REVIEW: Orchestra Iowa opens season in blaze of glory

CEDAR RAPIDS — Each piece on Orchestra Iowa’s centennial season opener Saturday night and Sunday afternoon could stand alone as a concert standout. But when you put them together on one program, stand back and get ready for an epic explosion of energy.

From the thundering timpani cadenza on the world premiere of Jerry Owen’s majestic “Towering Oaks,” through Tchaikovsky’s thrilling, yet musically treacherous Concerto in D Major, ending with Bartok’s breathtaking Concerto for Orchestra, all of the personnel onstage and behind the scenes had to feel like they had just run the Boston Marathon — uphill both ways.

In my 40 years living and working in Cedar Rapids, I’ve never heard anything more virtuosic than world-renowned guest star Cho-Liang Lin’s blazing yet tender artistry on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. A Juilliard faculty member, the Grammy-nominated Lin has performed with the world’s major orchestras, and now, with Orchestra Iowa.

What a mind-blowing way to ignite the candles for a yearlong celebration of 100 years of symphonic music. Who could imagine in 1923 that the fledgling Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra would survive the Depression, wars, floods, recessions and a devastating inland hurricane, to evolve into the grandeur of Orchestra Iowa, a name adopted in 2008 after losing its home in the flood-ravaged Paramount Theatre forced the ensemble to seek other ways to share its artistry.

Orchestra Iowa returned to the renovated 1928 showplace in 2012, but its outreach mission continues, reflected in the “Cultural Crossroads” pairing that opened Saturday night at the Paramount and Sunday afternoon at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. With nods to orchestral music past, present and future, it was especially satisfying to see so many young people in Saturday night’s audience.

‘Towering Oaks’

In 2020, Orchestra Iowa commissioned Owen, a Cedar Rapids treasure, to write a piece for the centennial season, and he rose as tall as the towering Black Oaks of Wanatee Creek, the White Oaks at his Indian Hill Road home in southeast Cedar Rapids, and the Red Oaks of Bever Wood, in the three-movement, 12-minute overture.

In his program notes, Owen stated: “Surely, this Orchestra, having survived a tumultuous century, stands as tall as any among the resilient and splendid giants of the forest — a metaphor for fortitude and beauty.”

That metaphor reverberated through the “sound towers” he created, each of which soared on its own, then wrapped around each other, entwining the sound as its branches reached for the sun and stars.

Beginning with the timpani cadenza and orchestral fanfare, the second movement was gentle and pleasing, laced with frills from delicate flute, harp and wind chimes, and a touch of spice from a shekere, a gourd-shaped percussion instrument covered with a beaded netting.

The work then gathered from its roots, shooting skyward in a triumphant crescendo, ending with a cascade of cheers and applause from the audience.

Violin Concerto

How very brave of Maestro Timothy Hankewich, Orchestra Iowa administration and musicians — as well as soloist Lin — to gift audiences with a piece once considered impossible to play. What a rare treat to hear such artistry on Corridor stages.

In the simplest of terms, Tchaikovsky’s 1878 Violin Concerto in D Major ebbs and flows through many musical moods. But nothing is simple about this piece, blazing with glory so exultant that Saturday night’s audience members leapt to their feet — with roaring applause and cheers — at the end of the first movement.

Lin graciously acknowledged the accolades, then with a sweet smile, said: “For an encore, we’d like to play the second and third movements.”

Orchestra and soloist perfectly captured not only the brilliant, full sounds, but also the passages so gentle in their fury, with impossibly high notes floating off Lin’s bow and from the pastoral flutes.

Ascending toward the finale, Lin handed the melody to the flutes, then went galloping through the orchestra, with just a hint of swagger, before retreating to soft sweetness from Lin and the woodwinds. All voices joined forces to build in intensity through the final moments of victory — which of course, unleashed, yet another resounding audience ovation.

Bartok concerto

Hankewich said he also wanted to present a piece in which everyone in the orchestra would be in solo spotlights. He chose well with Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, written in 1943 — 20 years after Joseph Kitchin founded the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra.

“We begin our future with this piece,” Hankewich told the audience, with a work reflecting not only Bartok’s Hungarian roots and folk traditions, but also irregular meters that send the tempo soaring on a wild ride.

It starts so quietly, like summer fireflies flitting through a garden of strings, before pairing off in instrumental couples to shine with the various melodies. All five movements were unified, yet distinct in flavor, allowing Hankewich to dance on the podium, with moments of sweeping gestures, countered by sharp, crisp cues or a simple wave of his right hand toward the bases.

And what a treat to hear bassoons, English horn, oboes, bass trombone and string basses in the spotlight.

The entire concert was a treat, from beginning to end, ushering in a celebration for the ages.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com