7:30 pm, Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls
Haydn – Symphony no. 56
Satie – Parade
Shostakovich – Symphony no. 5
Download Shostakovich [73mb]
Related post – Shostakovich redux [audio]
Orchestra’s performance one of Weinberger’s best
by George F. Day
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
March 11, 2007
The March concert of the current Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony series took place on March 3 in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Jason Weinberger, music director, led the ensemble in a program that was challenging for the orchesrta and exciting and educational for the audience.
The program featured three works, each representing a different aspect of the evening’s theme, 'The Dance of Politics and Art’ – a symphony by Joseph Haydn, ballet music by Erik Satie and a symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The first two works were expertly performed by the WCFSO, but the Shostakovich is such a gigantic work and is so historically important that it deserves a detailed discussion.
Too often I employ superlatives when describing a WCFSO concert. But surely there can be no doubt that this performance of the Fifth was one of the greatest triumphs of the orchestra under Weinberger’s direction.
There was an air of expectancy, and the audience seemed to concentrate on and absorb the power of the music, not just listen to it. The response in Cedar Falls, like that reported from the 1937 premiere in Leningrad, was a mighty outpouring of approval. It should be noted that a certain reviewer – not ordinarily a big fan of 20th century symphonies – was on his feet shouting as loud as he could, ‘Bravo, Bravo!’
At the final curtain call [there were many] Maestro Weinberger dramatically held the score of Shostakovich’s symphony over his head in a fine symbolic tribute to the composer. The maestro himself and the players deserved similar homage.
Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.