7:30 pm, Great Hall, GBPAC, Cedar Falls
Metropolitan Chorale & Wartburg College Choir, Paul Torkelson, director
John Hines & Rosemary Gast, vocalists
Strauss – Metamorphosen
Brahms – Ein deutches Requiem
Download Strauss [49mb]
Download Brahms [118mb]
Related post – Shadow of Schumann [audio]
'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.