The Michigan Daily-Tuesday., March 27, 1979-Page 7
arts & entertainment
Menotti spins out magical tales
By CHRISTOPHER POTTER
Though it can be justly debated
whether or not Gian Carlo Menotti is a
great composer, there is no doubting
his abilities as a master showman. His
music is predominantly slight, delicate,
dangerously gossamer, forever
treading a tightrope between genuine
charm and self-congratulatory
banality. Yet Menotti is blessed with.
the impressario's eye, the innate knack
for putting on a memorable show. His
most famous work, Amahl and the
Night Visitors, lurches infuriatingly
between a sublime lyricism and a
singsong turgidity, yet was conceived
and 'staged so brilliantly that it
remained oneof television's most
cherished annual events for nearly two
decades.
The Unicorn, The Gorgon and The
Manticore tells the allegorical tale of
people and mythical creatures in a far
off land. Its central character is known
simply as The Poet; he lives in a castle
far above the adjoining town.
One day The Poet appears leading a
unicorn. The proper, bourgeous
burghers are shocked and derisive
toward the odd spectacle. Yet the very
newness of it has its effect upon the fad-
seeking populace, and before long,
everyone in town has his own pet,
unicorn.
The envy-assimilation process con-
tinues through stints with the gorgon,
the manticore, with the townsfolk first
laughing at, then determinedly
following The Poet's aesthetic lead.
Then one day The Poet ceases to make
an appearance. Masking their
leaderless concern with an outrage
over The Poet's "crimes" (he has told
them he killed his pets one by one), they
march en masse to the castle.
THERE THEY find The Poet, dying,
surrounded by his three beloved and
very much alive creatures. He
chastises his neighbors for their
toadying hypocrisy, then sings sad
farewell to his animals.
Though the satirical depiction of a
valueless, trend-worshipping society
runs the chronic rish of ruinous heavy-
handedness, Menotti provides plenty of
A Straussful event
By MARK JOHANSSON
Before attending programs of
classical music by all one composer, I
always think twice. Too often, sch
events become repetitive and boring
and I become embarrassed just to be in
the audience (not to mention being sur-
kprised by waking up to hear the audien-
ce applauding and seeing the perfor-
mers leaving the stage).
So, when I heard the Detroit Sym-
phony Orchestra was giving an all-
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Hill Auditoreum
March25, 1979
Music of Richard Strauss
Tone Poem. "Don Juan," op. 20
Burleske in D minor for Piano and
Orchestra
'Tone Poem, "Death andTransfiguration,
Tone Poem, "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry
Pranks," Op. 28
Antal Dorati, Musi Director and Conduetor;
Ilse von Alpenheim, Piant
Strauss program at its University
,Musical Society concert last Sunday, I
wa's wary. The'music (including three
tone poems), if played poorly, would
have made the afternoon in Hill'
Auditorium a frustrating one. But, to
the credit of the orchestra, the conduc-
tor, and his wife, the performance was
appealing and satisfying.
RICHARD STRAUSS was the most
famous German post-Romantic com-
poser, and although he wrote a variety
of works, including many pieces for
piano, chamber groups and voice, his
most important contributions were his;
operatic and orchestral compositions.
For their Ann Arbor appearance, the
DSO played three of Strauss' orchestral
(or tone) poems, and his Burleske, the
composer's only attempt to write an ex-;
tended piece for piano and orchestra. ;
Maestro Antal Dorati has done much1
with the DSO after becoming the
group's ninth music director in its
history in 1977. Most importantly, he
has helped improve the orchestra's;
overall tone quality, and they now play,
with a more satisfying balance, a con-
trast to the previous music director,
Aldo Ceccato, who seemingly couldn'tI
control the brass and percussion sec-t
tions. Dorati's style is conservative.t
Every move is reserved and direct. In
addition, by conducting without music
on Sunday, he evidenced he has good
knowledge of his scores, his motions
still have energy and meaning, and he
has little trouble communicatingwith
his musicians.
TO BEGIN the concert, Dorati chose
the tone poem "Don Juan," Op. 20,
based on Lenau's version of the legend.
This tone poem is philosoplical in
nature, rather than descriptive, giving
general ideas instead of specific events.
Like all of the pieces on Sunday's
program, Don Juan contained brilliant
orchestration, and was especially ex-
citing, giving ideas of the hero's tem-
pestuous sensuality.
For most of the first half of this work,
the orchestra was unable to pull all of
the parts together because of minor
mistakes. The biggest problems were
an unsteady tempo and wavering'
precision. Along with painfully unsure
pauses on the part of the whole group,
some of the soloists had bad timing.
Somewhere near the middle of the
piece, beginning with the statement of
one of the themes by the brass,
everything fe.ll into place and the
warm-up was over. With its new-found
precision and unity, the DSO played the
rest of the piece with a sound they used
effectively for the rest of the afternoon:
lush strings and smooth, precise wood-
winds, with solid support from the
brass and percussion (the full, broad
tone of the DSO's brass section makes it
one of the best in the country).
THE PIANO soloist in the Burleske in
D minor for Piano and Orchestra was
Ilse von Alpenheim, wife of conductor
Doratiwho has been making, her
presence'felt in the Detroit area recen-
tly both in performances with the DSO
and in recital.
Von Alpenheim played the Burleske
rather simply and left room for more
animation and expression. This piece is
tricky, especially in the rhythms and
piano entrances, and von Alpenheim
obviously knew the piece well.
The two tone poems played after in-
termission, "Death and Tran-
sfiguration," Op. 24, and "Till Eulen-
siegel's Merry Pranks," Op. 28, were
both given superb readings. It is easy
for both works to become fragmented
and Dorati did a fantastic job of
keeping tempo and continuity.
THE INTONATION was better in the
second half, especially in the emotional
Death and Transfiguration. Here, the
orchestra's dynamic range was used to
good advantage and during the final\
crescendoes the sound was gigantic and
appropriately stirring.
Dorati's somewhat unorthodox use of
tempi and dynamics(especially with the
woodwinds) in Till Eulenspiegel gave
the piece a distinctive and inventive
stamp. The soloists were heard easily
and in tempo and the mischievous
musical description had a meaningful
flow.
Both the orchestra and Maestro
Dorati let the Ann Arbor audience hear
a facet of their first-rate talents. Their
versions of the four Strauss works were
distinctive and intense. With Dorati,
their new director for the Meadowbrook
Festival (Neville Mariner), and recor-
ding contracts, the DSO seems to be in
the right groove.
The Unicorn, The Gorgon and
The Manticore
Help, Help,.The Globolinks!
Gian Carlo Menotti
Power Cen ter
March 22-25
Unicorn , .
The Poet .................Sabatino Verlezza
His Unicorn .............Patricia Beaman
His Gorgon ......... ........_... Veta Goler
His Manitcore....................Jan Schleiger
Elizabeth Weil, diector
... Globolinks
Emily .. .............Dena Nicolaisen (F-Sun
Ann Savaglo (t-Sat)
Madame Euterpova .. Marilyn Krimm (F-Sun):
Gail Tremitiere (R-Sat)
Dr. Stone............Michael Maguire (F-Sun):
Richard Patton (R-Sat)
Gian Carlo Menotti, director
opportunity for applying the right per-
forming touch. Elizabeth Weil
Bergmann's production is a consuming
delight; her choreography displays just
the right knack for energetic buf-
foonery when called for and the ap-
propriate heart-jerking poignance
toward the end.
Most notable among a superb group
of dancers was Savatino Verlezza asthe
free-flung, infectious-smiled Poet, and
the team of Mark Lumadue and Karen
Freedland as the Count and Countess,
the town's leading citizens. These two
comprised a glorious slapstick duo, as
the Countess imaginatively browbeats
her hen-pecked husband into buying her
each new pet. Lumadue and Freedland
are obviously superb actors as well as
dancers, and their comic antics were
joyously innovative.
LENDING SUPPORT to the visual
events was a perfectly gorgeous-
sounding narrative chorus and in-
strumental group under the baton of
Thomas Hilbish. Menotti's largely a
capella score needs just the right com-
bination of delicacy and force to bring it
off, and I can't imagine any group of
singers in the world sounding any bet-
ter than these people did Saturday
night.
If The Unicorn, The Gorgon and The
Manticore require restraint, Help,
Help, The Globolinks! demands pure
theatrical pizzazz. It's a slam-bang
collision of sci-fi and opera, a War of the
Worlds for the under-twelve set. This
work premiered back in the mid-60's to
near unanimous raves, then
mysteriously was never released on
records. Upon belated first exposure to
Globolinks!, one realizes it's not among
the composer's most inspired musical
efforts; yet the entire production is
such a phantasmic three-ring circus
that it's both impossible and unfair to
judge it as anything less than a
musical-theatrical happening.
Directed, appropriately by Menotti
himself, the opera begins with a loud-
speaker radio bulletin: Strange extra-
terrestrial creatures known as
"Globolinks" have invadedearth. No
known weapon seems able to stop them
except the sound of musical instrumen-
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ts or singing voices - The Globolinks
hate music. Yet one must be careful -
if a Globolink touches you, you'll turi
into one yourself.
SET DESIGNER Billings pulled out
all the stops on this production. The
curtain rises on a simply fantastic
tableaux of strange, shimmering,
sometimes flying objects soaring wildly
through a mult-colored atmosphere
behind a transparent screen.
Into this nightmare of otherworldly
menace drives a yellow school bus, with
its load of children, accosted by
Globolinks, bizarre creatures shaped as
slimy green beasts with huge reeds
shooting out of their heads.
Alas, the children on the bus have left
their musical instruments at school ex-
cept young Emily who, brandishing her
violin, singlehandedly drives the
Globolinks away from the bus.
We then shift to the office of Dr.
Stone, the school principal, who fears
something dreadful has happened to the
overdue children. Madame Euterpova
the music teacher, takes things into her
own hands. She arms herself with in-
struments, gathers a following and sets
off to rescue the children.
IN THE MEANTIME, Dr. Stone has
dozed off; while sleeping he is touched
by Globolinsk, and when he wakes, he
slinks into the darkness, slowly
changing from man to alien.
As the rescue attempt continues a
sound is heard, clear from the back of
the Power Center. Trooping in from the
exit doors straight down through the
audience comes the rescue party,
playing and singing for all they're wor-
th. The children are saved, as the
Globolinks retreat. Alas, with them
goes poor Dr. Stone, who, now pure
Globolink, flies up and away. Madame
Euterpova sighs longingly. "Now I'll
have to look for another husband."
THE STAGING and performances
for Globolinks!, though totally different
from Unicorn in mode, were no less
wonderful.
In the role of Emily, Ann Savaglic
was forceful and radiantly, innocently
idealistic. As the handsome bus driver
Tony, Michael Doll conveyed a nice,
leading-man stage presence. Richard
Patton was brilliant as the hilariously
doomed Dr. Stone, and was matched
every note by Gail Tremitiere as the
exuberantlyeheroic, though pompous
Madame Euterpova.
It was gratifying to watch what was
obviously the composer's personal con-
ception of his work, which added that
much greater ring of authenticity to a
,thoroughly enjoyable, however
calculated evening. Menotti may never
rank among the Olympians of art, but
he understands the audience ratings
system to a finely-honed point.
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March 28-31 Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
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Stephen Sondheim
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wanuted by afdkm by Ingnar Bergman
presented b y
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AL JOLSON in
1928
THE JAZZ SINGER
The first talkie and the ultimate watershed for movies, "The Jazz Singer".
definitely establishes the fact that talking pictures are imminent, everyone in
Hollywood can rise up and declare that they are not and it will not alter
the fact. "If I were an actor with a squeaky voice I would worry."-The
Film Spectator (Feb. 4, 1928).
SHORT: LAUREL & HARDY in THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY
THURS: CITIZEN KANE (Free at 7 & 9:05)
FRI: CHAPLIN'S LIMELIGHT
CINEMA GUILD
TONIGHT AT
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OLD ARCH. AUD.
$1.50
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If the answer is NO, we still want you.
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people willing to work (a lot or a little) on the 1980 MICHIGANENSIAN
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107Tk
The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative presents at Aud. A
Tuesday, March 27
WATERMELON MAN
(Melvin van Peebles, 1970) 8:30-only-AUD. A
A pain-in-the-ass white bigot (a la Bunker) suddenly turns black. Godfrey
Cambridge, in the starring role, gives a magnificent, devilishly sly perform-
ance (much of it in "white-face") as the bigot who must adjust to the
TAKING THE
2 ~AT:)