“Storytelling through image-evoking yet wordless music is the theme of the Missoula Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-19 season,” writes Cory Walsh in Thursday’s (9/20) Missoulian (MT). The orchestra’s season-opening concert on September 29 will feature Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, “in which the narrator Scheherazade spins tales [and] ‘The entire musical structure is created to support this narrative,’ says Music Director Darko Butorac.” On an April concert with a theme of the American West and Missoula composers, “The featured work is Symphony No. 4 by David Maslanka, who died last year at age 83. While he called Missoula home, his compositions, especially those for wind ensemble, are performed around the world…. This symphony was originally written for wind ensemble, and the MSO commissioned a reworking for orchestra. [The program will also include] the first movement of the fourth symphony by Donald Johnston, a late professor from the University of Montana; and ‘Last Best Place,’ a short work that Scott Billadeau wrote for a PBS special of the same name.’ ” Elsewhere during the season, the orchestra will perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, with soloist Stewart Goodyear; Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances; holiday and family concerts in December and January, respectively; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Missoula Symphony Chorale.
Posted September 27, 2018
