‘Whenever I have crossed the Pampa or have lived in it for a time, my spirit felt itself inundated by changing impressions, now joyful, now melancholy, some full of euphoria and others replete with a profound tranquility, produced by its limitless immensity and by the transformation that the countryside undergoes in the course of a day.’ Alberto Ginastera, on the Argentinian plains that inspired his ballet Estancia.
Has the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony played Holst's The Planets recently?
Funny you should ask, since our most recent event was the second in a series of amazing collaborations that began with our presentation of the Planets two seasons ago. These concerts have been insanely well-received and, based on the feedback, we are looking into the possibility of bringing back the Planets production for an encore live performance with an accompanying video release.
So, the programmer in me wants to know – would you come to a concert like this?
My good friend Genadi Zagor joined us at the WCFSO a few weeks ago for a scintillating rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, presented alongside a suite of indelible images created for the occasion by Gary Kelley. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our rehearsal and performance, from photographer Noah Henscheid. [View the set on Flickr.]
George Gershwin claimed that he conceived the ‘metropolitan madness’ of Rhapsody in Blue ‘on a train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang.’ That same raw rhythmic inspiration was at the heart of our recent period-orchestra rendition at the WCFSO with pianist Genadi Zagor. The image by Gary Kelley is one of a series commissioned for this concert and shown in a narrative video piece alongside the performance.
Click the arrow on the right side of the audio player to download. If you are reading this somewhere other than my site, here’s the permalink for audio and commenting.
A celebration of African-American music, featuring works by William Grant Still, Duke Ellington and J Dilla and art by Gary Kelley. Read a concert preview by Melody Parker of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
From Michael Morain’s Des Moines Register preview of tomorrow’s WCFSO concert:
Weinberger pointed out that the hip-hop tradition of borrowing, or sampling, ideas from other artists isn’t so different from what happened in the era of Beethoven or Brahms, and that’s what he finds so interesting.
‘I’m totally fascinated with influence in the artistic process, with the concept of creating sound from other sounds.’
