Page 6-Tuesday, November 14, 1978-The Michigan Daily

Ashkenazy delightful in dual role

Jim Ringer, Mary
MecCaslin prove the

By MARK JOHAN SSON
As the Choral Union Series
approaches the halfway point, the list
English Chamber Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
pianit and conductor
Hllm Audioriumn
Variations on a theme of
Frank Bridge................. Britten
Concerto in F major .................... Mozart
Divertimento for strings .............. Bartok
Symphony No. 5...... ...........Schubert
* Preventedhe th eUniersqt -
muicalIsovie -
of great performances keeps growing.
With the University Musical Society's
presentation of Vladimir Ashkenazy

and the English Chamber Orchestra, a
capacity crowd at Hill Auditorium got a
double dose of exceptional musical ar-
tistry.
For over 20 years Ashkenazy has
been recognized as a brilliant pianist
and conductor. During this period, his
concert tours have won him fame and
favor with audiences around the world,.
and his many recordings are regarded
as definitive versions of numerous
masterworks of the piano repertoire. In
the past decade through broadcasts and
recordings on every major label, the
English Chamber Orchestra has come
to be regarded as one of the finest
chamber orchestras.
THE; AUDIENCE heard several con-
trasting composition styles Friday
night in a program of one classical, one

,IF.

ROGER CORMAN AT THE MOVIES
WILD ANGELS (at 7:0O & 10:00)
PETER FONDA heaps a wild and crazy pack of motorcycles over California,
stirring up trouble and scoring the locals. A marauding rival group steals Bruce
Dern's prized bike and a marijuana-incited fight ensues in the bawdy mountains
near Venice. With NANCY SINATRA.
TEENAGE DOLL (at 8:40 only)
Hard-hitting story of a young girl who kills another.young girl in a fight-
finding herself the target of a juvenile gang vengeance. She rushes to a rival
nnn fnr orotection. With JUNE KENNEY.
WED: KEATON & CHAPLIN
BOTH SHOWS .50 OLD ARCH.
CINEMA UILD, ONE SHOW $1.50 UD.

00

romantic, and two modern works for
small orchestra. The program lasted
well over two-and-a-half hours.
Variations on a Theme of Frank
Bridge, by Benjamin Britten, consists
of eleven diverse variations, and was
performed by the strings. The Wiener
Waltzer movement was a comic
presentation of the theme in moderate
triple time. The humor came at the
beginning of certain phrases, where the
orchestra paused while the basses
would slide up a fifth interval into the
downbeat, and also at the end where the
violins played softer and softer, finally
trailing off into nothing.
THE CHARACTERISTIC rapid
rhythmic motion in the Moto Perpetuo
was played with great precision as the
racing tempo gradually sped up. In the
Fuge and Finale the intonation and con-
trol of the celli was outstanding. They
were the first to play the final melody
and at the end of each phrase, they
would hold the final note, pause, repeat
the note, and begin the next phrase. The
melody was then taken by the violins,
repeated several times, and the last note
was held by the basses while the rest of
the strings played several chords
modulating around this tone and finally
ended in unison.
Mozart's Concerto in F major, com-
posed in 1784, is one of his most popular
works, owing to his conception of the
piano and orchestra as equal partners
OPENS TOMORROW!
arL iving
There.
A Play by
Athol Fugard
University
Shocas Prduction
Nov. 15-18
8 p.m.
Truebtood Theat re
Tickets $2.00
at P.T.P. Office
in-The Michigan League
. 764-0450
This production has been selected for entry in:
AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATRE FESTIVAL XI,
presented by The John F. Kennedy Center For
The Performing Arts, Alliance For Arts Education
produced by American Theatre Assoc. sponsored
by the Amoco Co.

and the rich harmonies of the key of F
major. This concerto was written for
Mozart's own use and he played it for
the coronation of Emperor Leopold II in
1790.
HERE, ASHKENAZY proved himself
to be an exceptional musician, in both
conducting the orchestra and playing
the piano solo. In the Allegro non trop-
po, he first displayed his light, clean
touch and expressive dynamics. The
balance between piano and orchestra
was good, and the tempo in the cadenza
was amazingly quick (especially in the
runs), and as stirring as any romantic
work.
In the slow and beautiful Allegretto,
the soloist used a thin, yet warm tone
and careful retards to provide a
graceful contrast to the previous
movement, with subtle major and
minor shifts and the interplay of piano
and wind scale passages.
The orchestra's reading of the con-
certo was nearly perfect, especially the
first violins and the woodwinds. The
tempos were accurate and the sound
was surprisingly light and crisp,
although at times the french horns were
a little loud.
AFTER INTERMISSION, the first
piece was Bartok's Divertimento for
Strings, typical of Bartok's style of
using traditional Rumanian folk music,
with a rousing tempo and separate sec-
tions that toss around fragments of the
various dance themes.-
The group followed Ashkenazy's
tempo carefully and the sections were
played with so much unity and
precision, each sounded like one in-
strument. The best test of the
musicians' ability was provided in the
Adagio. The movement begings with an
unsure feeling as the basses and celli
play very, very softly. The other sec-
tions then add more layers of sound and
an agitated climax. The orchestra cap-
tured the dynamics with exquisite sub-
tlety.

By ERIC ZORN
The whole is greater than the sum of
the parts for folksingers Jim Ringer
and Mary McCaslin. Their standard
concert kicks off with a solo set from
Mary, then a solo set from Jim, and at
last they end up on stage together to
finish the evening. Individually, they
are nothing special, but the long wait is
rewarded with a smashing midnight
set.
Currently the San Bernadino based
couple are on the road promoting their
first album together, a Philo release
called The Bramble and the Rose, and
Sunday night they pulled into the Ark
for one of their final performances.
"I'm glad it's almost over," sighed
McCaslin after her set. "I'm exhausted
and sick of touring."
HER OPENING set didn't seem
especially enervating, a low-key per-
formance which as pleasant but not
memorable. McCaslin draws from a
repertoire of modern folk songs which
are largely of her own composition,
and, for the most part, impresses with a
clear, soft voice and clean, tasteful
guitar picking. Save for a catchy line in
her opening number, "California lasses
with their ........... bound in leather/
fancy vests upon their breasts and
nothing on their minds," the set had no
particular highlights and drifted
sweetly by. She chatted a lot, in-
troducing songs and trying, out anec-
dotes, but on the whole, the stage show
only slowed things down.
McCaslin has cut three records with
Philo which have gotten very good
reviews, and she expresses a desire to
join the "mainstream of popular

value of team work

I

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The Ann Arbor filmnCoopersotve presents at Aud. A
TUESDAY, N VEMBER 14
(Yasuiiro Ozu, 1958) EQUINOX FLOWER 7 only-AUD. A
As always, exploring the interrelationships of the Japanese family, Ozu's
first color film examines the conflict between a father and his daughter when
she becomes secretly engaged. Ozu is universally recognized as the most
Japanese of film directors, his world unfolding gradually through intertwining
chains of perfectly constructed images. "Balanced picture of Japanese family
life, made with loving irony."-Donald Richie, OZU. In Japanese, with subtitles.
ZATOICHI-FIRE FIGHTER
(Issei Mori, 1972) 9:30 only-AUD. A
Ichi, the blind masseur-swordsman played as usual with physical flair and
high humor by Shintaro Katsu, finds himself engulfed in a burning ring of fire.
Zatoichi is one of the great characters of the Japanese cinema. Cinemascope.
In Japanese, with English subtitles.
TOMORROW: HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A.
How to tell whether
y ust saw a gnome
or a man.
A charming guide
to a completely other
;} s rr w o rld -t
Illustrated with 60
black-and-uhite drawings
Pick it up at your
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w r - - v .W - - I
music," jumping her albums of the fdlk
bin at the record shop. It is doubtful
that she will ever really take off the
way a performer like Emmylou Harris
has done. In the first place, her voice is
pleasant but it has no edge and is not
especially compelling. She also admils
she may not be aggressive enough to
fight hard and make her own breaks.
"I've got to rely on my manager," she
said.
APART FROM her guitar'work, Mc-
Caslin played a nice mountain banjo on
a pair of tunes, "Pinball Wizard," and
the Beatles' "Blackbird." The former
was, of course, pure camp,.but Me-
Caslin played it almost totally straight
and it didn't really come off. The lattr,
craftily frailed and arranged, sounded.
amazingly like a real Appalachian love
song.
Jim Ringer's set was of a different
piece than McCaslin's: he wandered,.
through country/folk songs by Roy
Acuff, David Bromberg, and Utah
Phillips, mixing up the pace and
throwing in a few of his own songs.
Though he bantered less with the im-
pressively large crowd, Ringe built a
better relationship with them than Mc-
Caslin did by singing a few humorou,
songs, throwing in a joke or two, and
trying a cute, if tepidly received, sing
along. As a solo performer, the burly
Ringer is solid and adequate as he sings
and strums, but the set wears on and
one begins to drum the fingers while
realizing that he is neither especially
exciting nor outrageously talented.
RINGER AND McCaslin met at a
California folk festival and began
touring together six years ago. "Over
the years we've sung together more a-r
more," said McCaslin, "but we'll never
be a duo. I mean, if Willie Nelson were-
to want one of us to open for him, we'd,
certainly like the freedom to take -of.'
and do something like that. Eve.
though we were married this past July-
I still see our careers continuing.-
separately."
It will be a shame if they keep this-
resolve. Judging by the third set, when
they sang together, their soon-to-be
released album will be worth the seven.
discs they have produced individully -
over the years. Bramble and the Roseis
an album notto be missed by those -
Christmas shopping for folk music bufa
fs of any kind.
Their voices are sweet together, and
one finds oneself craving the tasty.
choruses when their voices wind in and
out, blending almost perfectly. The two'
guitars give the backup instrumentals a'
full sound, and when Mary picks upthe
banjo, the balance is even and the in-
terplay between the instruments sure.
EVEN WHEN they're not doing' a
song, McCaslin and Ringe on stage
together have a special charm as they
backchat and give. each other
mischievous glances. The two com-
plement each other's talents, and it's
too bad that perhaps they don't see it.
Highpoints from the final set included
"Geronimo's Cadillac" and "Copper-
fields," where the harmonies were
noticeably precise, and a song by Ann
Arbor's Craig Johnson called "New
Harmony." The song which sums up
the McCaslin-Ringer concert is the title
cut from Bramble and the Roses;
Nee how the bramble and the rose inertwine
Lore grows like ie bramble'ad the ose
Round each other we will twine.
It's pointless for the two to do it any oth-
er way.

E N T E R TA I N ME NT

FRONT

BROWSER

NOV 14,1978

800 PM.

Jimy
CLIFF


'.N


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