Student Action and Reaction
THE PEACE CORPS: Channel for Change
By JUDITH and ALAN GUSKIN
TIHE DEATH OF ARGENTA, London's
primary Spanish talent, is deeply felt
in hearing this record. If he had lived,
this disc would have been his, to replace
the magnificent monaural performance
he gave on London LL-921. For ,all its
suavity, this Ansermet performance is an
impressionistic one; which robs the music
of the rhythmic vitality that makes it
Spanish. There is no denying the cinema-
scope wash of superb stereo sound, but
oftentimes he allows the biting details of
the scores to be buried in a mist of De-
bussian sound.
This is not to say that the performance
is wrong, only that it represents two of
the most important Spanish -composers
in a totally French light. By softening the-
glittering, gypsy-like orchestration of Ar -
bos, Ansermet has produced a misconcep-
tion of that great conductor's intent. Ar-
bos' own recording (from 1930, and still
interesting) shows a greater clarity of
timbre, and emphasis on the dance as-
pects of the Albeniz pieces. This is repro-
duced in the-Argenta record.
The Turina is handled by Ansermet
with a little more vigor, although he al-
most stops in the middle of Ensueno, his
tempo dragging until all the underlying
propulsion becomes meaningless. Both
Exaltacion and Orgia are better.
The one redeeming feature of this
record is the inclusion of Navarra, a
piece not originally intended for the
Iberia suite by Arbos, but orchestrated at
a later date. It is not out of place here
and makes the record a somewhat better
buy.
If you're looking for a good monaural
of these two, I suggest you grab the Ar-
genta before it is withdrawn. Separately
the Iberia is best heard to advantage in
the new RCA recording with Victor Morel,
although this is a two record set and
jinc1i1des the remainder of the Albeniz
piano suite in an orchestration by Surinac
(Vic.-LSC-6094) and includes on the 4th
side Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole.
-Barton Wipnble
SEVERAL THOUSAND students waited.
It was nearly two a.m. on a chilly Oc-
tober morning-the students had been
waiting for hours for the Kennedy cam-
paign team to stop briefly at the Univer-
sity, where the presidential candidate
would spend the night.
The students weren't expecting much
from Kennedy-a typically vague cam-
paign speech, platitudes, faint promises.
Even so, there was an excitement and a
sense of frustration in the discussions
that filled those long hours of waiting,
discussions which revealed a sense of ur-
gency mingled with impotence.
How many of these students could
vote? How much did a campaign speech
mean, anyway? What, in fact, did an
election mean in a world where "power"
was a poised bomb, waiting to destroy
everything at the first mistake.
The students who waited for Kennedy
by and large did not understand politics,
although they held signs with slogans,
and composed campaign cheers and
Jeers. Although they argued about Quemoy
and Matsu-conscious of the absurdity in
the prospect of destroying mankind over
two little islands-they could not see any
way for themselves to Participate directly
in the formation of foreign policy.
Kennedy pointed at this crowd and
asked them to sacrifice a few years of
their lives to assist the developing coun-
tries-because they had skills, because
they were needed-he evoked a response
in the students. He told them that they
held the power for peace or for war-
'because they were not only the future,
but the present as well-and there was a
great surprise and uneasiness in the
crowd.
There wasn't much discussion in the
days immediately following the speech.
There wasn't much talk about changing
the image of America, or redirecting our
foreign policy. But the sense of urgency
had mounted-to the point where many
students felt they had to do something,
something individual and direct. Sudden-
ly, students felt it was possible to act.
Students responded to Kennedy's de-
mand-perhaps because they had seen the
Negro students down South gain recogni-
tion in the party platform of this political
campaign with the sit-in movement, per-
haps because a kind of desperation and
anger had emerged from the campaign
debates, emphasis on foreign affairs, per-
haps because it was the first election that
many had been able to vote in.
OPTIMISM pervaded the student Peace
Corps movement. The success of the
Southern sit-ins gave a sense of poten-
tial power to these students, and they
added to this force of their own-a force
derived from their ability to act directly
in world affairs.'
Feelings of responsibility which start-
ed as sympathies with Southern students
developed into strong dedication to- the
establishment of the Peace Corps._ Old
'concerns were turned to new possibilities
for effective action.
On this campus, an organization was
formed to promote the Peace Corps idea.
-the Americans Committed to World
Responsibility. The group gained hun-
dreds of niembers, and the sympathy of
a great portion of the campus. The Peace
Corps presented a challenge to all stu-
dents, a challenge to which a student
could respond positively, a challenge
which did not frighten away those who
did not feel they could picket chain
stores.
It was the first time these students
had worked through existing channels for
any major action. It was the first time
that many students felt it was possible,
to take action in a world which they had
felt was not yet theirs, and which they
feared might never be..
These students took their responsibili-
ties seriously. How could they promote a
Peace Corps if they know nothing about.
the developing countries? So they studied.
The ACWR held a conference for the in-
terested members of the community on
December 91 1960, and discovered that
who were listening to them, and who were
willing to help.
And at the March Peace Corps Con-
ference in Washington, planned by
USNSA ACWR and American University,
they discovered that the government too,
was listening and willing to act.
There is a 95 page book in the bookcase
of the Director of Selection of the Peace
Corps-the result of study and effort on
the part of ACWR. Students finally real-
ized that their ideas were being consid-
ered, their skills used, their dreams and
their sacrifices counting for something
at last.
* * *
PUT SUCCESS did not come unquali-
fied. The Peace Corps idea was a tre-
mondously annealine one, yet both con-
servatives and radicals voiced skenti-
cism. The movement was not essentially
one of protest, and yet the students be-
came involved in the same agonies, the
same disillusionments, and the same kind
of criticism that the students protest
movements suffered. And their commit-
ment had to be as strong as any student
aetion group.
- This commitment, springing from a
simple belief that it is good to help oth-
ers, had to be developed into a practical
idealism applicable to action. In spite of
the risk of failure, in the face of misin-
terpretation and misunderstanding, these
students were willing to work for poten-
tialities, and to be satisfied with partial
accomplishment.
What did they hope to accomplish?
Students recoiled at the possibility of be-
coming diplomats fostering a foreign pol-
icy they might disagree with. They were,
angry when taunted with the slogan "the
Children's Crusade." But their optimism
and their new sense of individual 'impor-
tance gave them a new dream-of chang-
ing American foreign policy, rather than
reflecting it.
They were going to take their skills and
apply them to a job, 'they were going to
learn about another country. And some
day, when they return to serve as teach-
ers, doctors and engineers in our coun-
.try, they would be Americans with a con-
erete understanding of the implications
of our national and international poli-
cies.
These students protested the Cold War
(although some said they were part of it)
and dreamed of a really peaceful world
founded on a new- cooperation between
nations. .
Through thieir social action, students
have learned that change, both at home
and abroad, is a slow, and often painful
process. They have learned that sacri-
fices will be made without success; and
that they must be repeated in spite of
failure. They have learned that success
depends on continued education of one-
self and others, education which will lead
to new challenges, new sacrifices, and,
hopefully, new successes.
THE STUDENT PEACE CORPS move-
ment is only a part of a larger student
movement with expanding circles of con-
cern-student concern demonstrated in
the sit-ins, protests against HUAC and
peace walks of the last two years.
These have been largely concerned with
domestic issues, and always outside the
governmental structure. The Peace Corns
movement shows perhaps the first indi-
cation of potentially effective student ac-
tion in the area of foreign affairs which
also works through normal channels.
The student Peace Corps movement has
demonstrated that it is sometimes as pos-
sible to effect change by working through
governmental institutions as by protest-
ing against them. It has emphasized
service. It has demanded that the educa-
tional community concern itself with im-
""mediate problems and that students com-
mit themselves to social action.
Above all, it has proved that social ac-
tion is more than an extra-curricular ac-
tivity, and that graduation no longer
means abdication of concern. Those who
join the Peace-Corps are simply beginning
the fulfillment of a lifetime commitment.
Former University graduate stu-
dents Judith and Alan Guskin
have been involved in the Peace
Corps movement since its incep-
tion. They formed "Americans
Committed to World Responsibil-
ity," the student peace corps
group on this campus, and one
of the original peace corps. pro-
motion groups. Just before his
election, they presented a petition
to Kennedy requesting establish-
ment of the -Peace Corps, and.
helped plan the Peace Corps Con-'
ference in Washington last March.
Currently, they are being trained
in the University's Thai center for
Peace Corps work next year.
The art of performing oratorio is
more demanding than one might gener-
ally realize. The Handelian oratorio
demands from the singer a technical
agility and sure control of the vocal
mechnism, rather than nineteenth cen-
tury-Wagnerian gut-power. Furthermore,
the diction of the artist should be clear
so as to give the audience at least a
small clue as to what the work is about.
(The Messiah is the only exception to
this rule of thumb. And everyone knows
the way that one came out.)
Unfortunately, very few new oratorio
singers have appeared on the scene in
recent years, perhaps due to the de-
creasing popularity of the -form itself
Therefore, it was a great pleasure to
hear this recording of Handel selections
performed by the young Scottish tenor,
Kenneth McKellar. His beautiful clear
voice seems perfect for oratorio. It is
clean and evenly tempered from top
to bottom.
Only rarely does there appear to be
any forcing of the top tones, a fault
that tends to be the rule rather, than
the exception with English tenors. Mc-
Kellar's voice is also happily free from
the dull whiteness that plagues so many
English-trained vocalists.
The selections on this record are,
for the most part, rather standard fare,
save for the first recorded performance
of the once popular concert aria Silent
Worship from Ptolemy. McKallar's per-
formances of Ombrai mai fu (the
famous Largo from Xerxes) and that
double play from the Messiah, Comfort
Ye and Every Valley are sure testimony
to his fine diction, breath control, and
technical facility.
The other highpoint of this recital is
the final selection, a brassy performance
of Sound An Alarm from Judas Mac-
cabeus. The fine accompaniments are
provided by the Orchestra of the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden, under
the direction of the greatest living
British conductor (now that Beecham
is out of the picture) Sir Adrian Boult.
It might be interesting to note that
London plans the release of a new
recording of the Messiah (Yes, Virginia,'
another Messiah) featuring Kenneth
McKellar and the highly touted English
soprano, Joan Sutherland.
-David M. Schwartz
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5,
op. 82/Finlandia
Philharmonia Orchestra of Lon-
don under Herbert von Karajan-
Angel 35922I
Once it was that every week the net-
work's good music programs were jam-
med with performances of the works
of Jan Sibelius. In later years he has
begun to suffer unjust neglect, possibly
because of this bumper crop and its
satiating effect on the public. The
stereo catalouge in particular is rather
oddly filled with bits and pieces of his
output.
There are stereos of the 2nd, 5th and
7th Symphonies, and to date -this is the
third recording of the 5th, an unusual
event, because the symphony itself was
never as popular as the first, nor as
individual as the fourth. It was com-
posed in a final version, in -1919, after
a period of financial and physical
trouble's for the composer. It is in three
movements, the finale being regarded
as one of Sibelius' grandest outbursts,
and triumphal in a totally unpessimistic
manner. The -themes, for the most part,
are less fragmented than the usual
Sibelian material, the orchestration is
brighter than is his usual custom.
First of all, this is a very fine per-
formance. Karajan realizes the melodic
and dynamic aspects of the score, which
rises to a magnificent climax in the
finale. It is less introspective than the
Sargent on Capital stereo (SG-7181)
and much, much more lyric than the
dynamics. By experience, I should
greatly warn the reader interested in
the stereo version that it may be much
less satisfying in sound; Angel stereos
are noted for their poor surfaces, bad
dynamics and distortion, not to men-
tion pre-echo on many of the earlier
issues.
STRAUSS: De Rosenkavalier, high-
lights-Cast of Reining, Jurinae,
Gueden, Weber, Dermota; Erich
Kleiber conducting the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra - London
5615
IT SEEMS inexplicable why the London
Record Company has waited for nearly
five years before releasing an album of
highlights of the complete performance
of Der Rosenkavalier. Perhaps the com-
pany wishes to call attention to the fact
that their recording of this brilliant
Richard Strauss opera is still commer-
cially viable with the two newer versions
of the work that have appeared since the
original issue of this set.
When the Erich Kleiber performance
made its original appearance, it was the
first complete high fidelity version of the
work to be made available to the public.
(Previously, Victor-HMV had reissued its
extensive set
historic cast
Olzewska, Eli:
ard Mayr. C
again availat
cordings of
4001.)
At present,
of the comp
Tnited State
conducting; t
conducting.'I
the best and
performance
Kleiber. (The
too "Berliner
This partic
well chosen.
spots of the o
the engineer
grooved sides
wish to hav
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Love Duet, tJ
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youth, the Pr
the Final Trio
ance of the
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good buy.
For the Stx
have the mo
works, or the
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cerpt records.
ing of the c:
last opera "C
with Elizabet,
"The Four
Schwarzkopf-
This record
vocally gratif
the twentieth
set of excerp
work that Ri
in collaborati
playwright an
mannsthal.
The record
this "lyric com
requiem for v
light-headed
century. Incic
ten by Strauss
a successor to
Der Rosenkav
bella excerpts
Handel: Great Tenor Arias
Kenneth Mckellar, tenor; Or-
chestra of theRoyal Opera House,
Convent Garden under Sir Adrain
Boult-London OS 25234
With,.-the gradual decline and fall of
the oratorio as a "respectable" twen-
tieth century musical form, the art of
oratorio performance is rapidly becom-
ing a lost one. This form reached the
peak of its .development in the -works of
the great George Frederick ~Handel,
naturalized English composer-laureate.
Ever since the days of that great and
proflic Anglo-Prussian, England har
had a virtual monopoly of the oratorio
market. It seems fitting to note that
tle last great oratorio, "The Dream of.
Gerontius," was by Edward Elgar, an
Leave of Absence
for an instructor in freshman cc
Now the full pear inclines its shape to fa
The wind persuasive in the looselimbed tr
Meets with each traverse less and less resis1
Now twitched loose from your academic
You swirl to earth. They call it leave of
When acorns in staccato downfalls thud i
I hear once more at the novelet of mann
Six times projected, seven times torn up,
Your hunt-and-peck, your cane with rub
Testing the validity of the bottom step,
Again your ballpoint littering with Comm
Drab prose of pretty girls. Who wouldn
After twelve years his bottle through his I
And skim to air on neatly graded wings
Each essay on the nonconformity of Thor
Cars crash through leaves: a sound of shy
Batters my sleep, routs to the wind my dr
Some scrape, others cartwheel with dry to
While slow as frost through boughs, mov
Scoring with red the looseleaves of the th
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