Pianist Perahia stuns Rackham with genius By GERARD PAPE There aren't enough musical cliches of a superlative sort to describe Murray Perahia's classical piano concert last Monday night at Rackham Auditorium. Loren Bass and Ellen Sandweiss appear in a scene from Federico Garcia Lorca's "Blood Wedding", which plays Nov. 1-4 in the Trueblood Theater in the Frieze building. Lewis' un orthodoxy fuses jazz factions By BILL BARBOUR How does one evaluate a musician who challenges the very perameters of music? Suffice it to say, it isn't easy. In making such a judgment, not only is it necessary to rely on absolutes such as sound production and progression of harmonic ideas, but to extrapolate from those absolutes to determine what the musician is trying to say when he transgresses the boundaries of one's previous musical experience. George Lewis, trombonist and musician extraordinaire, transgressed those boundaries successfully in the first of Eclipse Jazz's Bright Momements concerts Friday night. His statement was clear: music is music, and all music must be creative. Lewis took the stage before a small but enthusiastic audience at the Residential College auditorium shortly after 8:30. The first piece, "Miniatures," was one he composed in 1976. This complex atonal work was divided into eight movements, of which he played six. The first of these seemed to have flexibility as its theme, alternating between squealing high notes and trills in the low register of his trombone. Each succeeding movement had its own distinct character: a scherzo-march that borrowed from many different spheres of music, a ponderous movement centered in the trombone's pedal range, a short transitional one, a slow and somber section using extreme high and low range, and, finally, a dazzling display of technical virtuosity in which Lewis plays runs more common to saxophonists than to trombonists.4 THROUGHOUT THE work, the performer displayed a myriad of techniques for producing unconventional sounds on his instrument, such as singing and playing at the same time and coughing into his horn. The ost humorous of these weas an effect whereby Lewis would speak somethi g in- to his trombone and then play a series of notes that approximated the pitch changes in his voice. This never failed to elicit a chuckle from the audience. The second piece of the concert, a three movement work, showed Lewis's musicianship in a different light. In each movement, he added . elements to the trombone that were not endemic to it. The first movement -was performed on trombone with a bassoon reed attached. The resultant sound, further muted by a hand-held cup over the instrument's bell, was, eerie-but pleasing. The performer further enhancedthe section by playing multi-phonics (the sounding of two or more notes at the same time) note possible on the orthodox version of his horn. The second movement fused electronic instruments with his acoustical instrument. Eeriness pervaded this movement, too; the performer often simulated jungle and space noises by turning a few dials on his electronic equipment. Neither of these sections could top the third movement, though, where Lewis bowed the bell on his trombone with a violin bow, moving his hand up and down the bell to vary the pitch. The strangely pleasing sound he produced, in addition to the novelty of what he was doing, was the highlight of the show. Lewis closed the concert with his version of "Lush Life," a song com- posed by Billy Strayhorn. He took great liberties with the tune, using long improvisational sections and subtle harmonic alterations extensively, but in the end his interpretation is fine, one that the composer would have been proud of. The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative present at Aud A Wednesday. November 1. BUNUEL ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, (Luis Bunuel, 1954) 7 only-AUD A The 18th-century of an inventive exile becomes, in Bunuel's terms, a pattern of loneliness-love lost and self-mockery. To Defoe's classic story, Bunuel added dreams and a questioning Friday. DON O'HERLIHY JUAN FERNANDEZ. THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALD DE LA CRUZ (Luis Bunuel, 1955) 9 only-AUD A One of Bunuel's favorite themes-obsession-is the subject of this highly personal film. The object of obsession is a music box, given to young Archibaldo, which can cause the death of any person its owner wishes dead. Laced with black humor, ARCHIBALDO is Bunuel at'his sardonic best. "One of the most delectable of all Bunuel's films."-John Russell Taylor. Tomorrow: Siegel's THE SHOOTIST & John Ford's THE SEARCHERS Murray Perahia pianist Rackham Auditorium Sonata No. 17 in D major, K 576.....................Mozart Four Impromptus, Op. 90.............Schubert Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13............Schumann Perahia is so clearly head and shoulders above the other pianists who have performed locally recently that it's difficult to consider them in the same league. Yes, even Vladimir Horowitz, sacred cow of classical pianists, should look towards Perahia as his 31-year-old heir apparent. I CONSIDER Mozart's piano sonatas to be the equivalent of musical fodder for the bovine masses. We are told that Mozart was a genius; therefore, everything he ever wrote was great. Right? Wrong! Murray Perahia is such a genius that when he performs a work, it becomes the equivalent of a musical character sketch of the composer. He displayed such clarity and absolute balance bet- ween the right and left hands that he ac- tually made the Sonata No. 17 palatable. His rendition almost shook the Mozart piano sonata of its banality. With the four Schubert impromptus, Perahia's performance reached a peak. The first impromptu's subtle contrasts, gradual builds, and ominous left hand themes made it the most dramatic of the four pieces. The impromptus, as in- terpreted by Perahia, also give some notion of what Schubert might have been like as a person. Frequently, there a were long, tranquil, extremely beautiful passages. One got the im- pression of a quietly contemplative mood, interrupted by a darkly colored, more violent passage. However, the quiet mood prevailed. THIS PICTURE of Schubert emerges:. a person most comfortable with dreamily contemplating the beauty of the world, even though his vision is sometimes rudely disrupted by some sad or violent thoughts. The personality of Schumann, as revealed by Perahia's performance of the Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, is a much more disturbed one than that of Schubert. The changes in Schumann's music are much more abrupt. There is less integration of the feelings in one mood with those of another. Perahia's Schumann sketch included some of his most powerful playing. At the end of the Etudes, Perahia ap- peared exhausted. Despite thunderous applause, there was no encore. The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, November 1, 1978-Page 5 MANN THEATRES Wed. Matinees Fx( . TWIN All seats $1.50 MAKE VILlAGE sIOPPINCTER 769-1300- until 4:30 F1 h1ar SHOW " d n 1 nE sTIMES Sat-Sun-Wed 1:30 I ! 14:00 6:30 9:05 Man-Tues- Thurs-Fri 6:30 9:05 PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS SHOW TIMES - Sat-Sun-Wed 1:00 6:15 2:45 8:00 4 30 9:45 Mon-Tues Thurs-Fri 8:00 9:45 'R' DAILY EARLY BIRD MATINEES -- Adults $1.25 DISCOUNT IS FOR SHOWS STARTING BEFORE 1:30 MON. tthu SAT. 10 A.M. tit1 I:3 P.M. SUN. & HOLS. 12 Noon til 1:30 P.M EVENING ADMISSIONS AFTER 5:00, $3.50 ADULTS Monday-Saturday 1:30-5:00, Admission $2.50 Adult and Students Sundays and Holidays 1:30 to Close, $3.50 Adults, $2.50 Students Sunday-Thursday Evenings Student & Senior Citizen Discounts Children 12 And Under, Admissions $1.25 TICKET SALES 1. Tickets sold no sooner than 30 minutes prior to showtipse, 2. No tickets sold later than 15 minutes after showtime. N- L ALA IN TANNER'S 1973 RETURN TO AFRICA A rich political parable carrying overtones of science fiction, screwball comedy and absurdist drama. A young couple decide to take up a Third World existence in Algeria. They sell their possessions, pack what's left, throw a farewell party and get a telegram delaying their departure. The film centers on two weeks they spend in their empty apartment, living on catered food, too embarrassed to leave, with only words for company. FRI: JOE HILL & SACCO & VANZETTI SAT: Marilyn Monroe In THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH SUN: Julie Christie & Alan Blates in FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD CINEMA II TONITE AT 7&9 MLB3 $1.50 LOGO CONTEST! Design logo for Cinema i(to'be used on our film schedule and posters)sand WIN free admission for two at all our winter'films. DEADLINE Nov. 7th. Send entries (as many as you want) to tOGO CONTEST, Cinema 11, c/o 909 Church St., Apt. No. 2, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 I -.1 The:: frshs Ola' Kice'rn so brekfst