Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, October 24, 1969
PageTwoTHEMICHGANDAIY Frday Ocober24,196
Mo-"
=- ___music-
Accademia: Mellows with time
Samuel Beckett wins
1969 Nobel Prize
Communi
c.ation
By JIM PETERS
There are performance theo-
ries and legends about certain
nationalities of musicians being
more fit and better-tempered to
perform certain types of music.
They say Germans can only in-
terpret Wagner and such, and
that onlyFrenchmen have the
feel for Ravel.
Well, the Italians don't seem
to like Mendelssohn much at all.
Last night's UN-Day celebration
concert at Hill Aud. found the
Orchestra of L'Accademia di
Santa Cecilia rather tired and
out of sorts with the program
that was scheduled.
Their conductor, Fernando
Previtali, struggled to maintain
ensemble and enthusiasm among
his musicians throughout the
first half of the evening. His
first offering tended to disrupt
his orchestra who were looking
for something to hold on to.
Rossini's Overture to The
Siege of Corinth is a hodge-
podge composition with sections
borrowed from other composers.
The music moves haltingly from
slow to fast, soft to maestoso
with few bridges; there is little
continuity.
The Orchestra's ensemble was
jagged; often they were led by
the timpani and resounding
brass during the grander mo-
ments. Such a fragmented piece
does not prepare one well for
the intricacies of Mendelssohn
(if, indeed, there are any).
His Symphony No. 3 in A
minor, opus 56 demands preci-
sion and sustained control fromt
an orchestra. And the group
from the Accademia were plain-
ly bored.
From the enervated introduc-
festival
chop to the soundboard. Every-
thing was percussive and the
concrete sounds (claps and
taps) worked to explain the rea-
sons for the piano's classifica-
tion as a percussion instrument.
The second section involved
snatches of off-key ragtime
music which then became com-
pletely atonal in most imagina-
tive transitions. This was really
a gas: here's the percussion and
the true nature of the piano
tones you have been listening
to all along, torn from the
glossy plastic covering of tonal-
ity.
Mr. Abright played with ab-
solute precision, even Glenn
Gould would be ashamed. I am
certain this was the best piano
performance of a contempor-
ary work I have ever heard -
everything was unbelievably
well-defined: the crisp, cutting
edge of every sound, keyboard
or concrete, was perfect in
timing and intensity. Every
sound,yeven in the most unbe-
lievably difficult sections, h a d
this sort of clear attack. Every-
thing was present, including the
well-deserved bravos at the con-
clusion.
tory andante con moto, even in-
to the familiar second move-
ment, only the conductor seemed
to be really into the music.
When maestro Previtali asked
for softer tones, the orchestra
lost intensity as well. The adagio
was slow-paced and bland, play-
ed with very inelegant phrasing
throughout. And it was not until
the allegro maestoso assai of the
finale that the good sounds of
music started to appear.
With the music of Goffredo
Petrassi, a contemporary Italian,
Previtali's musicians perked-up.
Yet, the Symphonic Suite from
the Ballet La Follia d'Orlando,
consisting of only three short
excerpts, was hardly substantial
enough to really mean anything.
French Impressionist music
can be dangerous to perform,
for it calls for a high degree of
intensity and attention to detail,
and yet the artist must appear
to be really doing nothing: many
musicians get carried away or
lost in the mechanics of the
form.
But the Orchestra had finally
found something it liked. Ravel's
Ma Mere L'Oye Suite was .him-
mering and light; the Winds
whispered to the strings' high
hollow lines. When Ravel is done
successfully no concert is lost.
Verdi's Overture to I Vespri
Siciliani, which concluded the
program, is probably one of h1is
best combinations of sweeping
lyricism and "Dies Irea" wall
shaking. It is music to make
even the musicians smile, and
they enjoyed the sweetness and
bombast.
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (A") -
The 1969 Nobel Prize for liter-
ature was awarded yesterday to
Samuel Backett, the Irish emi-
grent playwright of the absurd,
whose work was described as "a
muffled minor key sounding lib-
eration for the oppressed."
Beckett, 63, has written both
plays and novels. T w o of his
most widely known plays pre-
miered in the United States:
Waiting for Godot a n d End-
game, in which two characters
spoke their lines while sitting in
trash cans. Beckett's Play was
presented by the APA this fall.
The Swedish Academy said he
was awarded the $72,800 prize
for "his writing which, in new
formula of the novel and dra-
ma, acquires its elevation from
the destitution 01 modern man.
Beckett is also noted f o r his
fiction trilogy Malloy, Malone
Muert and Linnomable.
Beckett was considered a long
shot to win the prize this year,
but has been a strong contender
for many years. Beckett's prime
challenger this, year was believ-
ed to be Patrick White, Austra-
lian epic novelist. The names of
candidates are never officially
disclosed.
In Paris, Beckett's publisher
reported that the author was
vacationing in a floodhound
village and could not be reach-
ed.
on Sex
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this Sunday, Oct. 26, Union Ballroom
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TGIF
Biy JOE PEIIRSON
The first concert of e
Festival of Contemporary Music
was held Wednesday night at
Racka. esened by the
School of Music, this series fea-
tures modern works by estab-
lishd contemporary composers.
This, of course, doesn't assure
quality, but if the remaining
concers are as polished as Wted-
nesday's. this series will be one
of your better opportunities to
lhar some really fine modern
music.
The first work performed w" as
ashr trump et duo by Stra-
vinsk . Fanfare for a vew
Theai";tre, ritn for the olweri-
ing of the New York State Thea-
tre in Lincoln Center, this piece
has r'eal power, an Id 1the use. of
heeralding trumpetiwas nu(t
f't ?i r'np '1,i turn'], 1clbora ted a
them2 while the other repeat-
ed one note which functioned
as a. piot for te new material.
built uplais<'" of soind using
a lne modern fanfare for the
openin of his year'contem-
porary series-
A Solemn Music I by Niccolo
Castighli wasion the other
hand,soth ing of ai disap-
pointment. TAhePiece -ened al-
most devoid of any emotional
content, and the s:se of an
etheril, serupnarl atnos-
ihere that Castiglioni intended
neer mat e i ciee this
resulted from a static perform-
ance rather ha from the work
its'elf: soe tedynamlic
changes, particularly the inter-
play'. between '('1.the s oprano an wd
the ense"le, ": re ir"es"ing
adhid much pote°ntial. T[here
was no catharsis, thou-h, a n d
while the performace was fair-
1 , competent, it was execiutedc
in a dry and emotionless man-
ner, The soIrno lpart was un-
usually demanding, and the ar-
ticulated whispers of Lynda
Weston through the soft, per-
cussive ctios saved s t)in e
of Catiglio)nIi content.
he nmjor work of the con-
cert, the Chamber Concerto of
Alban Berg, was quite an ab-
rupt transition from the other
music of tl concert. Emotion
and impression were second-
ary: Berg considered the re-
lationships between tones and
themes more important. This
piece was dedicated to Schoen-
berg, and Berg envisioned him-
self sitting on Schoenberg's
right hand, leaving Webern the
role of holy ghost.
The compositional process of
this work is strange, at best;
the princip~al themes are deriv-
ed frn the lt ters of Schoen-
berg,.XWebern, and Berg's last
rnami. ,, Every' thing has b etn de-
signed in threes to enforce
Bergs trinity ego trip. The
con, certo is in three parts, and
teeare three types of sound:
keyboard, strings,, and wind.
The, other structural examples
of th use of the number three
are too numerous to mention.
Oddly enough, the best parts
of this work are the ones
Schoenberg would have disliked
most: the repetition of thema-
tic material, verboten to Schoen-
Swas extremely successful.
Ideas and motifs bounced back
and forth fronm one instrument
section to another, and the in-
ter-play gave its own sort of ex-
citem!ient. In one section, the'
violin solo donated most of its
material to the other instru-
ments, each instrument then
elaborating and echoing t h e
material. It reminded one of
mama bird feeding the young-
sters, each greedy for a n e w
idea. Theo Alcantara conduct-
ed with exuberance, but un-
fortunately the Duo Concertante
(piano and violin) played with
p~rof sslonal disinteres t.
The mo tspectacular per-
formance of the evening goes to
William Albright and his piano
rendition of Animations by
Eugene Kurtz. This piece was a
parody, ridiculing the aud-
iences inability to accept n e w
types of performance and unus-
uai sounds. Occasionally, Mr.
Aibriht would tap the piano
or deliv2r an exuberant karat_
1429 HILL ST.
Friday, October 24, 4-5:30 P.M.
GRADS-UNDERGRADS
MUSIC-REFRESHMENTS
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UT
EY
SWOPE
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Conduct"a'boutzkid tak-
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