Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesdav. November 3I 968
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
ITu e JcfrAIt 1Nckjv -mII Iul I d- 1j ' jR
i
records
Hark! New herald
'Angels
sell
By R. A. PERRY
Ah, the Christmas B e a s o n
creeps up upon us again! The
Sunday Times is getting thick-
er and PrettysBooks have begun
to fill Folletts. Record compan-
ies too have started to issue
their holiday gift-giving specials.
Angel, for instance, is promot-
ing three of their top artists,
each in a three-record set that
sells for the price of two. Two
of these sets - those which
feature Victoria De Los Angeles
and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau-
win approval; a third set star-
ring Yehudi Menuhin is more
questionable. The sets present
previously released material.
It may be unlikely that ad-
mirers of opera and art songs
would not already own some of
the De Los Angeles performanc-
es gathered on the new Angel
set, SCB-3728, yet obviously the
compilers of this anthology
have sought to avoid the too
familiar. One record which fea-
tures the Spanish singer in
opera, for instance, contains
arias from. Puccini's Suor An-
gelica, Verdi's Simon Boccane-
gra, and Catalani's La Wally, as
well as more familiar fare from
La Traviata and Mefistofele.
A second disc presents t h e
otherwise unavailable Cinco
Canciones Negra by Xavier
Montasalvage and four madri-
gals by Joaquin Rodrigo, b e s t
know for his guitar composi-
tions. On the flip side are Ray-
cinema
el's luxurious Sheherezade and
Two Hebrew Melodies. These
selections are all sung with the
subtly expressive phrasing and
tonal purity associated with De
Los Angeles artistry.
A third disc assembling tradi-
tional songs and lieder must be
subjected to light criticism.
Perhaps it seems captious, but in
some ways the Spanish singers'
voice has too much class, is too
cultured and refined for some
of the less serious songs she of-
fers in this part of her recital.
I prefer, for instance, even Joan
Baez's more waif-like Plaisir
d'amour. Certainly De Los An-
geles cannot approach the hu-
mor and flippancy, not to men-
tion the coloratura interest, that
Mado Robin brought to Delibes'
Les Filles de Cadiz.
Another minor criticism of
this disc: more space might have
been given to the singer's ac-
complishments in German lie-
der - only two Schubert songs
are offered - rather than to
further examples of anonymous
Spanish songs. In any case, for
those unfamiliar with De Los
Angeles' artistry, this anthology,
can only be a highly recom-
mended bargain.
Anyone with the least inter-
est in vocal music has to be
familiar with Dietrich Fischer-
Dieskau. The German baritone,
unquestionably the ablest lied
singer today, has recorded just
about every possible song cycle
written for male voice, as well
as almost every baritone opera
role. His voice too has been so
perfected in timbre and nuance
of tempo that he does, I feel,
sometimes miss a level of hu-
man involvement. For this rea-
son I prefer Hermann Prey's
performance of Schubert's
Schwanengesang to F is c he r-
Dieskau's; though the latter's is
"perfect" in every way, it does
not have the'power to move and
excite as does Prey.
Angel has packaged in the
three-records-for-two set (SCB-
3729) a representative selection
of the baritone's specialities,
though the modern repertoire
has unfortunately been avoided.
The best bands are those in
which the baritone exercises his
mastery of German art songs:
familiar Schubert (a very pow-
erful Der Doppelganger, three of
Schumann's Eichendorff songs,
and songs by Wolf and Strauss.
Another record is devoted to
Bach, two arias from Cantatas
8 and 73, as well as the com-
plete Cantata 158. Again, in the
Bach the singer's voice always
sounds felicitous, yet there is
an emotional blandness to his
performance that lowers the in-
tensity of his rendition. This is,
perhaps, a very personal judge-
ment, and perhaps can, in an
ironic way, be attributed to
overexposure of the singer's
sound.
A third record is devoted to
excellent performances of Verdi
and Wagner roles; also the Of-
fertorium from Faure's Requiem
receives an expressive reading.
Incidentally, the Angel complete
recording of this work, directed
by Andre Cluytens, is one of the
best available, except that the
sound has been made vastly
overreverberant.
A third set (Angel SCB 3727)
will interest only those people
just starting a record collection,
and to them some warnings
must be issued. This set features
the famed British violinist Ye-
hudi Menuhin as soloist, con-
ductor, and chamber music par-
ticipant.
As soloist, he performs the
Beethoven Violin Concerto in a
virtuosic manner that is not al-
ways firm in pitch. Less excit-
ingly tensile than Heifitz and
less graciously sweet than Gru-
miaux, Menuhin's able perform-
ance receives heavy and drag-
ging support from Otto Klemp-
erer's baton. The recorded sound
is harsh.
As for the Brahms Sextet Op.
18, I can only say that when
as magnificent a rendition as
the Casals/Prades Festival re-
cording exists (Columbia ML
4703), why look elsewhere? The
Menuhin ensemble performance
is not bad-warm, well-balanc-
ed, sympathetically phrased-
but they simple throw away so
many chances for expressive
searching that the power and
moving profundity of the Casals
performance becomes insipid
and simple-minded under Men-
uhin's group.
In the role of conductor, Men-
uhin leads a very rhythmically
interesting reading of the popu-
lar Water Music (complete) by
Handel. I must say that I pre-
fer a cleaner and leaner string
sound-as can be found in the
Boulez-led rendition on None-
such-but the Bath Festival Or-
chestra do deliver a dynamic
performance.'
poetry and prose
Titles in search
of a library
By MARCIA ABRAMSON
If you want to read Kurt Vonnegut or Jerry Kosinski, borrow
their books from your friends.
Not because the books are always out of the library. But because
most of them were never there in the first place.
I know, because I wrote a story about the writers-in-residence
and ended up feeling like a real arty philistine because I haven't
even read Cat's Cradle or The Painted Bird. (Sometimes I think I
have read Cat's Cradle because everyone I know assumes everyone
they know must have read Vonnegut by now.)
Anyway, I ambled over to the Undergraduate Library in search
of Vonnegut and Kosinski.
I looked in the card catalogue, but they weren't there.
I looked on the shelves, but they weren't there either.
So I went over to the Graduate Library, and finally found two
books by Vonnegut. But both of them were out, and neither one was
Cat's Cradle.
There were some Kosinskis in the card catalogue, but they all
seemed to be 19th century Polish physicists. I'm not sure because I
can't read Polish; it just seemed like they must be.
It was nice of the writer-in-residence program to sell the books
in the fishbowl, in paperback even, but as usual I didn't have any
money. Besides, I believe with all my heart in libraries.
So I called up Dr. Myron Wegman, director of all the University
libraries and told him my problem. He told me he didn't really have
any idea what I was talking about and suggested I call Mr. Stewart,
the assistant director.
Mr. Stewart told me he didn't really know either, and suggested
I try further down in the library bureaucracy by calling the lady who
runs acqu'isitions for the Graduate Library.
She kindly asked me to spell Kosinski and Vonnegut a few times,
and then finally got down to thelproblem.
First of all, it seems the University libraries had a policy of
avoiding anything remotely tinged with the stigma of science fiction
for a long time, so Vonnegut never made it. However, she said the
library people had finally changed their minds about science fiction
being not serious and unacceptable for the University's libraries. When
I told her about the writers-in-residence, she even said they'd buy
more Vonnegut. I didn't try to explain that Vonnegut only started
out in science fiction, which apparently is the library bar sinister.
Since The Painted Bird keeps winning all these distinguished
literary prizes, Kosinski was doing a little better. They apparently'
have a couple copies on order that might come in ;two or three weeks.
The grad library lady even asked me to send her some informa-
tion about Kosinski and Vonnegut so she could order some more
books. "I wish they'd let us know earlier," she said.
But the -lady at the UGLI acquisitions department wouldn't
commit herself. She said they had no books by either author, and
none on order. She did say she'd inform the proper channels of my
call, but she couldn't promise anything..
I resolved to call the writer-in-residence people and tell them
the whole problem. But they weren't home.
Not catalogued, not shelved
/
a film made by Frederic Rossif from documents of the Spanish
Civil. War-"Beautiful, unforgettable." Judith Crist, N.Y.H.T.
Shown Sun., Mon. Nov. 17-18
1 7 and 9, Aud. A Adm. $1-SDS
-Next-
BARBARELLA
NO 2-6264
A 'mod-Odyssey' in Technicolor,
From Yale.,
First a chart-topping hit record, now a full-length feature car-
toon: it's those Beatles again, cavorting their way to you in Disney-
land form.
R. H. Philipp, Owner
1031 E. Ann, near the hospitals
DELICIOUS SANDWICHES, SALADS, SOUPS
95c DAILY SPECIAL
Open Daily 11:00 a.m. 'til 6:00 p.m.
CLOSED SATURDAY and SUNDAY
* Imported Art Prints
" Portrait Posters of
Contemporary
Writers
Logo's Bookstore
611 Church St. 662-4563
F Coes:
SHOWS
AT
7:10 & 9:20
1-3-5
5th
WEEK
I
I
rsonren
United Artists is soon to present John, Paul, George and Ringo
in Yellow. Submarine, starring Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band, straight from-Pepperland.
United Artists wanted to base the whole thing on the three M
minute plot of Yellow Sub'marine, which mainly consists of repeat- p
ing the chorus a lot. t
But they had trouble getting a script written, so they called in an S
assistant classics- professor from Yale. He supplied all kinds of nifty S
A
ideas for what United Artists calls a "mod-Odyssey," with "imagery p
inspired by the mythical voyages of Greek and Roman adventurers, t
complete with weird monsters and strange places." f
The professor's ideas were so good that he ended up writing more
plays, movies and the like, including a musical with Richard Rogers H
and the screenplay for an upcoming Norman Jewison film. a
But, as the professor (his name is Erich Segal and United Ar- b
tists press releases tell you his father is Rabbi Segal) becomes more
and more famous (John once called him up at 3 a.m. and everything), s
he remains loyal to academia. Ar
"If I had to choose one life or 'the other it would be the univer- AD
D
sity," he says. act
Coming attractions
This week, the School of,
Music has several major events
planned. Today, at 12:30 p.m.,
here will be a presentation of
String Chamber Music in the
School of Music Recital Hall,
And tomorrow evening at 8:00
p.m. in Rackham Lecture Hall,
he Stanley Quartet will per-
orm.
Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in
Hill Aud., the annual Bandor-
ama program will be conducted
y Dr. William Revelli.
Second class postage paid at Ann
bor, Michigan, 420 Maynard St.. Ann
bor, Michigan, 48104.
Daily except Monday during regular
ademic school year.
-1 W- North Campus Committee with --
the Endorsement of I HA and Bursley Council
presents
FADING FALL
a candlelight dinner dance
with the
JOHN HIGGINS QUINTET
11
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11
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November 22, 1968
Tickets: $8.00
6-11 p.m.
at UAC-Union offices
North Campus Commons
t
Ae
MWAPFA
Wednesday & Thursday
4:10 P.M.
DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH
STUDENT LABORATORY THEATRE
presents
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT
by Joel Oppenheimer
and
PIGEONS
by Lawrence Osgood
Subscribe TO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Phone 764-0558
DOUBLE FEATURE-TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
November 13th & 14th
Arena Theatre, Frieze Building
Admission Free
'k,
* W, Dial 8-6416
o Ends
Wednesday
Ii h
AUGIWF
UE
Jp GQIs ~ I 11
ANNE BANCROFT star of "THE GRADUATE"
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER--Best actress of
the year for "The Miracle Worker"
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--THURSDAY-
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"VRY MUHIN THETRDIT ffEW WAVEWE=
"DaiCIQUSY WACKY STORY ...THE AUIENE ATE T I?..
"AN INVENTIVE COMEDY ...WITH FRESH, DECEPTIVE SIM.
PLICITY THAT MAKIES ITA RIP TO WATC1." ;;,'+^
6'"''dp
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'NAZARINisoneof the great 'More Bunueal than
"i'mlafnu"'c - 'BELLE DE JOUR'"
sic. An exceptionalafilm to
savor more than once."also lassic short
LuISBUNUEL'S _ "Tuir AmnAI IlelAi nnf_'y
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