Boom-boom pow?

They do rock concerts now?

....So goes the headline in Monday's Des Moines Register announcing the upcoming season (its 75th by the way) of that city's Symphony.  The blog's author, Michael Morain, is listed as an "arts reporter" but, judging by the content of several of his reviews, my suspicion is that his training may be in the "perspiring arts."

Boom-boom pow.  What the hell does that mean?  Executive Director Richard Early mentions that, “We haven’t had a season with so many blockbusters for some time."  OK, I might buy that (depending on the definition of "blockbuster") but where is the book-boom pow?

Here's the season line-up for 2012-13:

September:  Scheherazade and "Nomade"
  Korngold:  Overture to Captain Blood
  Wagner:  Preludes to Act I and II, Lohengrin
  Steve Heitzig:  World Premiere
  Rimsky-Korsakov:  Sheherazade

I'm all for trotting out some "real" film music; Korngold isn't heard enough--anywhere.  But who/what the hell (I seem to be using that word a great deal) is "Nomade" (and I've tried to look it up!)

October:  Symphonie Fantastique
  Dukas:  Sorcerer's Apprentice
  Bruch:  Violin Concerto No. 1
  Berlioz:  Symphonie Fantastique

Well, this one will succeed in putting butts in the seats, but what's new?  Program notes will undoubtedly refer to Mickey Mouse, Fantasia, and a general rehashing of the Berlioz's opiate-induced program for S F.

December: Liszt and the Italian
  Humperdinck:  Music from Hansel and Gretel
  Liszt:  Piano Concerto No. 2
  Mendelssohn:  Symphony No. 3, Italian
  Liszt:  Piano Concerto No. 1

The only thing that I could imagine that's worse than a program including one Liszt concerto would be this one.  I'm trying to figure out the logical connection between the concertos and the other pieces.  Quite frankly, I'm baffled.

February:  Nadja Plays Mendelssohn
  Wagner:  Music from Die Meistersinger
  Mendelssohn:  Violin Concerto
  Franck:  Symphonie in d-minor

They really need to send out more Wagner?  And Nadja (as in Solerno-Sonnenburg) has long-championed the Barber concerto.  Granted, this is the dead of winter in Iowa and the "snow birds" have yet to return so this is a sure-fire winner.  (Personally, the Franck is an underperformed masterwork, probably because--at the one--it was an over-performed masterwork.)

March:  Beyond the Score--Tchaikovsky 4
  You got it: one piece.

Apparently the Des Moines band is working "in cooperation with the Chicago Symphony."  I don't know what that means other than the CSO is coming up with the creative material and the DMSO is copying it?  Oh well, another barn-burner....

April:  Carmina Burana--Celebrating All things Drake
  Brahms:  Academic Festival Overture
  Krommer:  Concerto for Two Clarinets
  Orff:  Carmina Burana

Maybe this is the boom-boom.  If you've heard Carmina Burana once (or had the "pleasure" of singing it) you've gotten everything you're ever going to get out of this bombast.  I just tire of constant retreading of three-strophe poems (with no change in orchestration or texture).  Snore.  And again, how does Brahms or poor Franz Krommer fit with this?  I'm sorry; I hate concerts that don't make sense.  This one was drawn from a hat.

May:  Grieg Piano Concerto and Mahler 5

Guess what's on this program?  Well, Finlandia has been tossed into the mix to make for a Scandinavian first course followed by a lone Teutonic entree.  I would have striven to put together a less nonsensical program and thrown a Sibelius symphony on the second half.  Of course, Mahler 5 is hard; Finlandia is not (I've performed it with youth orchestras).  Could be a challenge to pull it all off.

They've even put together a season video on YouTube.  Listen and weep:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lECp6uH-7ns

And, lest I forget, there are also:

Yankee Doodle Pops, on the State Capitol grounds

New Year's Eve Pops, Music of the Beatles (and they have what to do with New Year's?

Here's a piece from the maestro's biography: "Guinta has the the Music Director of the Des Moines Symphony for twenty-three years and is currently riding the crest of the most successful era in the Orchestra's rich history.  He has transformed the Orchestra into one of the finest regional orchestras in America."

Nowhere does it mention his 17-year stint "up the road" as MD of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, an orchestra that practically worshiped the guy and went through several searches and at least three failed directorships to replace him.  They're deserving of much better...
 
I must be in an Andy Rooney kind of mood.  And I still have no clue was boom-boom pow means...