tr£41 wxf aih Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan recordsy Rorem and Blomdahl, music and poetry 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. Editorials printed in The Michigan Dail or the editors. Thisn THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1969 News Phone: 764-0552 y express the individual opinions of staff writers must be noted in all reprints. NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN i ABM: Tilting the balan'eof terror IT IS DONE NOW. Unless some entirely unforeseen event takes place in the next few days before the final vote is cast, this country will have an anti-bal- listic missile system. It can only be de- plored. The full implications of the decision to deploy ABM according to President Nix- on's plans may not be known for a sub- stantial period of time. Indeed by reach- ing into the intricate complex of inter- national relations the deployment of ABM may affect decisions and attitudes of foreign leaders in subtle and nebulous ways which may never be known. Law and the eh ickens "ELLO, I'M from The Daily, is Col. Davids or Capt. Myre there?" , "No, they aren't," said an officer at the command center in charge of investigat- ing the area murders. Believing that there probably was not any other officer there who was allowed to release information, the reporter started to thank the officer and say goodbye, but it seems he did not want to hang up. "How about another name?"' asked the officer. So, the Daily staffer asked for Sheriff Harvey. "No, he's not here. ,How about another name?" Police Chief Krasny was asked for and the officer proceeded with his game and asked for another name. "Is County Prosecutor Delhey there?" 'the officer said the prosecutor wasnot in and "How about another name?" Knowing for sure there was no one else who could officially speak for the com- mand center, the officer was thanked again and he said goodbye with a pleas'- ant laugh. A later call produced an even giddier response. "Is Col. Davids there?" "Sorry, nobody here but us chickens." It seems that the overflowing success the local minions of the law have en- countered recently in their search for murderer or murderers, known and un- known, has gone to the heads of some. -J. C. S. However, some of the grosser effects of the Senate's decision should be evident soon. If the predictions of ABM critics are correct ABM will have considerable impact on the arms limitations talks be- tween this country and the Soviet Union, scheduled to begin within the next month. In the awful logic of the nuclear bal- ance, which is the center of this country's means of security, the"ABM will give pro- tection to a part of the American retalia- tory nuclear force. While this may, as supporters of ABM suggest, improve the security of those few missiles from a Soviet first strike, it will not improve the security of the country. THE REASON for this is clear. The Soviet Union must maintain some logic to their side of the balance of terror as well. Regardless of the arguments of ABM detractors that such a system could be easily rendered inoperative by the use of decoy missiles or concentrated attack, the Soviets will, for their own security, be forced to assume ABM will work just as it is supposed to. Given this assunption the leaders of that country must respond in order to maintain the credibility of its own de- terrent. Perhaps they will direct their ef- forts toward the development of sophisti- cated electronic decoys of their own anti ballistic missile system. Perhaps they will simply enlarge their missile force. Pos- sibly they will develop an anti-anti-bal- listic missile system. Whatever the Soviet response is, it is clear that the deadly constrictions of an international order based on the threat of mass destruction will force them to escalate the arms race. CONTRARY TO the arguments of some senators in favor of ABM who said it must be approved so President Nixon would have the upper hand in arms limi- tation talks, such a policy can only hinder the possibility of success in those talks. The reason it is possible to enter talks now is the relative equality of the two nations in the balance of terror. A nation that just recently had the balance tilted against it will prove most unwilling to join in accord. -CHRIS STEELE By R. A. PERRY Contributing Editor The setting of poetry to music is perhaps one of the most diffi- cult tasks that a composer can set for himself. Excellent music can often elevate a minor poem: what would Hermann von Gilm's "Zueignung" be without Strauss's musical dressing, or Schober's "An die Musik" without the animation of Schubert's lyricism. A "white text," that is a text without any aesthetic pretentions of its own, can allow a composer wide free- dom of expression-take the Re- quiem liturgy for instance. Sel- dom, however, can a poem sustain the music and perhaps the greater the poetry the more likely will the music seem only an imposition. Ned Rorem, that enfant senti- mentale whose diaries range from the sensitive to the self-pitying, has realized this. Considered as one of the last "art-song" com- posers, Roremhas written, in his panegyric to the Beatles, that "poetry may be the egg from which the nightingale is hatched, though in the last analysis the nightingale must come first." Un- fortunately, as a new C.R.I. re- lease (238 USD) indicates, Ror- em's nightingale has failed to hatch. Setting to music poems by John Ashberry, Frank O'Hara, Theo- dore Rothke, Paul Goodman, and others, Rorem fails in almost every case either to reveal, something about the poem or to create a satisfying musical statement on its own. The poem seems to restrict the husic's flight and the music distracts us from fathoming the complexityof the poem. In Roethke's "Night. Crow," for example, an ominous crow seen on a skeleton tree sets the mind reeling "deep in the brain, far back." But Rorem's music in no way indicates any ambient of ter- ror or introspection; the conclud- ing words "far back" are set to music perfunctorily. In Ashberry's "Our Youth," Rorem does nothing with the line "when the child dis- covers her first dead hand;" he simply spins off to the next stan- za. Examples such as these, where Rorem fails to illustrate or acti- vate the text, are legion; the fail- ing is not merely innocuous but more seriously destructive to the comprehension of the poem as heard. It perhaps would not be so bad if Rorem at least offered some purely musical interest. He has, after all, quite cogently written that "thesinevitable element is what makes the melody good-or perfect." Except for a brief set- ting of Elinor Wylie's "Little El- egy," I can detect no "inevitable" quality to the melodic line; on the contrary, the music seems highly contrived. In eschewing both musical complexity on the one hand and textual literalness on the other, he effects much artifice and little artistry. On this C.R.I. disc, the Rorem songs" are performed by Phyllis Curtain, Beverly Wolff, and Don- ald Gramm. The recording is harsh and too closely-mixed: Miss Curtain appears strident, Miss Wolff sounds likevKaye Ballard, and the three voices together blend poorly. The flip side of C.R.I. 238 shows how important recording tech- nique can be, for Miss Curtain's tone is immediately more pearly and focused, She performs Frag-, ments from Sappho by David Ward-Steinman, and here, though Brownian movement. Whether the sections are scored for pointil- listic col legno strings and wood- blocks or for longer string phrases, the music well fulfills the move- ment-titles: "Life Silence," "The Lonely Speaker," "Immovability of Fear." Performance by the Stock- holm Philharmonic is stunningly virtuosic. Yet the "Five Italian Songs" on this album are even more inter- esting., Blomdahl has taken five aphoristic poems-one by Quasi- modo and four by Arcangioli-and truly not only captured their starkness but moreover enlarged their verbal impressions with dra- matic force by paying great honor to the poets' intentions. Blom- dahl's musical approach is both 'original and literal. Mezzo-soprano An-Sofi Rosenberg has excellent vocal markmanship, a full tone, and convincing force. Twenty-five of Poulenc's songs are performed by Maxine Makas, soprano, and Anthony Makas, pianist, on Westminster WST- 17146. Poulenc's songs, so idolized by Rorem, value brevity, lack of intellectual pretension, and pi- quant wit. They are all over be- fore you know it, and you soon realizedthese songs are not to be entered but to be experienced and appreciated for their surface charm. They make fine encores, but twenty-five at one sitting can- not be consumed. Th~e songs do not engage one, and a' ter so many hors'd'oevres, one waits in vain for the meat course. Maxine Makas, who studied with the Poulenc exponent, Pierre Ber- nac,.sings with admirable elan and tone, and one wishes for Just a bit more subtlety of color. A fine record, but to be tasted in discreet doses. the flute, clarinet, and piano ac- companiements produce some very interesting and original effects, I again find the music vitiating, not amplifying, the poems' succinct truths. Rorem has said (maybe sensing only his own limitations) that the modern art song is dead. Certain- ly one can point to few modern successes, though Samuel Barber's setting of James Agee's Knoxville Summer, 1915 is a classic work and more American, incidentally, than anything Aaron Copeland ever wrote. Schoenberg certainly fused poem and music in Pierrot Lun- aire. Another success, though no doubt less epic, has been chalked up by the Swedish avant-garde composer Karl-Birger Blomdahl. A recent Angel release (S-36576) in their "Music Today" series shows two sides of Sweden's lead- ing composer-the orchestral and the vocal. This composer of the space-opera Aniarai sa master of the eerie. Blomdahl's music al- ways sounds -like imagined Mar- tian landscapes: lonely, desolate, and lacking in human sentiment entirely-unless you consider his style a very sentimental conceit. The choreographic suite Game for 8 may be considered a ballet for microscopic particles undergoing _____ theatre -_ _ _ 'Paint, By LAURIE HARRIS Pure entertainment in Ann Ar- bor is not dead and Paint Your Wagon is musical proof of that statement. Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production exemplifies the ideas' basic to musical comedy, but with a somewhat serious strain. Musical comedy is a series of songs linked together with a story where not much drama is required. And that is the basic thing lack- ing-real acting ability by )the en-l tire cast. However, acting is not the essential part of a musical production and musically Paint Your Wagon is outstanding. The California gold rush days provide the back drop for widower Ben Rumson (Pharlie Sutherland) and his daughter Jennifer (Janice, Lent) to strike it rich and, enable3 Ben to send his daughter to Bos-; ton to learn to read and write and become a lady. Ben does strike it rich and Rumson is established, making Your Jennifer the only girl in a1 of hundreds of gold-digging m She is soon ostracized fromr community because of obvious ferences in the male and fe genders-a difference the can't cope with with only woman around. Jennifer is alone until shei Julio, a Mexican (David Johns who is an outcast because of nationality. The two find mutual solace love in a highly touching mon Jennifer eventually is sen Boston because Ben fears lc her to Julio, is worse than his loneliness. A half year eclipses and we Rumson with no gold and 1i most of its mining popuh Jennifer returns to find Julio gone north in search of his fo: and her father has remarries She waits for Julio's returr when he comes, Ben prepare follow his "Wandrin' Star" continue looking for gold. wagon : Purely musical Charlie Sutherland creates Ben Rumson as a theme with variation. He is a man who superficially is always happy, with Sutherland portraying a wide range of hap- piness through llis broad smile and often glistening eyes. But Sutherland is also able to portray the loneliness of a man with no wife and no roots. Suther- land's Rumson encompasses the entire cast and audience when he sings "They Call the Wind Maria." And he is able to center on his singular loneliness when he sings fondly of his deceased wife "Elisa."' David Johnson as Julio and Jan- ice Lent as Jennifer are comple- ments both in their excellent voices and in their stiff puppet- like acting. Johnson's voice is magical in its power and strength. Never once does he falter when he sings. And perhaps if you only listened to him, and didn't watch his constant However, the construction of the role of Julio is one of a Mexican trying to uphold his royal back- ground, which could be grounds for some of the sharpness con- tracted by Johnson. Miss Lent, who seems to im- prove as the show goes on, has what is known as a "lovely" voice, which is highly conducive to the role of Jennifer. Yet Miss Lent's performance was also stiff, lacking interaction with Julio except in a few select numbers. Generally staging of the produc- tion is excellent, marred only by obvious scene changes. Partic- ularly clever was the "On My Way" production number which gave the feeling of gold-diggers in honest motion through rotation of lights and characters. The male chorus of gold-diggers is a carefully integrated group. They are a compilation of strong voices, character roles, and agility. The female floozies needed for the story add little to the stage. Though the choreography was ex- cellent, it was not noticeable be- cause of a group of colorful fe- males who were rarely in step. As a whole the story was Just a story until the entrance of character roles in the form of a Mormon preacer (Chuck Vukin) and his two wives. From this point on the story becomes Just a bit more humorous with a great- er touch of vitality. Cherry, (Patricia Petiet) the French leader of the gold-diggers' imported women, is the epitome of musical happiness as she de- lightfully flirts across the stage. Paint Your Wagon, which will run through Saturday night in Trueblood Aud., is not highlighted by good acting, but it is enter- taining in the purely musical sense of a good story, excellent songs and music by Lerner and Loewe, and outstanding voices. 0 rigidity his songs would more powerful. become Letters: Between the lines' of the food report To the Editor: HAVE READ with some amuse- ment your two feature articles which deal with our residence hall "food" service. I believe that you and your readers may be interested in reading that "expert's" report be- tween the lines. The team of men from Chicago came for a number of visits during the winter term. Due to their limited time, they were depen- dent upon the input which they were to solicit from diaticians, building di- rectors, and central housing office personnel. If it appears that there is an over- sight, there certainly was-the origin- al proposal of the "customer-oriented experts" did not include consultation with students. However, even before they arrived, IHA had arranged for them to alter their plans to include meals and discussions with our "cap- tive audience." We arranged for these meetings in all of the halls and the resultant list of complaints was tuck- ed away in the back of the report. The only recommendations which appear in the report and are to be implemented is an upgrading of the titles of the food service supervisors, managers, and directors-the same people who the report labels as in- experienced and incompetent. Has the food service coordinator, Mr. Lynn Tubbs, really earned a promo- tion to the position of Assistant Di- rector of Housing? His food certainly doesn't warrant it! THE REgOMMENDATIONS deal- -ink with small details (such as warm food) are only being given lip service. If the way it is being handled in West Quadrangle this summer is any indication, dorm residents are in for more of the same cold food in the fall; long lines and food dished up (. . early still accent the over-aged, crumby dining room furniture. In situations like this, the blame can not be tossed on the dietician in the building-such conditions are the re- sult of neglect at a much higher level in the University bureaucracy. I feel that one more dimension should be mentioned.. The suggestions dealing with combining the food service operations of small halls and the centralization of bake shop ope- rations in Markley were not forth- coming from the food consultants, but from a building director. Sug- gestions regarding salad choices and more meat were not new either- stu- dents and staff have long criticized these. When we have brought back to Ann Arbor data on food service opera- tions at other schools, we have never been taken seriously; the reaction always seemed to have been, "Nothing could be better or more efficient than here at Michigan." How long will the Office of University Housing be satis- fied with the status quo? Students can't taste the difference brought about by new titles of old employes; we could taste the difference if Mr. Feldkamp agreed to implement the recommendation to increase meat portions. -Jack A. Myers, President Inter House Assembly Aug. 6 'Weekend' To the Editor: EAVING THE THEATRE after seeing Godard's Weekend, I ask- ed a Daily film reviewer what the becomes sublime, and that's art ap- preciation. We have inherited a critical tra- ,dition that was bound to result in this kind of confusion. To the people who used to read Yeats and Eliot, the whole point of art was Sensitivity; to create it, heighten it, refine it. The art object was a monument to that sensitivity. They took their sensitivi- ty to be 'an increased receptivity to the real world, "t h a t out there," which was full of brutality, misery, squalor, and insensitivity. AS A WAY of responding in art to reality, being sensitive seemed to be Just right. After all, a poem about ugliness, if it is sensitive, is beautiful, and this didn't seem paradoxical at all. In fact, their sensitivity was not an increased receptivity to the world; it was really increased receptivity to irony, which has not much to do with reality. Sensitivity-irony, that delicate and refined craft of professional artists and critics, is a very serious and pur- poseful business. Through it the in- telligensia can abstract itself - its consciousness - from the brutalities of reality - from the obvious - to reside at a safely esthetic distance among the multiple transmutations of meaning readily at hand in the lush artistic foliage. Through sensi- tivity and irony we learn that "all that out there" has nothing to do with us because it is brutal, and we are refined. It is a contrived pedestal on w h i c h we place ourselves at a height from w h i c h, while it all touches our heartstrings, none of it moves our asses. Action is the oppo- and burn her to a crisp, you don't need a PhD. to know that it's brutal. But if, as Godard does in Weekend, you dress the little girl in a 19th cen- tury costume, identify her as Emily Bronte, give her absurdly romantic monologues to recite about pebbles and grass, then have lthe man who lights the fire remind the audience that it's only a movie and that the girl is only a fantasy character in the movie, appreciation of the scene takes some considerable sophistica- tion. And what are we to make of it! then? What do we do with the hu- mor? How do we get through the vast distance this brilliantly contrived literary exercise has removed us from its antecedent reality - t h e real little girls in the real world who are burning in real flames in Viet Nam? Is this spectacle designed to make us sensitive to those little girls? THE ANSWER of course is yes, but only in the sense that we sit in our armchairs and relish our o w n decadence in technicolor; not that we take some modestly sane action such as the sabotage of a munitions dump. Godard is anxious to remind his audience that the film is not the real world. The question is: d o e s Godard think the real world is a mo- vie? -Fred Bloom Aug. 6 University plnning To the Editor: FOR HIS PRETEXT of knowledge in University planning Mr. Zim- is on the people in large scale plan- ning and not in packing in as much square footage as possible. Maintain- ing a human scale to the environ- ment is of utmost importance in an area like a university community where the human participants ire its whole reason for existing at all. The University was extremely for- tunate to acquire the North Campus property when it did for the glut of Central Campus building long ago passed the point of pleasing aesthet- ics, The beauty and human con- duciveness of larger public spaces and more "green belts" is apparent in a number of Michigan's sister state universities. MY ONLY COMPLAINT is that North Campus has not lived up to its potential because of piece meal build- ing and the lack of a coordinating architect-planning team. This is not to say that the University should re- strict itself to one architect solely, but rather that one well qualified firm should oversee the work of others. Such a system was beautiful- ly implemented at the University of Massachusetts with great succes. Planning must be a continuous thing, as a few schools have found out, not a bits and pieces system as we have seen it. Studies and programs have been made and all have been evenually set aside, either completely or in part. Finally it has been the plight of this university to continually turn to architects who are at best mediocre, at worst, dull and hackneyed. This is inexcusable since the Midwest is en- dowed with a number of excellent, high calibre firms whose talents have long been utilized by other state and 4 I 4~ i ,.