a unique mix of repertoire, creative approaches to presentation, and guest appearances by Chris Thile, Brandi Carlile and Gao Hong the 2010/11 WCFSO season will no doubt live up to our ‘reputation for adventurous programming that stretches the boundaries of traditional orchestra concerts.’ Very excited to share insights from these programs via this blog starting in the fall.

Mozart – Clarinet Concerto, Adagio – mp3
WCFSO – April 2010

For your Saturday listening pleasure, a recent performance of the most sublime music ever written for the clarinet. [I am playing and conducting.] Apologies about the less than perfect sound quality – we didn’t have our normal recording set-up available for this concert.

Comment on this music at my SoundCloud.

From the stack of amazing thank yous written by elementary school students who attended last month’s WCFSO educational program on Aaron Copland. [I will have some wonderful video of the kid conductors to share soon.]

To the student who sent this: my favorite piece on the program was the other movement we played from Rodeo, Buckaroo Holiday – I love Copland’s use of rhythm and syncopation in the main theme – and my favorite instrument is of course the clarinet.

And to the readers of this blog: you don’t have to attend our youth concerts to ask me a question and have it answered here.

‘What we could not say openly, we expressed in music … forged from the very white heat of our sorrows.’

A timely follow-up to my last post about the WCFSO celebration of Black History Month earlier this year.

Back in February I led the WCFSO in one of the most unforgettable evenings of art and music I’ve ever been a part of. Tonight that jazz- and blues-inspired concert, featuring music by William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and J Dilla, will stream in its entirety on Iowa Public Radio [8pm EST, link is an mp3 stream]. In addition to featuring some unique programming, our performance continued a ground-breaking partnership with illustrator Gary Kelley [whose work for the show is pictured below and at my Flickr].

More photos, info about Dilla’s symphonic debut, and a download of our performance of the 1920s theater-orchestra version of Rhapsody in Blue are here.

The ‘alt classical’ brouhaha sparked by the piece I linked to in my last post seems, like the term itself, to have generated plenty verbosity of questionable utility. I’m partial to the less-is-more approach to being an contemporary musician, as expressed by composer Dennis DeSantis in a Twitter conversation on this issue:

[Yes, that is an embedded tweet.]

From eighth blackbird:

Can traditional classical music be reborn and find relevance? And can the modern heirs of that tradition find a wider audience?

Common enough questions these days, but when the querier is a highly respected and enterprising group like 8bb you know the ensuing discussion will be stimulating. I’m actually glad I missed this whole thing last week – the comments added since then, especially by composer Stephen Hartke, are the best part.

The business of music, as practiced by Jack White: ‘The more we try to work on this and perfect it, the worse it gets.’

Jack White’s Record Label: Old Sounds, New Tricks – mp3
NPR All Things Considered – April 29 2010

Compelling ideas about the art form in our digital age.

I’m conducting Darth Vader’s Imperial March today, but this is its definitive performance.

Looking for some orchestra with your Star Wars?

The WCFSO can help with that this weekend.

Did I mention we’ll have stormtroopers?

[Images by Stéfan from his galactically quotidian Stormtroopers 365 series, previously linked here]

I’m spending the day onstage with the WCFSO today, introducing 4000 elementary school students to the music of Aaron Copland. Our program is designed to offer unique insight into this essential American composer – selections from a variety of his works will alternate with audio of his own thoughts and opinions, including excerpts from this fascinating interview:

Interview with Aaron Copland – mp3
Fred Calland for NPR – 1980

Read more about the concert here.

Curating music is a major part of my job but sharing my interest in hip hop remains, with a few exceptions, a hobby. That’s where Tumblr comes in:

The Beats is my collection of recent, rare and unreleased hip hop instrumentals, updated a few times a week. Try out the Streampad bar at the bottom as a playlist for your next gathering.

Just gave the last [of 27] in-school presentations for the 2009-10 orchestra season EDITION

Also … Fortunate to partner with so many great educators in engaging young people through the arts EDITION

Also … Fellow music directors: This needs to be a central element of your service to the orchestras you lead, and besides what could possibly be a better use of your time? EDITION

[Image from my 2009 visit to Edison School in Waterloo by Noah Henscheid]

Nice music-themed branding by Domestika.

Introducing Philip Wharton’s new Symphony in full score. I’ll be conducting the first performances of the piece with the WCFSO tonight and tomorrow. Learn more about Philip and his previous work with us leading up to this weekend’s world premiere.

[Download the score as a pdf file.]

This week the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, which I direct, celebrates 80 years of orchestral performances in northern Iowa. To mark the occasion we’ll be giving a free concert tomorrow night in the newly-rebuilt Kersenbrock Auditorium at Waterloo West High School, where the orchestra performed for a number of decades prior to the opening of our current venue in 2000. Here is a 1938 shot of the WCFSO at our first home, East High School, with music director George Dasch:

Needless to say, our whole team at the WCFSO is deeply humbled to caretake the legacy of an organization with so much history in the community. On Friday, in response to that legacy, we’ll be emphasizing some of the things we feel will allow us to continue contributing to it for 80 more years.

The first is a thoughtful and sustained commitment to music education and engagement. That commitment will be represented at this concert by the 35 students from local high schools joining us onstage, but it’s present throughout every WCFSO season in an array of programs inviting people of all ages to explore music. [I’ll highlight one of those programs here later in the month.]

The second part of our effort to ensure our relevance in the community is an enterprising approach to programming and presentation guided by curiosity and open-mindedness, and if you have ever been to one of our concerts you know exactly what I’m talking about. This week’s musical exploration centers on a brand new symphony by Iowa native Philip Wharton, a movement of which will debut Friday prior to the complete performance on Saturday.

The culmination of a three-year project with Philip, this wonderful new piece is much more than just a world premiere for us. We see it as a symbol of our contribution to the aforementioned legacy of the WCFSO, and I suppose it really is a special birthday gift – an ongoing effort to connect musicians, composers and audiences and to create a uniquely open and tolerant environment for engaging with music.

‘I appreciate your interest and efforts to promote better music amidst the invasive noise of today.’ From an odd exchange on the state of popular music.

Leonard Bernstein, Philharmonic Hall, New York, 1968 by Arnold Newman

Middle-period Lenny, up in the Tumblr radar today courtesy of Eric Strauss. The best gloss on this, unqoutable here except for ‘HE AIN’T INTIMIDATED BY NO GIANT-ASS SCORE’, comes from i can never find his wishbone of destruction.

Have a look at what’s been catching my attention on Tumblr lately. [Copped the idea to post this from photographer Mareen Fischinger.]

From an insightful piece about Apple by Neven Mrgan [worth reading in its entirety]:

The best tech commentators … are the ones who couldn’t stop obsessing over art if they wanted to. So when John Gruber goes on about Stanley Kubrick or D.F. Wallace, feel free to tune out, but remember: this is why he sees beyond the spec sheet.

Reminds me why I follow both of these guys – the same principle that guides their outlook functions in reverse for those of us who feel that our work as artists is profoundly influenced by the broader technological environment.

John Adams: ‘I have been thinking a lot about Leonard Bernstein lately.’

Click.

Last month I participated in a unique presentation of Suite for Ma Dukes, Miguel-Agtwood Ferguson’s amazing orchestral reinventions of music by J Dilla. Today the piece’s original 2009 performance is released on DVD along with two other concerts featuring Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai and Ethiopian jazz great Mulatu Astatke. The Timeless shows were organized and filmed by LA-based Mochilla, with the goal of building bridges between influential composer/arrangers and the contemporary musicians who employ and build on their work.

Timeless posters by Teebs

The crew at Mochilla recently sent along a set of Timeless promos and I’ve been totally immersed in them since. A few initial responses, particularly to Miguel’s peerless arrangements of J Dilla:

- Very few orchestral arrangements are as good as these, and I perform lots of orchestral arrangements.
- I really appreciate the way these super-skilled orchestral musicians are so engaged with [and visibly into] what they’re playing.
- Suite for Ma Dukes is further proof of the importance of Dilla’s contribution to hip hop and contemporary music in general.

Have a listen to Jealousy as performed by the Ma Dukes orchestra with Karriem Riggins on set: [mp3]

So that you can get a better sense for Miguel’s achievement in the transformation of musical material, here is Dilla’s original from Fantastic Vol. 2: [mp3]

To see some of the video check out Mochilla’s collection of previews from Timeless. And do not sleep on picking up this unique and outstanding box set – the current release is limited to just 4000 numbered copies.

My 2009 performance of Mahler 5 with the WCFSO will air this evening at 8pm EST on Iowa Public Radio [link is an mp3 stream]. We took a unique approach to presenting the piece, mixing multimedia with live music and offering insights from orchestra members into the experience of playing Mahler. The image above is one of several views of the event by WCFSO photographer Noah Henscheid. [You may notice me holding my iPhone in some of the other shots – I was using it to cue slides and video live onstage.]

In the event that you get to this post after the stream ends, a re-embed and download of the first movement is below; please feel free to grab the code from the player and share on your blog as well.

Mahler - Symphony no. 5, Trauermarsch
WCFSO – November 2009

October 2, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Weber – Oberon, Overture
Tan Dun – Concerto for Pipa and Strings with Gao Hong
Dvořák – Legends

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Get tickets

October 16, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

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November 6, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Lowell Liebermann – Piano Concerto no. 3 with Jeffrey Biegel [2006]
Stravinsky – Jeu de Cartes
Mozart – Idomeneo, Ballet music

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July 2, 3 & 16, 2010 8:30 pm → Town Square, Glasgow & Riverstage, Jeffersonville & Freeman Lake Park, Elizabethtown

Copland – Fanfare for the Common Man
Copland – An Outdoor Overture
Copland – Variations on a Shaker Melody
Copland – Billy the Kid
Copland – Our Town
Copland – Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes
and a selection of Americana

June 19, 2010 7:00 pm → Franklin Middle School, Cedar Rapids

Movements from:
Mozart – Clarinet Concerto
J Dilla, arr. Atwood-Ferguson – Suite for Ma Dukes [2009]

April 24, 2010 2:00 pm & 7:30pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Music from Amadeus, West Side Story, Star Wars, Cinema Paradio, The Wizard of Oz, Vertigo, Apocalypse Now, Lawrence of Arabia

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April 20, 2010 9:30 am, 11:00 am & 1:00 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Copland – Fanfare for the Common Man
Copland – Prairie Journal
Copland – Quiet City
Copland – Variations on a Shaker Melody
Copland – Rodeo

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From the listening guide for this concert: Aaron Copland’s unique ability to absorb and transform a range of diverse musical styles into a perennially new yet recognizable American sound made his art emblematic of our country’s enterprising and inclusive spirit.

The 2010 youth concerts once again feature students onstage - three volunteer kid conductors and the winner of the WCFSO Concerto Competition, high school flutist Kayla Burggraf.

April 16, 2010 1:00 pm → Fern Creek High School, Louisville

Selections from:
Bach – Overture, BWV 1068
Brahms – Serenade no. 2
Nielsen – Overture, Masquerade
Beethoven – Symphony no. 6

April 10, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Wharton – Symphony no.1 [world premiere]
Brahms - Symphony no. 2

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Last classical concert of year ‘remarkable’
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
April 14, 2010

Last weekend the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra presented the last of this year’s classical concerts in the Great Hall of the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. The program was conducted by Jason Weinberger, music director of the WCFSO. It was a remarkable program, with just two works: a very contemporary one written within the last year, the other a well-known and widely admired classical piece, composed in 1877.

The orchestra first performed the world premiere of a new symphony composed by Philip Wharton, a native of Decorah. Wharton, who was present for this first presentation of his work, has previously appeared with the WCFSO as a violin soloist and composer-in-residence. His symphony contains five movements with unique names: Soundshapes, Laughing Corn, Verdant Twilight, High Fooling and Summer Turning. The titles are whimsical and there are numerous surprises and dry humor present throughout the score. However, a serious mood is the driving force in each of the movements. The symphony is filled with startling contrasts of style and sound, all part of a big, complicated score. The WCFSO, with its fervid playing, convinced the audience that this is a new work with a brilliant future.

Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony was the other work on this fine program. And it was a happy choice, for the piece is particularly engaging: wonderful orchestration, soaring lyrical passages, and a tight transparent structure in four traditional movements. Weinberger led the orchestra in a spectacular reading, and he did it all from memory, with no score before him. The orchestra navigated the often demanding piece with breathtaking speed and nuance.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

March 27, 2010 11:00 am → Brown Theater, Louisville

Saint-Saëns – Carnival of the Animals with The Underground Railroad Theater and Jeffrey Jamner & Joanna Goldstein

March 6, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Ginastera – Estancia, Four Dances
Ortiz – South American Suite for Harp [1996] with Alfredo Rolando Ortiz
Copland – Prairie Journal
Harris – Symphony no. 3

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South American music highlight of concert
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
March 12, 2010

‘Music of the Americas’ was the title of the most recent concert of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Jason Weinberger, music director, conducted the program and harpist Alfredo Orlando Ortiz was the guest artist.

The program was nicely balanced, with the first half consisting of South American music and the second half devoted to music of the United States.They also had amore or less common theme: each piece evoked a sense of vast space and far horizons, whether it be the pampas of Argentina or the western plains of the U.S.

The concert opened with a stirring performance of Four Dances from Estancia by Alberto Ginastera. The score is a frenetic piece that dramatizes various country dances of Argentina. Next, harpist Ortiz joined the ensemble to play his own composition, South American Suite for Harp and Orchestra. The suite, which resembles a tone poem, is bewitching. The composer himself spoke of it as being in the nationalistic tradition. Several of my South American friends agreed that Ortiz’s music did indeed capture distinctive qualities of different Latin American cultures. Ortiz’s graceful playing of the solo harp was captivating, and his personal charm won the audience over. He deserved the rousing standing ovation that followed his playing.

Two works by U.S. composers were played after intermission. The first was ‘Prairie Journal’ by Aaron Copland and it, like so many of his works, creates an impression of the freshness and natural beauty of the plains. Roy Harris’s Third Symphony, a more cerebral or abstract work than the others, was the concluding work of the evening. But even it, according to one analyst ‘is redolent of vast landscapes.’

The two American works were interesting, superbly played and superbly directed. But to be honest, the South American pieces were the most exciting parts of the program and generated the greatest enthusiasm from the audience.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

February 20, 2010 8:00 pm → Whitney Hall, KCA, Louisville

With Cirque de la Symphonie:
Dvořák – Carnival Overture
Saint-Saëns – Danse Macabre
Bizet – Carmen Suites nos. 1 & 2
Chabrier – España
Saint-Saëns – Bacchanale, Samson et Delilah
Dvořák – Slavonic Dances
Wagner – Ride Of The Valkyrie, Die Walküre
Shostakovich – Symphony no. 5

February 6, 2010 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Still – Symphony no. 1
J Dilla, arr. Atwood-Ferguson – from Suite for Ma Dukes [2009]
Ellington – Three Black Kings with artist Gary Kelley
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue [1920s theater version] with Genadi Zagor and artist Gary Kelley

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WCFSO’s recent concert ‘refreshingly unique’
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
February 11, 2010

‘Expect the Unexpected’ is the current motto of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, and an apt phrase it is, as shown by its most recent concert in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. As we have come to expect, this program was refreshingly unique.

The first half of the program was dominated by a sterling performance of William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 [Afro-American]. This was a first hearing for me, and quite likely for most people in the audience. It is a haunting, stirring work that deserves to be better known. For me, it passed the ‘CD test’: I immediately wanted to go buy a recording of it.

The orchestra also performed an interesting new arrangement of some sections of Suite for Ma Dukes by J Dilla. The arranger, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, was in the house and was given a warm welcome.

Another work on the bill was Three Black Kings by that master performer and writer of jazz and swing, Duke Ellington. In three movements, the piece is a tribute to three outstanding figures of history and legend: one of the Magi, King Solomon and Martin Luther King Jr. As backdrop to the music, paintings depicting the African-American experience appeared on a large screen behind the orchestra. The paintings were brilliantly conceived by artist Gary Kelley, and they did much to enhance the power of Ellington’s score.

The marriage of music and painting also was present in the final work of the evening: George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Here the images were mainly of New York City, particularly the lower East Side and Tin Pan Alley - the neighborhoods where Gershwin grew up. And here again Kelley’s artistry was fascinating.

But the star of this work that closed the program was Genadi Zagor, who played the piano part of Rhapsody. His glittering interpretation of the score [virtually a classical-jazz concerto] was a triumph as he swept through the score with incredible speed and sensitivity. Never have I heard the Gershwin played with such careful nuance, such exquisite attention to detail. Exhilarated, the audience roared its approval.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 30, 2010 8:00 pm → Whitney Hall, KCA, Louisville

A special performance with The Airborne Toxic Event and Calexico

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Airborne Toxic Event, Calexico with the Louisville Orchestra
Jeffrey Lee Pucket
The Courier-Journal
January 30, 2010

There are a couple of ways you can go when pairing a symphony orchestra with a rock ‘n’ roll band – augment or enhance. Either choice has its merits but the vast majority of bands go with augmentation, simply adding power or prettiness, depending on the song. The rare band takes it to another level of partnership, using everything an orchestra offers. Saturday night at Whitney Hall, the Airborne Toxic Event and Calexico made sure that a hyped audience of 2,000 got plenty of both.

Calexico opened the night by setting the bar high. The Tuscon, Arizona, band has long made use of sounds and rhythms familiar to southwestern border towns, but has also incorporated a broad palette of Gypsy music, early rock, surf, jazz and Ennio Morricone. It’s no surprise they’d jump at the chance to work with an orchestra, thus adding several dozen more sonic possibilities, or that they’d excel at seamlessly bringing it all together. Their too-brief opening set was the finest example yet of what the BB&T Strings Attached series can be. Under conductor Jason Weinberger, the orchestra glowed as it navigated Jay Whatley’s arrangments, combining with the nine-piece Calexico to create a vibrant, unified sound that really needs to be recorded.

The Airborne Toxic Event is much more of a straight-up rock band than Calexico – just check out bassist Noah Harmon’s relentless posing for proof – and it used the orchestra more traditionally but just as effectively. ATE is all about building momentum and the sheer weight of the orchestra drove the band’s songs to new levels of high drama, turning ‘Sometime Around Midnight’ into a pounding opera and ‘All I Ever Wanted’ into a rush of emotion. ATE leader Mikel Jollett was clearly jacked up having an orchestra on his side, and his excitement peaked during an encore of ‘Missy’ where the song’s closing lyric – ‘But I swear, I swear, I swear I’ll never get sad’ – actually began to sound feasible.

IF BB&T Strings Attached can get away from the singer-songwriters and offer more nights of genuine inspiration like this one, a national reputation could quickly follow, and the orchestra shouldn’t hesitate to become darlings of the indie-rock set. Like the man said, roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 23, 2010 7:30 pm → First Congregational Church, Waterloo

Bach – Overture no. 1
Bach – Instrumental music from Cantatas 18, 75, 182, 196, 209, 212
Bach – Brandenburg Concertos nos. 2 & 4

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WCFSO delivers for ‘Bach to Waterloo’
by Scott Kawelti
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
February 1, 2010

The WCFSO Chamber Orchestra played their ‘Bach to Waterloo’ concert last week, and that clever title was not only a reference to their Waterloo return, it was a signal that they had gone ‘bach’ to the basics of why they’re so respected and appreciated in the Cedar Valley. Any orchestra worth noticing combines solid programming, superb playing and audience appeal. Last Saturday’s concert at First Congregational Church provided a model for all three.

The program opened and closed with the most beloved of all Bach concertos, the Brandenburgs Two and Four. Anyone who isn’t familiar with these timeless masterpieces either has been locked in a soundproof room or can’t stand music written before the last century. I’ve listened to them countless times over the years, and have seldom heard them played better. Though baIance was an occasional problem, the opening Brandenburg Concerto – with its soaring soprano D trumpet line accompanied by complex arpeggios in the strings and winds – just took the breath away. First violinist Anita Tucker deserves special mention for negotiating Bach’s fiendishly difficult solo, as does flutist Claudia Anderson, bassoonist Kevin Judge and oboist Heather Armstrong. The church’s acoustics also made Bach’s five short cantatas and [the C major] Orchestral Suite ring, bounce and echo in in ways no recording can match.

Weinberger pays attention to audience appeal, first by programming accessible but cballenging music, no small feat. This, mixed with his detailed commentaries, might seem patronizing to sophisticated listeners, but I appreciated his articulate delivery as much as his helpful observations. All in all, it was a evening of Bach that showed these dozen excellent musicians at their finest. It was not only ‘Bach to Waterloo’, it was going for baroque.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 20-22 & February 10-12 & 25-26, 2010 10:30 am & 12:00 pm → Brown Theater, Louisville

Selections from:
Schickele – The Chenoo Who Stayed to Dinner [1977]
Glinka – Overture, Russlan and Ludmila
Copland – Billy the Kid, Suite

Music makers bring sweet visions to Louisville classrooms
by Andrew Adler
The Courier-Journal
February 14, 2010

If you strolled through the main entrance of Mill Creek Elementary School early one recent Wednesday, you’d have discovered a curious thing: Instead of blaring the usual cheerless bureaucratic announcements, the loudspeakers were playing soft classical music. Mozart, perhaps, or maybe Haydn.

This was nothing new for Mill Creek, which occupies a cluster of buildings off the southern end of Poplar Level Road. But it was doubly significant on this particular morning. The visitors this day included four musicians from the Louisville Orchestra, who’d be guiding several dozen fourth- and fifth-graders through the wonders of classical repertoire.

Welcome to another edition of MakingMusic. For more than half a century, the program has introduced students at Jefferson County Public Schools to the ensemble via classroom visits, followed a few days later by live concerts by the full orchestra. From the days of founding conductor Robert Whitney to the present artistic regime of Jorge Mester, MakingMusic has been fundamental to the orchestra’s identity and purpose.

Similar programs are in place in many cities. Indeed, more than a few professional instrumentalists can trace their initial interest to that connection. ‘I grew up with MakingMusic with the Cleveland Orchestra,’ recalls Donald Gottlieb, piccolo player for the Louisville Orchestra. ‘It’s probably one of the reasons why I do what I do today.’

Gottlieb was speaking in Mill Creek’s gymnasium, where three of his colleagues — cellist Deborah Caruso, violist Jack Griffin and clarinetist Andrea Levine — were warming up on their respective instruments. Soon afterward, each would visit a nearby classroom to play, talk and answer questions. It was a special day, and the kids were psyched.

‘There curiosity has no end,’ said Anastassi Fafalios, Mill Creek’s music teacher and an avid bass trombonist. ‘They love to see and hear live music. It fascinates them, the differences between instruments.’

A few minutes later, Levine was holding forth in front of teacher Janie Seng’s fifth-grade class. First came some basics: ‘The clarinet has a single reed,’ explained Levine, who has been the orchestra’s principal clarinetist for seven years. ‘That’s very important, because without the reed, nothing. The clarinet is worthless.’

She played a quick scale passage, the notes cascading upward from creamy lows to sizzling highs. Then, a bit of context. ‘On our program today is connecting the skills that you use in reading,’ Levine said, ‘to the skills you use in listening to music. I want to ask you to close your eyes, and I’ll play something. I want you to listen to it, to really try to make it into your mind. There are no right or wrong pictures. You tell me what you see. Close your eyes — no peeking!’

Pulling rabbit out

The children dutifully responded, screwing their eyes shut while Levine played a jaunty melody with lots of short notes. ‘All right, all done. Open your eyes. Now, what brave volunteers could tell me what picture you saw in your head when you listened to that?’

One student said that the short notes suggested a rabbit running. Levine took that suggestion and ran with it a little herself. ‘Fast short notes — you said you saw a rabbit — little footsteps. What you did was visualization .’

She threw out a few more questions: ‘Who listens to music when you are doing your homework? Who listens to music when you are watching a movie or TV?’ She flashed a smile. ‘Who listens to music when your parents are yelling at you?’

A lot can be communicated with a sound or two, Levine emphasized. ‘There’s so much music can do in just a couple of notes to tell a story,’ she told her students. ‘You might be a little too young, but tell me if you recognize this. …’ Raising her clarinet, she played the da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM theme from the movie ‘Jaws.’ The kids shouted out the answer. ‘Yes, you can yell out — the shark!’ Levine said. ‘Just two notes a half-step apart can make you visualize something really scary.’

From director Stephen Spielberg the conversation moved to Sergei Rachmaninoff, and how a composer who writes music is like an author who writes a book. Levine asked her students to ‘make some predictions’ about whether a ‘love song’ by Rachmaninoff [a snippet from the adagio movement of his Symphony No. 2] would have fast or slow notes. ‘Slow; very good.’

Turning to Mozart, Levine explained what a ‘concerto’ meant, and how the composer favored her instrument. ‘He had a lot of fun with the clarinet,’ she said. ‘When the clarinet was discovered at the end of the 18th century, he was like a kid in a candy shop. There were so many new things that it could do, but other instruments couldn’t do.’

‘Play everything’

With five minutes to go, it was time to answer some questions. One girl asked Levine ‘what songs’ she preferred. ‘I’m kind of the sentimental type, so I really like that stuff,’ Levine said. ‘But part of my job in the orchestra is that I have to be able to play everything. There are some songs I don’t like as much, but it’s my job to make it seem like every one is my favorite.’

‘How many keys are on the clarinet?’ another student wondered. ‘I’m so busy playing, yet I’ve never really counted,’ Levine admitted, doing a quick on-the-spot survey and concluding that there are ‘16 or 17,’ all silver.

More hands went up. ‘Yes, you in the purple,’ Levine said, listening as she was asked if she ever was unhappy playing her instrument. ‘There are times that the clarinet, like everything you work really, really hard at, is frustrating,’ she acknowledged. ‘But I can’t imagine my life without playing music. So sometimes when I think, what it would be like if I became a lawyer or a doctor — this is who I am.’

Efficient work

Seng, a 30-year teacher, remarked afterward that she’d witnessed many such MakingMusic sessions. ‘I think it’s an excellent program,’ she said. ‘I’ve heard research that says music can help kids actually work more efficiently. I’ve had bad experiences with my own son. [He] was having some difficulties with math, and he just started playing an instrument in middle school — clarinet, as a matter of fact — and it was amazing. All of a sudden, things just fell into place for him.’

In her Mill Creek classroom, Seng said she has observed how her students respond to classical melodies. ‘They know that music can create a different environment,’ she said. ‘In my class, a lot of kids will say if they’re getting noisy: ‘Mrs. Seng, you didn’t turn on the be-good music.’ It’s a calming influence on them.’

Calming, but also sometimes energizing. Teresa Mitchell, an 11-year-old fifth-grader who heard Caruso’s cello demonstration, emerged duly impressed. ‘I think it sounded passionate and sneaky, like ‘Tom and Jerry,’’ she offered. ‘It’s very neat.’

Full performance

A week later, the Mill Creek students, dressed in their best Convocation Day uniforms, dodged raindrops as they scooted inside the Brown Theatre to hear the full orchestra perform. There was plenty of back and forth from the kids in the seats to their new friends on stage. ‘We’re feeling great and ready for great concert,’ Fafalios declared.

The house lights dimmed. Out came Jason Weinberger, the orchestra’s resident conductor and MakingMusic podium guru. ‘Good morning!’ he said. ‘GOOD MORNING!’ thundered a theater full of children from various schools across the city.

‘We’ll be talking about some of the concepts we use when reading stories,’ Weinberger explained, ‘which are the same strategies we use when we are listening to music.’

He talked about making predictions, leading into an extended segment where a colleague narrated an American Indian story ‘about a hairy, crusty, huge, mean beast.’

The idea was to hear the story, and then try to predict how it would end. There were a couple of unexpected twists. ‘I’ll bet a lot of you were really surprised at what happened,’ Weinberger said. ‘Even when we use what we know to predict maybe a happy ending, you still may not know all the details.’

‘Camptown Races’

From there Weinberger and the orchestra moved on to Stephen Foster and ‘a story that has to do with where we are from. Stephen Foster wrote another song [that] tells a story about something that happens in Louisville every year. It’s a really, really big event. It happens in the spring. Can anyone tell me what it is?’

The Brown erupted. Weinberger grinned. ‘Exactly! The Kentucky Derby. Except Stephen Foster used different words. He called it the Camptown Races. Before we sing it together … let’s listen once to the orchestra and see what it sounds like.’

Principal trumpeter Jerry Amend tossed off ‘Call to the Post,’ and the orchestra launched into one of the best-known tunes in all of American popular song. More visualization. ‘That’s a great example of some of the strategies we use when reading,’ Weinberger said.

Foster and ‘Camptown Races’ segued into Aaron Copland and ‘Billy the Kid.’ ‘We are going to play two sections from that story,’ Weinberger said of Copland’s celebrated ballet score. ‘And we’re going to visualize what does seem to sound like. The first thing is, how does the prairie sound?

A hand went up from the audience. ‘Kind of a sad feeling — exactly, forlorn,’ Weinberger agreed. ‘What kind of feelings do you get when you hear the music? It’s very calm — excellent. The music has very soft dynamics. Who can tell us what dynamics are? So with a very soft dynamic we feel very calm and quiet, even a little bit sad. We have so few instruments playing. Just cellos, the violins and flutes. It gives us a feeling of emptiness.’

The quiet of the prairie gave way to the raucousness of the rodeo. ‘Now we’re going to ask you to predict what could happen with the orchestra. It’s going to get louder? What about the instruments? How will Copland do that in his music? Let’s see if your prediction is a good one.’

Before long, an hour had passed, and the concert drew to a close. ‘You guys have been really wonderful listeners today,’ Weinberger said. ‘Give yourselves a big round of applause.’

He sent the kids out with a final detonation from the orchestra. ‘This is the overture from [Glinka’s opera] ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila,’’ Weinberger said, ‘but the story is yours.’

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 16, 2010 11:00 am → Brown Theater, Louisville

With Dan Kamin, mime:
Kabalevsky – Overture, Colas Breugnon
Stravinsky – Suite no. 2
Britten – Simple Symphony
Grieg – Peer Gynt
Satie – Gymnopedie no. 2
Rossini – Overture, Guillaume Tell
Beethoven – Symphony no. 1
Bartók – Romanian Folk Dances

From the LO website:
Watch the sparks fly as the Classical Clown battles the maestro for control of the orchestra! It’s a symphonic showdown set to the usually serious sounds of Beethoven, Grieg, Britten and Stravinsky. By the time this merry Comedy Concerto is over the clown has conducted, the conductor has become a clown, and even the audience has gotten into the act.

January 15, 2010 9:30 am & 11:00 am → Brown Theater, Louisville

Ellington – Three Black Kings
Bach – Cantata BWV 58 with Kentucky Opera Studio Artists
Thompson – Testament of Freedom with Ballard High School Choir

From the LO press release:
This concert celebrates diversity in our community and reflects on the life of Dr. King. Highlights include Dr. King’s I have a Dream speech, traditional spirituals and Duke Ellington’s ‘Three Black Kings.’ Ellington’s composition was meant as a eulogy for Martin Luther King, Jr. and was originally inspired by a stained glass window of three kings in Barcelona.

January 9, 2010 8:00 pm → Brown Theater, Louisville

Strauss – Serenade in E-flat
Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht
Brahms – Symphony no. 4

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Louisville Orchestra offers rich program
by Andrew Adler
The Courier-Journal
January 9, 2010

There was a definite strategy – both explicit and implicit – to the Louisville Orchestra’s concert Saturday night at the Brown Theatre.

Resident conductor Jason Weinberger guided his listeners through a progression of composers beginning with Richard Strauss, continuing with Schoenberg and ending up with a linchpin of both: Brahms. It was a rich program, intelligently conceived and, for the most part, persuasively executed.

While at its core this Hilliard Lyons Classics Concert was a stylistically conservative affair, there was just enough angularity to lend a bit of intrigue. Much of the off-center content was concentrated amid Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” [“Transfigured Night”], an early, post-Romantic score that provides few signs of the composer’s later, career-defining serialism.

Though written originally for string sextet, “Verklärte Nacht” is almost always heard in Schoenberg’s own arrangement for string orchestra. Yet despite occupying an important place in the repertoire [and it is among the pieces that legions of undergraduate music students are, at one time or another, obliged to study], the Louisville Orchestra had neglected it until Saturday.

Weinberger had obviously studied the score closely, and his account of the music seethed, soothed and intrigued in all the proper degrees. The players were not always in complete technical sympathy, however, with more than a few textures emerging as approximations instead of precise blocks of sound. “Verklärte Nacht” is a ferocious beast to tackle, and the Brown – which excels at revealing interior detail – shows little mercy for spotty intonation and smudged attacks.

Still, Saturday’s performance was a welcome reminder of how musicwas shifting and swirling along as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. We need to hear these works, and we need to appreciate the context in which they were born. Concerts like Saturday’s are a substantial help in appreciating that perspective.

Nothing about Strauss’s Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7 for 13 wind instruments dares to offend – after all, it’s the product of a 17-year-old composer who was finding his way in his world. That much said, the Serenade has its precocious moments and its fundamentally classical outlines [think Mozart] give it intrinsic structural integrity.

Saturday’s reading was lithe and bubbly. The Serenade is not great music. But it is good music, and good music is worth encountering in places like these.

Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 happens to be great music, and because it is so often played, requires more than a respectful going-over to renew its case. There was seldom any doubt that Weinberger took his Brahms soberly. However, far too much of the performance never climbed above that brick-by-brick respectability.

His tempos tended toward the slow to moderate, which gave the players some extra margins in which to gauge attacks, but which sometimes checked vital momentum. This was most evident at the very start of the piece, where string phrases demanded more bite, and especially at the opening of the fourth-movement Allegro. Brahms marks that movement as ‘energico e passionato,’ but both energy and passion were wanting.

I must admit that I prefer my Brahms Fourth to be swift and inexorable, with a final movement that pushes tempos and almost leaps ahead of the beat. Weinberger was a more patient man on Saturday. And judging from the audience’s ovation, he had plenty of sympathy.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

December 12, 2009 2:00pm & 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Greensleeves
Mozart – German Dance, ‘Sleigh Ride’
Delvyn Case – Rocket Sleigh [2008]
Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker, selections
Handel – Messiah, Hallelujah 
Richman – Hanukkah Festival Overture
Anderson – A Christmas Festival & Sleigh Ride

November 28, 2009 7:00 pm → Brown Theater, Louisville

Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Greensleeves
Mozart – German Dance, ‘Sleigh Ride’
Delvyn Case – Rocket Sleigh [2008]
Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker, selections
Bach – Christmas Oratorio, Sinfonia
Richman – Hanukkah Festival Overture
Anderson – A Christmas Festival & Sleigh Ride

November 14, 2009, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Mahler – Symphony no. 5

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WCFSO did wonderful job with Mahler’s Fifth
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
November 19, 2009

The landmark concert the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra performed last weekend in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center was an overpowering experience. It was devoted to a thorough exploration of an imposing work by a great composer: the Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler. The piece was written in the first years of the 20th century and ever since has created a gigantic challenge for any orchestra and conductor who have decided to perform it.

Jason Weinberger, WCFSO music director, designed a remarkably unique format in which to present Mahler’s Fifth. It was the only work of the evening, and the first half was given over to an illustrative analysis of Mahler and his symphony. The maestro himself lectured, the orchestra played excerpts of key passages, section leaders commented and the audience participated. All of this created a greater understanding and appreciation of Mahler’s work.

The second half of the bill was the orchestra’s overwhelming reading of the work. Conductor and players joined forces in bringing out all the power and beauty of the score, which is filled with conflict, contrasts, force, and, yes, excess as well. The Fifth Symphony contains many different emotions, and these were admirably summed up by Bruno Walter who wrote of the work that it includes “music that is passionate, wild, pathetic, buoyant, solemn, tender, full of all the sentiments of which the human heart is capable.”

The orchestra was magnificent; Weinberger was inspired. Well-deserved solo bows were assigned to Randy Grabowski [trumpet] and Dan Malloy Jr. [horn]. But all sections deserved the highest praise for a job extraordinarily well done. The thunderous applause of the large audience indicated that they were well aware that they were fortunate to be present at an extraordinary occasion.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

November 7, 2009 8:00 pm → Whitney Hall, KCA, Louisville

A special performance with Dashboard Confessional

October 3, 2009, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Wharton – Fanfares for Open Spaces [1994]
Elgar – Cello Concerto with Zuill Bailey
Prokofiev – Symphony no. 5

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‘Virtuosic talent’ comes through in WCFSO performance
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
October 12, 2009

The year’s first subscription concert of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra took place last weekend in the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Music Director Jason Weinberger conducted the fine program featuring guest artist Zuill Bailey, cellist. lt was an especially rich bill of three numbers, and although all three were gratifying the most memorable was clearly an impassioned performance of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in e.

This concerto has been called ‘a bittersweet beauty!’ A rather flip description, but it is indeed very dark – a lament, apparently, for the terrible loss of so many lives during the First World War. In spite of the musical darkness, there are elements of serenity, even lyric beauty - especially in the Adagio movement. Still, the mood overall is somber; a far cry from Elgar’s best known work, the upbeat Pomp and Circumstance. The piece requires virtuosic talent of the highest order - and Bailey has it, not only the requisite technical skill, but sensitive artistry, as well. His rich, warm tones, his vibrato, rapid-fire fingering and passionate intensity, were all very much in evidence.

These qualities, plus his dramatic stage presence, won the respect and affection of the audience. They gave him a long, tumultuous ovation. The outcry was so insistent that Bailey returned to the stage for a lovely encore, the ever-popular Meditation fram Massenet’s opera Thaïs. The Meditation is just that – quiet, thoughtful and introspective – and throughout it the hall went utterly silent. The WCFSO has now given two of the greatest cello concertos [by Elgar and Dvořák] in performance by two of the greatest cello players, Zuill Bailey and Yo-Yo Ma.

The other big work, Symphony no. 5 by Sergei Prokofiev, took up the entire second half of the program. Its massive score defies easy description or analysis. lt is distinctly modern, vividly shaped and colorful and, on this occasion, impeccably played by the orchestra and superbly directed by Maestro Weinberger. The evening opened with a brief piece composed by native Iowan Philip Wharton, Fanfares for Open Spaces. It was an arresting introduction to an unforgettable concert.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

September 20, 2009, 2:00 pm → Bengtson Auditorium, Russell Hall, Cedar Falls

Mozart – Clarinet Quintet with the UNI Faculty String Quartet
Brahms – Clarinet Sonata no. 2 with Sean Botkin
Baermann – Adagio with the UNI Faculty String Quartet
Brahms – Piano Quintet with Sean Botkin + the UNI Faculty String Quartet

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Performers ‘near perfect’
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
September 30, 2009

The classical music season is here! It arrived on a beautiful Sunday afternoon inside Bengtson Auditorium of the newly remodeled Russell Hall on the University of Northern Iowa campus. The first concert of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra’s 2009-2010 series was a fascinating program of first-rate chamber music entitled ‘Quintet-sential’. Two of the performers came from the WCFSO: Jason Weinberger, music director, clarinet and Sean Botkin, piano. They were joined by members of the UNI Faculty String Quartet.

Four pieces were played: three of the four featured the clarinet and one was a piano quintet [piano plus string quartet]. The four scores were extremely difficult requiring of the players the utmost skill and concentration. In small group music like this the slightest failure of pitch, tempo or phrasing will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. In addition, the finest nuances of interpretation must be clearly displayed. In each case the performers we heard were near perfect. They played superbly, with the seamless unity so necessary with complex scores like these.

Each piece had a special strength and charm. I was especially moved, however, by the first work, Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings. The composer’s creative genius is clearly present in this work, particularly in the unique way he places the clarinet in relation to the four string instruments. The clarinet is prominent throughout [we cannot help being drawn to it], and yet this is chamber music, not a concerto. All five instruments are given an opportunity to shine; each gets a crack at some of the major themes. It is a true quintet consisting of five distinct, yet well-balanced, voices. A transcendent passage in this quintet came in the second movement, where the first violin [admirably played by Frederick Halgedahl] has a lovely melody of high notes, echoed by a similar line of sonorous melody from the clarinet.

An outstanding work was the Brahms’ Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-flat, played by Jason Weinberger and Sean Botkin. Theirs was an astounding performance from the sweeping opening melody to the vigorous final movement with its rippling scales by the clarinet and the explosive chords of the piano in reply. Jason Weinberger plays the clarinet with the same expressive intensity with which he leads the orchestra. His performances are always deeply emotional, whether the score is somber or joyful. He brings out the full range of clarinet sound, from plangent bass notes to sweet and delicate high ones. And Sean Botkin’s piano work was splendid too, full of fire.

A surprise piece was the Adagio for Clarinet and Strings, opus 23, by Heinrich Baermann, a composer unknown to many of us. A brief, lovely jewel of a piece, it included passages of several moods: wistful, joyful, bittersweet.

The rich program concluded with Brahms’ Piano Quintet in f. With the piano added to the UNI Faculty Quartet, the piece was rich, complex, varied, and, above all, powerful. The success of this program owed much to the extraordinarily fine playing of the strings: Frederick Halgedahl, Theresa Feller, Julia Bullard, Suzanne Bullard, and Hunter Capoccioni.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

April 14, 2009 9:30 am, 11:00 am & 1:00 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Liszt – Piano Concerto no. 1
Tchaikovsky – Symphony no. 4

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In addition to learning about the history and musical substance of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony students will be introduced to broader ideas connected to the composer’s work, including an overview of the symphonic tradition and the world of Russia in the late 19th century. Chelsea Wang, 9th grade winner of the WCFSO Young Artists Competition, performs a movement from Lizst’s First Piano Concerto. Read my listening guide.

April 4, 2009, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Adams – Short Ride in a Fast Machine [1986]
Adams – Common Tones in Simple Time [1979]
Tchaikovsky – Symphony no. 4

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WCFSO features music by John Adams
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
April 24, 2009

An intriguing concert took place recently at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, when the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra played the sixth subscription concert of the current season conducted by Jason Weinberger, music director. The program was divided into two distinct halves. The first was devoted to contemporary music by John Adams, and the second part featured Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

‘Short Ride in a Fast Machine’ by Adams, composed in 1986, is a marvel of instrumentation designed to whisk the listener through a few minutes of time at breakneck speed. The score is daunting, filled with challenges for even an accomplished ensemble like the WCFSO [and required] every instrument to play with the greatest intensity and concentration. The second Adams piece, ‘Common Tones in Simple Time’ [1979] was not nearly as attractive. It, too, was unique, well-played and directed. But its narrowly focused non-melodic central line was a kind of scientific experiment: a long exhibition of sounds an orchestra can make with subtle variations within a very narrow range. If it had not been such a lengthy score, it might have worked as a reflective piece. As it was, it was cerebral rather than emotional.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony was the featured work of the second half of the program. It was meticulously performed under the direction of Weinberger, who gave it a vividly colored reading. The small but outstanding details of this performance were delightful: little trios played by different wind instruments in the first movement, the swiftly-moving pizzicato melody of the strings in the third section, and the brass fanfares at the outset, later echoed toward the end, were faultlessly played by the the WCFSO. The cymbals, with repeated crashes, helped bring the work to its heroic conclusion.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

March 7, 2009, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Ives – Three Places in New England
Edgar Meyer – Bass Concerto no. 1 [1993] with Edgar Meyer
Copland – Rodeo, Four Dance Episodes

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WCFSO offers audience unusual, joyful program
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
March 12, 2009

With music director Jason Weinberger and guest artist bassist Edgar Meyer, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra presented its fifth subscription concert of the season for a large, enthusiastic audience at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. The program was all-American, featuring works by three 20th-century compoers, all of whom captured something uniquely American in their works.

First we heard a rousing performance of Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England. Anything but traditional, the work uses many features of Ives’ quirky style to capture emotions he felt at three places in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Exposure to his works can lead one to appreciate his exciting use of folk songs, military marches and even quotations from other classical works. One can even come to enjoy the disturbing sound of several melodies played out simultaneously, a favorite device of the composer. Ives has been called a Yankee maverick, and that he is. The score could not have been an easy one to play, but the WCFSO ripped through it brilliantly.

Another orchestral work on the bill was the music for the ballet Rodeo by Aaron Copland. This sparkling piece consists of a riot of orchestral color, constantly shifting-off-beat rhythms, syncopation, slashing percussion, blaring trombones, even a waltz and a pinch of ragtime. The last movement, a toe-tapping, boot-kicking hoe-down, like the rest of the work, was played with incredible precision. All brought together by Weinberger’s superb [and sometimes acrobatic] conducting.

The evening’s centerpiece was a performance by Meyer of his own composition, Concerto in D Major for Double Bass and Orchestra. Meyer’s stage presence, his virtuoso playing and the concerto itself inspired one of the longest and loudest ovations I have ever heard in the GBPAC. The crowd stood, applauded loudly, whooped and hollered, until Meyer favored them with a quiet little encore.

An unusual program, but a great one that sent the audience home filled with joy.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

February 7, 2009, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Beethoven – Violin Concerto with Wolfgang David
Bach [arr. Stokowski] – Toccata & Fugue
Bartók – Suite, Miraculous Mandarin

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Violinist adds flair to symphony performance
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
February 12, 2009

February’s Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra concert look place last weekend at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, featuring guest violinist Wolfgang David. Music director Jason Weinberger conducted this evening of very exciting music. The bill featured three ‘B’s’ of music, but not the usual trio. This time it was Bach, Beethoven and Bartók, with music from three quite different eras: 1705, 1806 and 1918.

Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin in D major was played by the soulful dynamo from Austria, David. Written during what was evidently one of the composer’s happier periods, it is gentle, pleasant, even occasionally humorous. David has a rich tone together with a technical flair that creates an inviting sound. That and his quiet, modest stage presence charmed the audience, and they gave him a thunderous standing ovation.

After the interval, we heard Bach’s Toccata and Fugue as arranged by Leopold Stokowski. This piece was first written for the organ, and that is how it is most often heard. It was especially fine in this arrangement for large orchestra. In fact the orchestra sounded massive and lush, as every instrumental section contributed to the sweep of the piece. The sound was dazzling, as it was also in The Miraculous Mandarin, which closed the program. The work, begun by Bartók in 1918, is in a modern style, and indeed it depicts the modern world, particularly the seamy side of it. The music, meant to accompany a baIlet-pantomine, dramatizes a tawdry little tale of three thugs, a prostitute, a young boy and a Mandarin. It is thoroughly urban, starting out with the sounds of modern-day street traffic. The music was cleverly assisted by brief titles flashed on a screen in a crude type font that reflected the wild music. The story line is rather sleazy and so is the music, but it is so frenzied, so violent in its portrayal of the dark side of modern city life that it becomes hypnotic and, in its way, beautiful. The Bartók, like the other works on the program, was performed to perfection, every instrument contributing to the overall, quite powerful, effect, and it was all admirably [and exhaustingly!] directed by Weinberger.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 10, 2009, 7:30 pm → Oster Regent Theatre, Cedar Falls

Stravinsky – L’histoire du soldat
Marsalis – The Fiddler’s Tale [1998]

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Chamber concert featured superb playing
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
January 15, 2009

The annual chamber music concert of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra was performed at the Oster Regent Theatre last weekend. The ensemble consisted of seven players: Eric Kline. violin; Hunter Capoccioni, bass; Eric Wachmann, clarinet; Greg Morton, bassoon; Randy Grabowski, trumpet; Christopher Buckholz, trombone; and Michael Pawlak, percussion. The program, conducted by Jason Weinberger, WCFSO music director, was made up of two works: the suites from The Soldier’s Tale [1918] by Igor Stravinsky and A Fiddler’s Tale [1998] by Wynton Marsalis. Both pieces have nine movements; some share the same titles. Each work is based on a tale, a kind of Faustian parable involving the devil and a soldier or fiddler.

The two pieces are sardonic, stark and rather ominous. Both have a plethora of different styles as part of their scores: engaging melodies, driving rhythms, plenty of jazz, contrasting dances [including a sequence of waltz, tango and ragtime] and even a grand chorale.

The most striking features of both works are the roles played by the seven different performers. Rather than an ensemble we seem to hear soloists – seven virtuosic players are required. The ones we heard easily satisfied this requirement. In my view, the startlingly complex passages played by the violin, the trumpet and the clarinet were high points of the evening. But all seven musicians played with such awesome skill that many in the audience were simply astounded.

Superbly played, this was a very interesting program. It was, it seems to me, a musician’s concert since the stylistic and technical differences in the two works were - for the average concertgoer, at least - too subtle to be appreciated. Therefore, the evening lacked some of the excitement that is a large part of the WCFSO tradition.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

November 1, 2008, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls, IA

Samuel Adler – A Bridge to Understanding [2008]
Samuel Adler – Beyond the Pale for clarinet [2003] with Samuel Adler, guest conductor
Mendelssohn – Symphony no. 3, ‘Scottish’

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‘Birthday Fête’ offers surprises
By Scott Cawelti
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
November 5, 2008

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony’s November 1 ‘Birthday Fête’ concert offered an evening of gratifying surprises for an intensely appreciative audience at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. ‘Expect the Unexpected’ has become the orchestra’s slogan and this evening’s concert made it come to life.

I’m always mildly surprised by the superb quality of this regional orchestra. Orchestra members consistently play far above what we might expect from performers with other day jobs who never get quite enough ensemble rehearsal time. It almost never shows. Bravo to them all for offering such high-quality playing every concert. The principal players deserve special credit for their leadership, and several offered excellent playing during this particular concert, including oboist Tom Barry, flutist Claudia Anderson, trumpeter Randy Grabowski, and concertmaster Anita Tucker.

The concert began with Adler’s 2008 piece, ‘A Bridge to Understanding: A Suite for Orchestra,’ in five movements, all of which offered cascading dissonances and tonalities which make it truly contemporary. Like other Adler creations, ‘Bridge’ brings a new energy to familiar folk melodies by alternating solos among the various instrumental sections and with driving, complex rhythms.

Adler, who turned 80 this year, has composed more than 400 widely acclaimed orchestral and choral works. He spent most of a week at UNI and attended Saturday night as the honoree. Weinberger introduced a surprise ‘gift’ for Adler in the form of a celebratory composition performed by a string quartet from the orchestra by Philip Wharton, a former Iowan and composition student of Adler’s. Violinists Beth Hoffman and Mary Grey, violist Kathleen Sihler, and cellist Suzanne Bullard played this fine offering, which sang with the same energy that Adler brings to his own compositions.

The orchestra jumped back 166 years to Felix Mendelssohn’s Third [‘Scottish’] Symphony, which debuted in 1842. It’s a powerful work with echoes of Scottish melodies and dance rhythms, striking dynamic range and a finale that ends with martial rhythms and triumphal cadences. Music Director Jason Weinberger chose to direct this 37-minute symphony without the usual breaks between the four movements, and the orchestra played with a contagious, joyful energy that brought the audience to its feet.

The major surprise of the evening, though, and probably the whole season, came when Adler himself conducted his ‘Beyond the Pale: A Portrait of a Klezmer’ with Weinberger performing the clarinet solo. I’ve attended dozens of orchestra performances, but I’ve never seen a composer conduct one of his own pieces featuring a solo played by the orchestra’s conductor. Unexpected indeed. The piece was utterly charming and ably played. ‘Beyond the Pale,’ though just 11 minutes long, offered major challenges to the soloist, and Weinberger proved up to the task. This standing ovation was genuine, and genuinely deserved.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

October 4, 2008, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Bernstein – Overture, Candide
Mozart – Piano Concerto no. 23 with Simone Dinnerstein
Mahler – Adagietto, Symphony no. 5
Bernstein – Symphonic Dances, West Side Story

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WCFSO kicks off season with a bang
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
October 19, 2008

The opening concert of the Waterloo- Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-09 season took place Saturday night in the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, a dynamite concert with music director Jason Weinberger conducting and pianist Simone Dinnerstein guest artist.

This program was sensational. It was framed by two works by Leonard Bernstein, the Overture to the operetta Candide and his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Bernstein was born 90 years ago and these two works were the orchestra’s way of honoring a great American creative genius. The overture, possibly the composer’s most popular work, is explosive. It is swift, sparkling, mostly loud but with a sweet rhythmic melody at its center. It was played by the WCFSO with a spirit of friendly defiance that seemed to shout ‘We’re back and raring to go!’

The other Bernstein, the grand finale of the program, was his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. One easily recognizes the various songs and dance sequences from the musical (and the movie), but it actually works well as a symphonic piece with the composer’s amazing talent for unique, broad and vigorous instrumentation. Weinberger is always a joy to watch as he works on the podium, but was he ever in better form as he led the ensemble in the vigorous Symphonic Dances? Not a whit distracting, his movements on the podium were an ideal complement to the music. Communication between Weinberger and his players was also remarkable. Their refusal to take a bow at the end of this concert and their insistence on applauding their leader was extraordinary.

Sandwiched in between the Bernstein pieces came two works from other centuries. We heard a splendid performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 23 with Dinnerstein at the keyboard. This concerto, with its much smaller orchestra and no trumpets or timpani, is one of the composer’s greatest [and apparently one of his favorites]. It includes some darkness, though the somber element is brightened by the final presto movement which joyfully skips along sounding almost child-like in its simplicity. Dinnerstein played with quiet authority. She showed great strength in the second rather solemn movement, and thrilled the audience with her delicate touch in the final movement. She and the orchestra worked in perfect harmony, evoking an atmosphere of charming conversation between good friends in an elegant drawing room.

In contrast to the distinctively classical piano concerto, the WCFSO played a single movement from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 5. This is one of those majestic works that defies description. It is pure beauty created out of some quite unconventional harmonies. No amount of speculating as to its ‘meaning’ can explain or duplicate this musical experience. The movement, marked ‘very slowly’ for strings and harp only, is a brief, haunting meditation, it seems to me, on the sadness that inevitably pervades the sweetness of life itself. A thoughtful, emotional jewel, it was sensitively played under the equally sensitive guidance of Maestro Weinberger. This was a program of seemingly disparate works so brilliantly performed that at the end the audience roared its approval in a lengthy ovation.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

September 14, 2008, 2:00 pm → Davis Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Mozart – Così fan tutte, Wendt arrangement
Mozart – Don Giovanni, Triebensee arrangement
Mozart – Die Entfürung aus dem Serail, Wendt arrangement
Mozart – Die Zauberflöte, Heidenreich arrangement
Mozart – Serenade K. 375 

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Area wind players perform at GBPAC
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
September 19, 2008

A very pleasant concert took place Sunday at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. ‘In Harmonie’ featured eight performers who are well described as ‘the best wind players in the Cedar Valley’ – Tom Barry and Heather Armstrong (oboe), Dan Malloy Jr. and Valerie Shanley (horn), Greg Morton and Kevin Judge (bassoon), and Eric Wachmann (clarinet), all members of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. WCFSO Music Director Jason Weinberger directed the ensemble, played clarinet and gave informative commentary on the music.

The good-sized audience in Davis Hall heard five works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Music from four of his operas was at the heart the program. A number of transcriptions of opera music for various instruments exist – the ones we heard [two of which were by contemporaries of Mozart] were arranged expressly for wind octet. I would guess that few opera fans know about these remarkably sparkling wind versions. We experienced an exciting surprise.

As the eight fine players presented this opera music, we became acutely aware of Mozart’s magical ability to create character, personality and action through the changing moods and tempo of the music. In addition to the operatic selections, the octet presented a splendid reading of Mozart’s Serenade in B-flat, a somewhat more elaborate and serious piece. All in all, this was a refreshing experience. Warmly human, funny and serious, always beautiful music. And extraordinarily well-played by eight virtuoso instrumentalists.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

April 5, 2008, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto no. 3 with Alexander Solomon
Dvořák – Symphony no. 8

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WCFSO final classic concert strikes chord
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
April 9, 2008

The final classics concert of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra took place Saturday at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Guest artist was pianist Alexander Solomon, and conductor was WCFSO music director Jason Weinberger.

The works of two composers were featured on the program, ‘Accidental Americans.’ An odd title, but actually quite appropriate. Sergei Rachmaninoff came to the United States and Antonín Dvořák spent time here in the 1890s, in New York and Spillville, Iowa.


The first work on the bill was the Piano Concerto no. 3 by Rachmaninoff. The concerto is a challenging piece of music – Josef Hofman, a renowned pianist to whom the work was dedicated, declined to play it. Many musicologists consider it the most difficult piano concerto. Solomon swept through the score like a breeze. It was hard work, but he made it look easy – with much passion, but without showy mannerisms. He put the music, not himself, at center stage. For this and for his incredible technique, the audience loved him. Their response was tumultuous. 

The next number was Dvořák’s Symphony no. 8, surely one of the greatest symphonic works – intricate, inventive, and as joyous as any piece in the repertoire. It is chock-full of engaging, exciting details that make for an exhilarating experience. The bird-like trills of the flute, the lovely clarinet duet, the booming timpani, the whooping horn cries, the trumpet fanfares and rhapsodic string passages. Maestro Weinberger drew out all the richness of the score, the aforementioned delights and many others. The orchestra emanated crispness, energy, precision. 

But that did not end the evening. We were granted to a nice postscript: one of Dvořák’s many frenzied Slavonic Dances. That made for an ecstatic conclusion to a truly great season of classical music.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

March 1, 2008, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Strauss – Metamorphosen
Brahms – Ein deutches Requiem with Metropolitan Chorale, Wartburg College Choir, John Hines + Rosemary Gast

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‘Requiem’ gets rousing reception from symphony audience
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
March 5, 2008

March weather did not come in like a lion last weekend, but some magnificent music did – a concert by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.

Two powerful works were performed by the orchestra, joined by a huge chorus consisting of singers from the Wartburg Choir, the Metropolitan Chorale, plus two soloists, Rosemary Gast and John Hines. Jason Weinberger, music director of the WCFSO, conducted from the podium. Choral preparation was by Paul Torkelson, conductor of both the Wartburg Choir and the Met Chorale.

The program, ‘German Requiems,’ included Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem. At first one might think the plural in the title was a printer’s error, but after experiencing the Strauss work it becomes clear that it, too, is a requiem. It is written for 23 string players, each playing a different part. The mood of the piece is mostly dark, the tempo unhurried. But it is not dirge-like, nor is it completely melancholic. Underneath the strains of sorrow can be heard a theme of beauty, as if to suggest that the regret was for something once lovely and good.

It is evident from the composer’s biography that Strauss, near the end of a long and successful life [the work is dated 1945; he died four years later], was deeply affected by the material devastation of Germany and the loss of its high culture. He particularly mourned the ruination by bombing of beloved opera houses in Munich and Dresden.

Metamorphosen is a haunting work, difficult to play and to understand. I had never heard of it, but I liked it and now hope to hear it played again. By scheduling this enigmatic work, Maestro Weinberger once again used his creative programming skills that so consistently enable us to hear exciting, but less well-known, musical works. The piece was warmly received out of respect for the music itself and for the fine work of our splendid string sections. They played the complicated score with admirable precision and emotional intensity.

The Brahms German Requiem, the major work of the evening, came next.Quite different from the traditional mass for the dead, this one does not follow the usual format of five divisions, Kyrie through Agnus Dei. A close reading of the text [from the Bible, and chosen by Brahms] shows little mention of Christ and almost nothing about salvation or the Judgement Day. There is no Deis irae movement. Also, unlike most requiem masses, it was written in the language of the people, German, not Latin.

The score is filled with marvelous music and this performance of it was extremely stirring. It electrified and soothed, a rare combination. All of the performers – chorus, orchestra, soloists – gave it a deeply spiritual reading that nicely conveyed the twin forces of consolation and resignation in the face of death. A very humanistic interpretation, not a doctrinaire one.

Soprano Gast, with fine support from the winds, beautifully sang the words of comfort from St. John. And Hines, with his rich bass, gave a forceful account of St. Paul’s meditation on the mystery of death.

Overall, the Requiem was awe-inspiring and, for this, much credit must go to Maestro Weinberger for an impressive group effort. He masterfully sculpted a panorama of brilliant sound – precise, balanced and moving.

And the audience? They loved it.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

February 2, 2008, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Mendelssohn – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Overture and selected Incidental Music
Lowell Liebermann – Flute Concerto [1992] with Claudia Anderson
Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet, Suite no. 2

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The theme for the evening, appropriate for the month of Valentine’s Day, was ‘Shakespeare in Love.’ Two of the three works performed were musical reflections of dramas of love by the great playwright. 

First on the bill was some of the incidental music Felix Mendelssohn created for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ The orchestra played the work with verve, quickly establishing a mood that was joyous and youthful. 

Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Suite no. 2 concluded the program. Originally conceived as the score for a ballet, the suite is a marvel of instrumentation. And this performance called attention to the superiority of several sections of the WCFSO – the brass, winds and strings. Particularly fine was Evan Smith’s sonorous playing on the tenor saxophone.

A high point of the evening was the performance of Liebermann’s Concerto for Flute, with [Claudia] Anderson. Both the score of this contemporary piece and Anderson’s reading of it were electrifying. The work requires a virtuoso soloist to navigate its extremely challenging score. But Anderson was very much in charge of things from her tuneful pianissimo to the bold, lovely defiance that, to me, permeated the concerto. Her performance brought the audience to its feet for a wild prolonged ovation. 

A consummate performer, she was not just a ‘guest artist.’ She has been orchestra’s principal flutist for several years.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

January 12, 2008, 7:30 pm → Oster Regent Theatre, Cedar Falls

J.S. Bach (arr. Anton Webern) – Musical Offering, Ricercar
Mozart – Violin Concerto no. 1 with Philip Wharton
Philip Wharton – Passing Season [world premiere]
Wagner – Siegfried Idyll

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Symphony, guest composer delight
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
January 16, 2008M

On a cold and snowy night last weekend a small but enthusiastic audience of music lovers attended the first concert of the new year by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra at the Oster Regent Theatre. The program was conducted by Jason Weinberger, music director. He was joined on the stage for one work by guest violinist and composer Philip Wharton.

For many in the audience, the high points of the evening came from Wharton’s presence, first in his performance of the solo part to Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 1, and secondly in the form of his own composition, “Passing Season.”

As performer, Wharton was more than just satisfactory. He had a nice golden tone and breathtaking execution, particularly in the two cadenzas, which he wrote himself, and the final frenzied Presto movement. Wharton’s “Passing Season”, conduced with great sensitivity by Maestro Weinberger, is impressionistic and quietly emotional. It is very much in the spirit of Appalachian Spring and conveyed an upbeat mood reflecting the beauties of nature. The composer clearly has a sound grasp of what the various instruments can do – especially the winds – and the result is extremely pleasing. Of the young Wharton, an old saying could be applied: “He has a great many strings to his bow.” And the audience showed its admiraiton for his skills by giving him a standing ovation.

The program closed with a fine reading of Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.” A beautiful antidote to the severe weather outside.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

November 3, 2007, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Mozart – Symphony no. 41, ‘Jupiter’
Holst – The Planets with artist Gary Kelley

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Audience finds WCFSO satisfying, provocative
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
November 9, 2007

No ordinary concert, this one was disturbing, satisfying, provocative, and brilliantly innovative. Held in the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center under the direction of music director Jason Weinberger, the program consisted of works by Mozart, Holst and artist Gary Kelley.

Mozart’s Symphony no 41, nicknamed ‘Jupiter’, came first. The orchestra’s reading was brisk and affectionate. The piece served as a perfect introduction to the spellbinding experience that was to follow.

After intermission Holst’s ‘The Planets’ was performed by a huge crowd of players on stage – a startling image after the relatively small ensemble that played the Mozart. ‘The Planets’ was written during World War I and that terrible conflict was reflected a number of times in the piece, especially in ‘Mars, Bringer of War’. Each individual section of ‘The Planets’ dramatizes some general aspect, attitude or condition of humanity – a meditation, as it were, on the human condition. Starting contrasts are present, such as the powerful dark hammer blows of Mars, the bright sweetness of Venus, the madcap dance of Jupiter and the solemn fatalism of Saturn.

On this occasion the music was played in darkness, with a large screen placed above the orchestra. On it was projected a series of Kelley’s paintings. The works changed and moved with the music, reflecting or amplifying the mood or attitude suggested by the music. Thus we experienced something like a grand concerto, with the paintings as soloist carrying on a dialogue with the full orchestra. The line, color and form of Kelley’s paintings were compelling. His subjects were extraordinarily varied and inventive. These not only accentuated the moods and themes of Holst’s score, they also moved viewers to ponder questions evoked by the combination of the two art forms.

Much credit should go to Messrs. Kelley and Weinberger, as well as special kudos to Scott Smith of River Run Productions for the seamless coherence of the images.

What was the audience’s reaction to this rich feast? I would describe it as a prolonged frenzy. Every single person I spoke with agreed with my friend who called the evening a ‘wondrous musical-visual-poetic event’.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

October 6, 2007, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Shostakovich – Festive Overture
Barber – Cello Concerto with Matt Haimovitz
Tchaikovsky – Symphony no. 2, ‘Little Russian’

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WCFSO’s first subscription concert delights audience
by Harvey Hess
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
October 12, 2007

The opening ‘Festive Overture, Op. 22,’ by Shostakovich, boasts the kind of score which leads one to think, ‘Where have I heard this before?’ It carries one off in ‘sure-fire’ music, with a flair for fanfares [start and finish], daring orchestration and an imperial power one might call, these days, ‘Czarist’ —- but not during the composer’s lifetime. Any score, however fiery, will not ignite without the rigorous precision given it, such as Music Director Jason Weinberger led the musicians to, in realizing it. The crescendo of cheering and spirited applause of an emerging youthful following also lifts one’s heart.

Second on the program, Samuel Barber’s ‘Concert for Cello in C Minor, Op. 17,’ gave metro-area audiences a perfect occasion to hear viva voce the superb achievements of cello soloist Matt Haimovitz. This artist’s reach up and down his instrument astounds the eye as much as his range of timbres does the ear. Among living cellists, one can find in him a supreme lyricist of the cello’s ‘tenor’ vocality.

Barber’s score gave Haimovitz, the orchestra and Weinberger [whose uncannily canny way with programming brought it about] an incomparable opportunity to enjoy genuine modernism enriched with real tunes and sure tonality. The musicians’ ability to pick up bits and pieces of a theme and then give it a voice typified the sound musicianship that characterized the entire concert.

The close of the third movement, following a magisterial Haimovitz cadenza, built up a momentum that catapaulted the cadence, and the audience, into a virtual explosion.

Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, Little Russian,’ new to most ears and fresh to all, seems to have delighted the house. And the third movement’s effervescence is Dom Perignon all the way. If for no other reason than the orchestration —- from the platinum-pinked piccolo’s shrill, to the amber strings —- one must admire Tchaikovsky. And the orchestra let us hear why, just as audience applause let the orchestra hear their appreciation.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

April 7, 2007, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Bizet – Carmen Suite no. 1
Ravel – Concerto in G with Orion Weiss
Schumann – Symphony no. 2

Symphony, guest artist shine at latest concert
By George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
April 11, 2007

The April concert of the current Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony season took place last weekened in the Great Hall at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Music director Jason Weinberger led the program, with pianist Orion Weiss as guest artist.

The splendid program, consisting of three works, was dedicated to Mary Jean Armstrong Clark of Waterloo, a longtime, widely-respected player in the WCFSO.

Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet was a perfect starter for the evening. The suite could not help but be a crowd pleaser, but this was no ordinary performance. The WCFSO sounded more crisp and brilliant than usual. Precision and clarity were quite remarkable, resulting in a stellar performance of a very attractive piece of music.

Next came the the Concerto in G by Maurice Ravel, with Weiss at the keyboard. The youthful Weiss gave a splendid account. He played the breathtaking runs of the first and last movements with ease and grace. And, best of all, he performed the solemn, beautiful solo in the second movement with great delicacy of feeling. These well-played, meditative passages were among of the high points of the evening.

The Second Symphony of Robert Schumann triumphantly ended the concert. It too has a haunting, lovely movement – the third, aptly designated ‘Adagio espressivo,’ is an intense, lyrical and exceedingly romantic section. It – and the entire piece as well – was given a superb reading by Weinberger and the entire ensemble, with especially fine work provided by the strings.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

March 3, 2007, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Haydn – Symphony no. 56
Satie – Parade
Shostakovich – Symphony no. 5

Orchestra’s performance one of Weinberger’s best
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
March 11, 2007

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

February 3, 2007, 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Fine – Music for Orchestra
Williams – Concerto for Trumpet [1996] with Randy Grabowski
Copland – Billy the Kid, Suite

Symphony orchestra, guest artist dazzle audience
By George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
February 7, 2007

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

February 5, 2005 7:30 pm → Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls

Jernigan – Preamble to a Concert [2005, world premiere]
Mahler – Symphony no. 2, ‘Resurrection’ with Metropolitan Chorale, Karen Holvik & Eileen Farrell

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WCFSO delights with performance
By Scott Cawelti
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
February 9, 2005

Last Saturday night’s Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra’s Diamond Anniversary concert celebration offered not only a fitting musical tribute to the orchestra and its history, but also a triumphant evening of challenging symphonic music.

The evening began with a tribute to its many long-standing players, seven of whom have played two decades or longer, with violinist Jim Grams having performed for 44 years. That’s approaching legendary.

The orchestra then played Lathan Jernigan’s ‘Preamble to a Concert,’ a sharp, sprightly piece with discordant lines and tonal shifts that prepared a full house of listeners for Mahler’s sublime orchestral surprises. It was a spotlight that reminded listeners how this orchestra can shine.

Then came the major challenge: Gustav Mahler’s monumental ‘Resurrection’ Symphony, a five-movement behemoth of a work, which uses chorus, soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists as part of the color and texture of the orchestra. A full 85 minutes long, Mahler’s work makes enormous emotional demands on both musicians and listeners ranging from the opening movement’s despair and chaos to the affirmation of the fifth movement. Those emotional demands grow out of serious musical challenges to which the orchestra rose magnificently.

What’s most challenging about Mahler are sudden cascades of sound, unusual dissonances, unexpected twists and turns of newly created orchestral colors. The English horn and bass clarinet duet in the first movement delighted listeners with its unique timbre.

Eileen Farrell and Karen Holvik, mezzo-soprano and soprano soloists respectively, offered perfectly nuanced and textured sounds to the stunning fifth movement, ending the symphony with a blazing finale, a wild pounding of timpani, cymbals, and full-throttle horns and strings. It brought a full-house audience to its feet in the spontaneous, extended outburst of appreciation and affection for the orchestra’s newly energized musicianship under conductor and music director Jason Weinberger.

Weinberger promises to take the WCFSO creatively and musically well into its next 75 years, and he and the orchestra deserve the entire Cedar Valley’s congratulations and thanks for a job extraordinarily well done.

The entire anniversary concert will be broadcast on Iowa Public Television at a later date.

Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.

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Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra music director
Louisville Orchestra resident conductor
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Soloists Yo-Yo Ma Matt Haimovitz Edgar Meyer Simone Dinnerstein David Shifrin Simone Dinnerstein Manuel Barrueco DBR Gao Hong Stewart Goodyear Tim Fain Tai Murray Orion Weiss Wolfgang David Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg Roger Chase Sean Botkin Genadi Zagor Zuill Bailey
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Previously

National Symphony Orchestra cover + education conductor
Baltimore School for the Arts orchestra program director + clarinet
University of Northern Iowa music history + clarinet

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Gustav Meier Leonard Slatkin Don Thulean Yehuda Gilad David Shifrin
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Photos by Noah Henscheid and O’Neil Arnold