The 2016 Huey's (Part 3): Madison Symphony and Orchestra Iowa

Madison Symphony (History)

Though the history of the Madison Civic Symphony, later the Madison Symphony Orchestra, officially begins in 1926, the roots of the organization extend a few years earlier In the spring of 1920, the University of Wisconsin Music School, the Madison Women's Club, and other groups were involved in the formation of the Madison Music Committee, a group that included some twenty members. On August 6, 1926, they officially named Dr. Sigfrid Prager as conductor of the Civic Orchestra.  The orchestra's inaugural season, 1926-27, was such a success and the MCMA expanded its activities in the next season to include a newly-created Madison Civic Chorus. The MCMA eventually established a partnership with (now) Madison College, providing a salary for the conductor as well as office and storage space. He was succeeded (actually hand-picked by Prager) by cellist/conductor Walter Heermann. While continually lobbying for a new concert-space, the ensemble continued to perform in the Central High School (now Madison College) Auditorium. Heermann would lead the orchestra into the professional ranks, assuring that all players were paid by the end of the 1950s.

Heermann was followed by Roland Johnson, who would lead the orchestra for 33 seasons. With the expansion of the UW School of Music, faculty members held principal positions in the orchestra. The orchestra gave first performances of works by Lee Hoiby, Robert Crane, Stephen Chatman, Alec Wilder, Gunnar Johansen, John Harbison, Crawford Gates, and Michael Torke. Johnson also brought staged opera back to the community, while his Johnson's concerts were held at the Masonic Temple until the completion of the Madison Civic Center in 1980. John DeMain, then Director of the Houston Grand Opera, was engaged as Johnson's replacement in 1994. The ensemble inaugurated its new home, the Overture Center, in 2004.

Prager's 1948 farewell, UW-Madison Stock Pavilion

The Overture Center stage

2016-17 Season

September:

George Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1
John Corigliano: Chaconne from The Red Violin
Gustav Holst: The Planets

I have a problem with programs that don't seem to make any sense, i.e. pieces just tossed together. Enescu is a grossly underplayed composer, although the first Romanian Rhapsody is probably his most popular work.

Scoring: format: -5; -2 for lack of originality.  Total: 13.

October:

Edward Elgar: In the South (Alassio)
Max Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1
Henning Kraggerud: Three Postludes from Equinox
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale)

A little-known Elgar and one of the warhorses of the violin repertoire. Violinist Kraggerud's Equinox is that composer's homage to the Well-Tempered Clavier.  According to his website, "the postludes are by turn joyful, mournful, effervescent and heart-wrenching." (Um...why not play all four?) Do these relate well to Beethoven's Pastorale? I don't know.

Scoring: format: -5; contemporary work: +3. Total: 18 

November

Claude Debussy: Le Printemps
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

Shosty 5: a guaranteed "standing O". In total, however, ugh. Again, a program which doesn't seem to add up to the sum of its parts.

Scoring: 10

January:

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

A Chicago Symphony "Beyond the Score" presentation; many orchestras are jumping on this bandwagon but now, the CSO is abandoning the project. And Scheherazade? I'd love a look inside a less-known work.

Scoring: 10

February:

Samuel Barber: Second Essay
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 (The Egyptian)
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

What I can say about this concert is that Saint-Saëns's fifth concerto (who knew he wrote that many) should be well worth hearing, especially with pianist Stephen Hough. The Pathétique? How many times must it be marched out?

Scoring: Format -5; repertoire -2 (although a composer of the "canon", the full deduction was not made due to the inclusion of the Saint-Saëns.) Total: 13

March:


Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont Overture

Johann Hummel: Trumpet Concerto
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony

In a program titled "Peak Performance", the orchestra will be led by frequent guest conductor Carl St. Clair. The orchestra always plays at a higher level (especially the strings) when he is in town and, although this program is "typical" in format, he will do wonders with the Strauss.

Scoring: Format: -5; Rep: -2 (while all three composers are--or should be--well-known, the Alpine Symphony ups the rest. Total: 13.

April:

Robert Schumann: Manfred Overture
Witold Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra*
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3

This concert is called "Colossal Piano", so it's obvious that Lutosławski is taking a back seat to Rachmaninov. Alas.....but at least he's being played.

Scoring: format -5; Lutosławski +3; Total: 18.

May:

Charles Stanford: Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra
Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem

One can almost hear the wheels turning in the music director's head: what shall I program with the Brahms Requiem (which clocks in at little more than an hour)? A Charles Villiers Stanford organ work! That adds a whole eight minutes to the show. Why bother, OR maybe offer Brahms's solo organ works? Here's what he wrote:

Prelude and Fugue in G Minor
Fugue in A Flat Minor
Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122
Chorale Prelude and Fugue on
O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid ("O Heartbreak, O Sadness"): this would be a logical pairing and it is eight minutes long.
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor

Scoring: 10, just because my "gast" is getting "flabbered"!

Total score: 105

Divisor: 8

Aggregate: 13.125

Orchestra Iowa

(History)

Orchestra Iowa began as the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra. Its first concert was held on April 13, 1921, in the Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College. By 1928 the orchestra was playing its concerts at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. They continued playing during the Great Depression and World War II. It was not until the 1950s that the orchestra had a paid music director and began to pay the musicians. A string quartet was established in the 1970s. By 1980 the orchestra moved to its current location at the Paramount Theatre. (Ed. note: the "Orchestra Iowa" moniker appeared following the floods of 2008 that inundated much of downtown Cedar Rapids and the Paramount Theater.)

Music Directors:

• Joseph H. Kitchen (1923–1952)
• Henry Denecke (1952–1970)
• Richard Williams (1970–1981)
• Christian Tiemeyer (1981–2006)
• Timothy Hankewich (2006–present)

Veteran's Memorial Coliseum (pre-flood)

Paramount Theater (post flood--returned to its original splendor)

2016-17 Season:

October:

            Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, “The Italian”
            Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major, K. 495 Andy Harris, horn
            Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”

Two symphonies? Really? Yeah, Mendelssohn is short, like an overture
Scoring: Format -5; Rep: -5 Aggregate: 10

November:

            Janacek: Moravian Dances
            Mozart: Symphony No. 38, “Prague”
            Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

Again....two symphonies! Kudos for user-friendly Janacek, but really? I get all the Czech connections, but play 6 (too little known) or 7 (possibly the best of the bunch).
Scoring: Format -5; Rep: +2 (for Janacek); Aggregate: 18

January:

            Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain (Symphony No. 2), Op. 132
            Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14 Dawn Gingrich, violin
            Ives: The Unanswered Question
            Hanson: Symphony No. 2, “Romantic”

Again--TWO SYMPHONIES! But a big plus--the program is all-American, even if it's very user-friendly. Ives should open the show, especially within the spatial palace of the Paramount.
Scoring: -3 points for a lack of originality. Aggregate: 17

March:

            Ellington: Three Black Kings
            Sally Beamish: (Scotland) Under the Wing of the Rock: Saxophone Concerto No. 2 
            Branford Marsalis, saxophone
            John Williams: Escapades Branford Marsalis, saxophone
            Aaron Copland: Symphony No. 3

Ellington tone-poem: great! Sally Beamish's work is originally for viola but rescored specifically for Branford Marsalis. John Williams Escapades? It's film music, from "Catch Me If You Can." Copland 3? One of America's great symphonies.
Scoring: -1 for Williams. Aggregate: 19

May:

            PROKOFIEV Lieutenant Kije Suite
            LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major Andreas Klein, piano
            RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade

Warhorses all. Liszt wrote two concertos for piano although we wouldn't know it. Scheherazade is the most overplayed of Rimsky-Korsakov's "big three" (he wrote a slew of operas by the way).
Scoring: Easy--10.

June:

            Bach: Mass in B Minor 

In a concert entitled "Epic Bach", we'll have a big hall, a big chorus, and probably a big orchestra. I've become a purist (does that make me a snob?) about Johann Sebastian's works. Of course, the piece was never presented (note I did not say "performed") in his lifetime as he barely finished it before his death.
How do I score this? With a smaller venue and reduced forces, I'd be all over it. As it is: 10

Total: 84
Divisor: 6
Aggregate: 14

Up next, our final two orchestras: QC and WCF. Smith vs Weinberger. Stay tuned.