Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursrlnv_ 1nntnrv 11; 1 969.
,k- IetoTEMCIA AL
I, r r zouuyr u ,p,.yi v, 1 7U7
7<
poetry and prose
9
MARK'S COFFEE HOUSE
The Marxist ideologue-in-residence is a linguist
605 E. William
769-1593
By HENRY GRIX
Jerzy Kosinski is not only the
writer-in-residence, but the
Marxist analyst and sometimes
linguist as well.
At Canterbury House yester-
day noon, Kosinski Nand P r o f.
Arthur P.. Mendel of the history
department, exchanged disper-
ate Marxist views on the fate-
or doom-of the United States.
Explaining that "Marxist
ideology is oriented to the fu-
ture .more than the present,"
Kosinski echoed the classical.
Indu le
By R. A. PERRtY
For several years, record col-
lectors have looked upon Deut-
sche Grammophdn Gesellschaft
with special affection, for this.
German recording company not
only :has -under contract the
leading European artists and or-
chestras b u t it also presents
them with exemplary sound re-
produdtion. In an era when the
ideal is.to sell and not to serve
the public, D.G.G. has maintain-
ed the strictest quality control.
Therefore, when they announc-
ed that certain D.G.G. record-
ings were to. be reissued on the
budget label Heliodor line, an-
ticipations of true bargains ran
Recently. a ;number of Heliod-
or -discs were received for re-
view, and. t h e y should be of
special interest to the student
normally unable to indulge him-
self freely in the higher-priced
fare. Rather than mention only
one or two records in depth, I
would like to mention a number
of issues briefly, indicating ku-
dos or caveats as applicable.
Several standard "c o n c e r t
classics" are among the Heliod-
or catalog, including Beethov-
en's Seventh and Ninth Sym-
phonies, Dvorak's "New World"
Symphony, and Tchaikovsky's
Fourth. Symphony.
' The first three of the above
are conducted by the late Fere--
nc Friacsy, who died in .1963 at
the age of 48 after- a most active
and acclaimed career on various
major podiums in Berlin and
Munich. If Fricsay showed one
fault, it was his inclination to
underline every dramatic point
and :minor -climax in a manner
similar to the stylistic excess of
using too many exclamation
marks. Still, in the Dvorak (HS
25083) and. Beethoven =Op. 72
(.HS 25065) he molds -solid, ex-
pressive,. detailed,- and very ex-
citing performances aided by
that most excellent of orches-
tras, the Berlin Philharmonic.
In the Dvorak, which lacks only
the idiomatic pointedness that
Vaclav Talich brought to the
work, the string section of the
Berlin Philharmonic display a
unity of phrasing and tonal
Communist belief that the Uni-
ted States would emerge as a
"solitary power, more and more
hated."
As a result of the American
political isolation, Kosinski says,
hostile pressure rather than
peaceful internal revolution will
effect social change.
Internally, Kosinski said, "The
trend is not toward a leveling,
but toward greater division."
And this inner conflict combin-
ed with an increasingly war and
corporate oriented economy and
an increasingly unpopular in-
ternational politics, makes the
United States vulnerable to the
eventual rise of a greater mili-
tary and economic power.
Mendel found it "inconceiv-
able" that a more powerful
economic power might develop.
But he admitted that historical
precedent has not been for so-
cial change to be inspired from
inside America. "In crisis, Amer-
ica has tended to go right and
not left," he said.
However, he detected a subtle
social change in the present
generation of students, which
should eventually effect political
change. Although "blacks an d
students are not political in the
traditional nineteenth century
approach," the professor ex-
plained students constitute a
"new aristocracy that thinks of
society is mass terms."
The student aristocracy, struck
by, the "absurdities" of the cap-
italist system, is making the
"beginning of the leap to the
realm of freedom."
records
I
yourself,
for a pfennig
While Mendel optimistically
projected that the illogic of
the capitalist system "is import-
ant in creating an awareness of
its absurdity," Kosinski charged
"one can live a life time aware
of one's fate" but unwilling to
change it.
The writer's pessimism seem-
ed to win the audience, which
was seeking an appealing pro-
phet of doom.
But at his evening .discussion
on linguistics, Kosinski recap-
tured his image as the urbane
novelist about campus. Evading
politics and exploiting his vast
resources of anecdotes, Kosin-
ski probed his own dual charact-
er as Polish immigrant and
American author.
Together with Prof. Marvin
Felheim of the English depart-
ment and Prof. Ladislav Matej-
ka, of Slavic languages and lit-
erature, Kosinski discussed the
difficulties and rewards of writ-
ing in a "Step Mother Tongue."
Kosinski, who spoke no Eng-
lish until his immigration -In
1957 at the age of 24, explained
that writers are often "restrict-
ed by their mother tongue, by
its traditions." Indeed, because
of his frightening memories of
childhood in Poland, the writer
said he "couldn't have written
in Polish. In English, I am a
moderately brave man; in Po-
lish I am a trembling man," dis-
turbed even when a stranger
speaks Polish.
However, Kosinski said that
when writing 4a foreign lang-
uage "one loses spontaneity.
One cannot help being reminded
Whensin Southern California visit Universal City Studios
An unsurpassed cast in one
of the great plays of the ages..
Now on the screen!
this is not your own language,
be careful. When you are care-
ful, you write under control.
When you write under control,
you seek a controlled subject."
The writer expressed concern
about beginning his projected
novel in which the protagonist.
would be an American, a mem-
ber of a culture with which he
is not totally at ease.
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
from Toronto, Ontario
Thursday thru Saturday, Jan. 16-Jan. 18
Two Shows Nightly
8 and 10:00 P.M.
downstairs
SUBSCRIBE TO THE MICHIGAN DAILY
p .)
sheen seldom encountered in the
concert hall. The stereo sound
of both discs is rich, clear, and
undistorted.
In Beethoven's Ninth (HS-
25077), Fricsay disappoints. This
most difficult work - perhaps
because it is so familiar -
lacks the spark of spontaneity
to kindle its true energies; al-
though the adagio flows serene-
ly enough, the other movements
move heavily and with obvious
pre-meditation. The finale suf-
fers from the hooty soprano of
Irmgard Seefried, and the sound
of the t w o discs shows aged
muddiness. The performances of
Horenstein on Vox or Schmidt-
Isserstedt on London are pre-
ferred..
Tchaikovsky considered his
Fourth Symphony as an answer
to Beethoven's Fifth; it repre-
sents, in Tchaikovsky's words,
"fate, the mighty force which
hinders our striving after hap-
piness." Interestingly enough,
the work was scored during the
composer's few months of high-
ly unsuccessful marriage and
ensuing n e r v o u s breakdown.
Consequently, the symphony de-
scribes (and Tchaikovsky ad-
mitted to the "definite pro-
gram") mercurial wavering be-
tween dramatic convulsions of
feeling and quieter moments of
melancholy. In a typically Rus-
sian manner, personal suffer-
ing becomes, finally subsumed
in the exuberance of a carnival.
Lorin Maazel leads the Berlin
Philharmonic (HS 25081 in an
appropriately loose performance,
which, without trying to impose
too rigid a structure, balances
care with abandon and reveals
the essentially fantasia genre of
the symphony. In. the pizzicato
ostinato, t h e -Berlin strings
-come through beautifully once'
again. Incisive brass playing al-
so helps charge this rendition
with special power. My disc had
tape hiss and swish on the sec-
ond side, but the sound was oth-
erwise full and well-separated
in stereo.
Although - the serenade form,
which was so popular in t h e
?eighteenth century, found little
attention in the ensuing cen-
tury, a few composers, notably
Brahms and Dvorak, found the
form congenial. Dvorak wrote
two serenades, one for winds,
Op. 44, and one for strings, Op.
22. The latter work flows as
smoothly and serenely as the
streams through Dvorak's be-
loved Czech woods; no anxiety
or doubt intrudes h e r e. This
"nocturnal" music does not por-
tray any group of musicians im-
-pressing any lovely lady on a
balcony, rather it breathes of
solitary thoughts and arboretum
walks. Without becoming maud-
lin, suffice it to say that the
work is quite beautiful and will ,
probably dispel woes as well as
will any Miltown.
The Op. 44 Serenade, being
for winds and not strings, bub-
bles rather than flows, and does
so with great wit and gemutlich.
This was the period of the Sla-
vonic Dancs a n d Dvorak's
quickly risin popularity. In the
Op. 44 Serenade, Dvorak first
uses the sousedska, a Czech
dance f o r m, for the minuet
movement, indicating the folk
interest i that has always held
the Bohemian composers.
On Heliodor HS 25066, Hans
Schmidt-Isserstedt, who h a s
been so successful with his Beet-
hoven cycle on London, leads
members of the Hamburg Ra-
dio Symphony Orchestra in per-
formances of relaxed grace and
easy precision. In the Opus 44
work, I slightly prefer the as-
tringent qualities of the Marl-
boro Woodwind Ensemble under
Louis Moyse on Columbia, but
there are no problems with tem-
po or instrumental playing on
the Heliodor disc and the good
cheer is suffused with convic-
tion. The strings sound thin in
Op. 22, but the stereo spread is
clean and clear. This is a highly
recommended disc.
Certainly the most esoteric
and anachronistic serenade of
the twentieth century is that for
full orchestra by Wilhelm Sten-
hammer. The Swede's work,
written in 1913, in no way indi-
cates the unrest in the music
world of that time; mixing Dvo-
rak, Strauss, and Vaughan Wil-
liams, Stenhammer subsumes
influences in his own gift for
lyricism. The m u s i c, oddly
enough, works: the sought noc-
turnal mood is successfully
evoked at the same time that
solo and massed string voices
are varied - interestingly. Al-
though it may not be avant-
garde nor command unblinking
attention, the serenade deserves
to be heard for its almost sub-
liminal beauty. Heliodor pre-
sents it (HS 25086) under the
direction of Rafael Kubelik in
fine sound and at a low price.
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
ORSON WELLES - LILLI PALMER
and
RICHARD, JOHNSON%
4
THE MOST INCREDIBLE
DOC WATSON
will perform live at
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FRI. check these extras
SPfree food
SAT.8PM
4 swell doorman
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Admission: $2.00 at the door
HELD OVER!
Program Information 2-6264 t Big Week !
Shows at 1 :00-3:00-5:00-7:10 & 9:15
rONE OF THE BEST MOVIES
I'VE -.SEEN, THIS YEAR.a
Saturday Review
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in
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OEDIPUS THE KING
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with
CYRIL CUSACK e ROGER LIVESEY
DONALD SUTHERLAND
Screenplay by MICHAEL LUKE and PHILIP SAVILLE " Directed by PHILIP SAVI LLE
Associate Producer TIMOTHY BURRILL - Produced by MICHAEL LUKE
A Crossroads Film Production/Universal Pictures Production
A UNIVERSAL RELEASE - TECHNICOLOR*
I
Tonight at
7 and 9 P.M.
0
STARTING
TODAY
Saturday and
Sunday at
1, 3, 5,7, 9 P.M.
dmw
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/ -
IKTITAF
400
CREATIVE ARTS FESTIVAL
presents
ArethaFranklin
;LADY SOUL"
UNIVERSITy
I
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JANUARY 25
8:30 P.M.
Special Events Building
TICKETS:
$4.00, $3.50, $3.00, $2.50
GENERAL SALES BEGIN.
Mon., Jan. 20, SAB
9 A.M.-4 P.M.
BOWLING
1 P.M. to 12 P.M.
Michigan Union
are
bad cops
and there
are Food
cops-and
then
there's
EultLi
MUSICAL SOC1Ey
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HAIRCUT
Michigan Union
Barbershop
."SEVE MCCUEEN
AS 131J [liT
jnsm a r I" am iun ECHR oiDlOR MRR RO.-SEYEN .aRS
I
r
SUMMER INSTITUTE IN ISRAEL
1
JUNE-AUGUST, 1969
.. . to study Hebrew and/od Modern Israel at one or more of the following
universities-
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM
BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY, TEL AVIV
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF HAIFA
. . . to tour the country with a complete program of sightseeing and enter-
tainment.
This program will last approximately eight weeks, divided into six weeks of
study and two weeks of touring. The University of Michigan will grant up to
six semester hours of credit to those admitted to the Institute, provided, of
course. that they meet the academic standards.
I
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