Music of the Americas → Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony
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
View all posts related to this concert
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.
