Page Two WerinPSrinv nrtnhPr ) T gFR THE MIC HI AN DAILY THE MiCHIGAN DAILY yr C-.' '..j 7eU~ , V'..De..I'.'LI i records Angel's Victoria and Victoria's Spanish songs By R. A. PERRY The Angels love Victoria de Los Angeles, for whenever the Spanish soprano decides to bequeath us another of her progra- matically interesting and vocally sumptuous recitals, the producers at Angel records box the presentation in the most luxurious man- Der. With her new "Songs of Andalusia" (SFSL-36468), comes a thick booklet notable not only for its tipped-in color plates but also for its full historical and musical annotations by Jose Lamana. Senor Lamana is Director of the Ars Musicae, a group of Spanish musicians who accompany Miss de Los Angeles on original Ren- aissance instruments such as rottas, rebecs, krummhorns, sackbuts, sordunes, and finger cymbals. They provide a sympathetic and aurally fascinating backdrop to the soprano's renditions of songs that stem from the Moorish, Sephardic, and Christian inhabitation of Spain during.-the 13th to 18th centuries. In the Sephardic songs, one is hard pressed to discover qual- ities separate from the Moorish songs which follow, and' indeed the Hispanic Jews thoroughly adapted Moorish and Spanish forms and flavor; Jewish musicians (those irrepressible artists) were of- ten found playing in Christian churches until decrees forbade it. Sephardic communities in Aragon and Castile had forgotten He- b1"ew and read their holy books in Spanish. Their songs are espec- ially fascinating for this melange of influences. Whimsical "villancicos" (carols) and somewhat graver "ro- mances" stem from anonymous popular poems of chivalry and were codified in a Palace Song-book in the late fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century, the vihuelo de mano - a cross between lute and viol - was especially popular and writers for the instrument transcribed polyphonic works of their time for the voice and vi- huela accompaniment. Miss de Los Angeles and the Ars Musicae have indeed performed a boon to the music lover by giving voice to- these long silent manuscripts. It has been written that Victoria de Los Angeles's voice no longer commands the perfect pitch and beauty it once had; on the evidence of this recital of Andalusian songs, I can only say that if deterioration has begun,- it is not apparent here. Her voice may not be as free as before; that is, it may require more conscious control, but this great soprano still can float long lyric lines and shade phrases- with the most subtle artistry. Her upper registers remain pure as well. Angel has scored a record triumph on all counts except one, and that debit involves the engineering of sound. The microphone is far too close to the singer, and whenever she reaches even a mezzo-forte, the sound distorts, not greatly, but enough to make one wince. The quality of sound, unusual for Angel, really should be considered before purchasing this treasure of Spanish songs. From across the world comes another premiere recording: the Violin Concerto No. 2 of Dmitri Shostakovitch. Shostakovitch had run afoul of Russia's artistic censors many times, and in this pres- ent work, written in 1967, he seems to have tried to offend no one. I have listened to the work six times since receiving the disc and still can not decide whether the concerto is beautiful or boring. Not much happens in the piece. Against a somner orchestral curtain of sound (shorn of all winds except ]French horns) the vio- lin moves quietly, like a leaf on a still pond, for two, movements. In the first movement the violin part consists of shorter motifs, and the singing quality of the instrument only truly arrives in the noc- turnal second movement. In the rondo of the third movement some action and synamic variation are heard, but such efforts are mini- Mal. Each movement contains a cadenza, that of the third move- ment being the most developed but still, to my ears, of meager mu- sical content or even virtuosic interest.t David Oistrakh certainly elicits every shade of feeling to be found in the violin part, but variation in color is quite slight. This is a, work that undoubtedly does not reveal its complete bounty im- mediately, but just how rich its bounty is only time will tell. A fair performance of the composer's Sixth Symphony completes the record and the Melodiya/Angel sound is excellent.,(SR-40064) * * * Organ fanciers will be pleased to note that a new recording of Widor's Organ Symphony No. 5 has arisen to replace the aging Westminster disc. This is the mad, rambling, romatic, infuriating, boring, beautiful, inspired, and silly piece that includes that famous Toccata wedding recessional (Lynda Bird used it, no less) and tech- nical hurdle for aspiring organists. Richard Ellsasser plays the gargantuan organ at the Hammond Museum in Gloucester, Mass., an instrument so big (10,000 pipes!) that certain registers sound miles off; this does lend itself to mar- velously exciting swell effects. Ellsasser tackles the Toccata slower SGC threatens sit-in over Newell incorporation delay. (Continued from Page ' poiration proposal is different from the wrong papers." the vice presi- the one the Regents considered in dent said. April, Mrs. Newell had requested more,. M-s. Newell doesn't understand information on the incorporation anything about our incorporation proposal when she refused to re- proposal," Koeneke charged. "s lease the SGC appropriation, vice president for student affairs Council members said they gave she has neglected her duty to keep her a brief explaining incorpora- informed on this matter." tion at a meeting last Friday.-_ The controversy began last week ' when Mrs. Newell blocked Coun- Elections topic cil's appropriation to form SGC to c Inc. Formation of the corporation is a key step in Council plans for of ADAfa le it n n a financial flexibility and financial ''A J G ~ t independence from University con- (Continued from Page 1) "Mrs. Newell is making a gross ation, Dr. Edward Pierce, a form- mistake," said SGC president er co-chairman of the local Citi- Michael Koeneke after yesterday's zens for McCarthy group, sug- meeting. "The administration has gested liberals vote for neither of neve usd ths m tho to eto our th°' three presidential candidates. never used this method to veto our"I'm going to stick a McCarthy programs. She's violating this good sticker on my ballot," Pierce said. faith agreement." "The national Democratic p a r t y Under a Regental bylaw, the stinks," he added. vice president for student affair Pierce denounced the Vietnam may veto SGC legislation.r-keesw- war and American foreign policy ever, SGC "broke ties" with the in general. "We act arrogantly. We Office of Student Affairs in 1968 have got to stop. The war, must and has since then refused to end." recognized this veto power. "I am disillusioned with Amer- In discussions on incorporation ica," Pierce added. Mrs. Newell has constanttly re- He compared support for Hum- ferred to the adverse reaction the phrey in 1968 to the liberal back- Regents had to SGC's proposal last ing President Johnson received April. in 1964. "If we in this room had However, SGC Executive vice refused to go along with that then president Robert Neff said yes- maybe we wouldn't be in this war terday' that the current incor- four, years later," Pierce reasoned. From the enclosed booklet than does Biggs on his French organ music record (Biggs is, to use an apt phrase, out of sight) and he is less accurate in his timing, but in general he presents an excellent performance of this musical curio. It is all captured in full, bass-rich sound by the Nonesuch engineers (H-71210) and presented at a bargain price. V Arlo is good, Arlo is bad, Arlo is confusing M By LITTLE SHERRI FUNN Motorsickle Expert r Arlo Guthrie is worth getting mad at. He's just released his second album, Arlo (RS 6299), and it's at once more disappointing. than Alice's Restaurant, more mad- dening than Alice's- Restaurant and better than Alice's Restau- rant. But before we get to that, let's back up a minute. I ,imagine that I would like very much for Arlo Guthrie to move in next door to me. He's a gentle, almost sweet kind of, guy if you have ever met him, and I'm sure he'd have some- thing funny to say to me as we went down to our respective mailboxes in the morning. He'd be witty, occasionally subtle, and once in a great while a genius of a neighbor, which incidentially is also the story of his album. Alice's Restaurant w a s n't much of an album. The Cosby- esque title song involves the kind of comedy that is quite boring after two listenings. I suppose that a fanatic Arlo fan could argue that Guthrie's essential honesty and gentleness are never boring and I can see that point, but "Alice's Restaurant's Mas- sacre" is just too damn long and thin to waste time on after you know enough to recite at par- ties. The rest of his initial album was taken up with infinitely. mediocre songs. The two possible exceptions were "Chilling of the Evening," which featured Arlo's best use of sidemen on an album characterized by lousy use of sidemen, and "The Motorcycle Song." The latter was a plea- sant ditty along the melodic lines of "Massacre," but backed up and ruined by the most ob- noxious electric guitar ever rec- orded. As a whole then, Alice's Restaurant definitely showed us that the young fellow had talent, that he was capable of an oc- casional worthwhile song, and that he had a good voice, maybe even a great voice. But what it also showed us is that Arlo was not ready to make an album. He has not grown mature enough artistical- ly to realize when to stop ar- ranging or when not to thrust his -own material. But I decided to give his sec- ond album a real chance because I detected in Arlo, both live and on record, a valid talent, a ta- lent that we should reckon with. And that's why Arlo is such a disappointment. I have ap- parently expected too much from him. This latest album is certainly superior to his first in all ways, but that doesn't seem to mean very much. Gone is the silly kid with the napkin, and here is the reflective young man squashing a cop for peace, tninking about what it all means, and asking for "the strength to go on." "The Motorcycle Song" that was mentioned earlier was sal- vaged from the , first album, added to a monologue of "Mas- sacre" nature, and used to kick off the second. It is a nice song to sing to yourself while you walk -down the street, but as in "Massacre" that's about it (what makes it anything' at all is "I don't want to die"). Again, the for- mat is pleasant, but still a little too thin to sustain a long last- ing humorous effect. Guthrie includes another talk- song-ditty at the close of the albumy called "The Pause of Mr. Clause" which he has used in ayor John Lindsay and ;ressman Mary Esch' LK ABOUT THE ISSUES and FBI a little tiresome, it too can be amusing. The rest of the album is Arlo Guthrie singing, and that's what he should stick to because he can be brilliant. He makes ° a strong case for his singing of-other people's ma- terial, something he does far too infrequently, with his rendition of Ernest Tubb's "Try Me One More Time," which is fantastic and the only non-original tune on the record. He captures a great deal of Tubb's country fla-_ vor on the song, with a back-up piano that is delightfully pure Nashville. (Also, if you can, dig up Tubb's original "Walkin' the Floor Over You" which is on some obscure country collection and check out how much Arlo sounds like the young Tubb.) It seems that if Guthrie would choose his album material more carefully, leave out some of his own stuff aritd do other people's, he could put out a great album. That's part of the reason why he is so maddening. We get the ssnse that he could do so worthy of note are "Wouldn't You Believe it" and "Medita- tion (Wave upon Wave)." The former is a tight, well-conceiv- ed song which, to an extent, shows that Arlo can indeed write in a mature fashion. "Meditation" may not stand up over a long period of time, but the memory I have of him weaving this song at Newport last summer is too strong, and I have to say I love it. It should" be listened to when you feel in- nocent., And, unfortunately, that's about it. The rest of the songs are in the Restaurant bag and forgettable. So Arlo's come farther down the road. He's learned not to overuse his sidemen, live, 'any- way, and he's learning more and more about subtlety. He has yet, however, to discover the material that he is at home with CO and that is a tragedy. As I said before, he-has been recorded too early in his career. He should have had more time TAI to kick around as an unknown, sorting out what' was his and what wasn't, and learning a lit- tle more about the kind of slobs who really are policemen and FBI creeps. Maybe then he could have developed a little more depth. FRIDA But he is progressing and that's valuable. And he's worth getting mad at because he is not going fast enough and when he does he will be brilliant.} Now all we can do is wait for his third album and hope it is what we know he can do. Be- cause when he gets it -all to- gether, we're going to need him. hor 4 * kY, OCT. 25 , 2:30 P.M. Arborland Parking Lot FREE BUSES FROM THE UNION AND MOSHER-2:15 P.M. If g GET HIGH FOR his club act for quite some time much better if he would only use and, although I sometimes find his head. his overkill regarding the cops Two other cuts on the album "'' - --m-m-- mm m-m m m----rm m m- .- m . -m ---m -.m m m OMEGA PIZZAc Ia * FREE HEATED DELIVERY r , I40c OFF on any large or medium pizza U - WITH THIS COUPON-- s * Good to Oct. 26 C .7 ,69-3400 m ~M- ~ - -- ~--~ --~ -m-m---m--- -m-m- HOMECOMI NGI FREE HOMECOMING BALLOONS on the Diag TODAY"E HOMECOMING 1968 SCHEDULE. I k --I- Arlo I HELD OVER 'w'141DtV Shows at 1-3-5-7-9 P.M. vq CINEMA I1 Cincinnati Kid STEVE McQUEEN Dir. Norman Jewison ("IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT") Fri.-Sat.-Oct. 25-26 Program information - 5-6290 HIGHEST RATING! {AN ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT!" - N.Y. Daily News 0 the PAUL NEWMAN pr o fic rachel. __ che ,W L6*~ u 'I~ M FOR~ Nu1coLorOREINs.sEVI WSIW Thursday, October 24 12:00-5:00 P.M.-ALUMNI REGISTRATION Alumni Association Office, Michigan Union 8:30 P.M.-DIONNE WARWICK WITH SCOOPEY MITCHELL in concert University Events Building Crowning 'of Homecoming Queen Friday, October 25 12:00-5:00 P.M.-ALUMNI REGISTRATION Alumni Association Office, Michigan Union 3:20 P.M.-PARADE 7:15 P.M.-PEP RALLY PROCESSION South University at Walnut to Baseball Field 7:45 P.M.-PEP RALLY at Baseball Field 9:00 P.M.-;DANCE featuring The Byzantine 'Empire and The Fox IM Building Saturday, October 26 8:00 A.M.-JUDGING OF HOMECOMING DISPLAYS 9:00-12:00 A.M.-ALUMNI REGISTRATION Alumni Association Office, Michigan Urion 9:15 A.M.-TUGE-OF-WAR Island Park 9:30 A.M.-LACROSSE with Notre Dame at Ferry Field 10:00 A.M.-MUD BOWL Sigma Alpha Epsilon House 11:00 A.M.-CHARIOT RACE Diag 1:30 P.M.-HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME Michigan vs. Minnesota 4:00-6:30 P.M.-ALUMNI RECEPTION Honoring Dr. Hazel Losh Alumni Assembly Hall, Michigan Union After the Game-RUGBY-Notre Dame - 4:30 P.M.-LITTLE LeMANS Phi Kappa Psi House Extraordinaireoci 8:30 P.M.-BILL COSBY WITH THE PAIR ETRAORDINAIRE in concert University Events Building .1 AW] 't. I Next: "BARBARELLA" I' 'I I -Aud. A id req I NATIONAL GENERAL. CORPORATION FOX EASTERN THEATRES 2 FH VILIBGE 375 No. MAPLE RD.-769-1300 HELD OVER MON.-FRI.-7:15-9:15 SAT.-3:15-5:15-7:15-9:15 SUN.-1 :15-3:15-5:15- 7:15-9:15 fPTER SEIES MN LIUE Vii flmmru E bsim=" 1 BELLE JOUR with CATHERINE DENEUVE * Thursday * T RUMPHANT All the detalsf1 were.. , iii NO 2-6264 I TICKETS FOR BOTH CONCERTS are still available Busses will be provided from North Campus to the University Events Building for both concerts kI l it I. - - '" -nrir t ...t ,x I