Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, January 19, 1912
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, January 19, 1972
Classical disc
By DON SOSIN
New releases from Columbia
(which seems to be 'the only
label we get classical discs from
anymore; I guess the others are
either not interested in us, or
broke) include orchestral works
by Bruckner, Copland, and Rav-
el.
(M 30828) Leonard Bernstein
conducts the New York Philhar-
monic in Bruckner's Symphony
No. 9.
This is Bruckner's last work,
and unfinished at that. Like the
last symphonies of Mahler, this
one represents the composer's
struggle to finish his work be-
fore death closes in. It is cur-
ious that the symphony e n d s
serenely in E major, instead of
the d minor it began in. This is
mere chance, for Bruckner would
undoubtedly have gone on to
finish the work heroically. But
before the serenity there is a
great deal of anxiousness and
disturbed emotion. Bernstein has
not really captured all of this;
I am left dissatisfied and with
,the feeling that much has been
glossed over. The orchestra
sounds technically proficient, but
lacks inspiration. Listen to
Bruno Walter instead.
* * *
(M 30651) Pierre Boulez con-
ducts the Cleveland Orchestra
in works of Ravel: Daphnis and
Chloe Suite No. 2, Rapsodia Es-
pagnole, Alborada del Gracioso,
Pavane for a Dead Princess.
Boulez has tight control over
the group, whose playing is ex-
traordinarily good; the p e r-
formances are supple and have
that fine French quality (except
that of Daphnis, where the Cleve-
land Orchestra Chorus is a dis-
appointment. The works are so
overplayed, however, that ano-
ther addition to the already too
long list of recordings seems
pointless. Furthermore, putting
all four of these works together
gives a very one-sided impres-
sion of Ravel - as an orchestral.
wizard. I appreciate his genius
in this respect, but would pre-
fer listening to works of more
subtlety, the Trio, his many
songs, chamber music and piano
works. But do not let this deter
you. It's a good recording (al-
though I caught one very obvious
splice in Daphnis) and the Pa-
vane is particularly beautiful.
Latest in the series "Copland
conducts Copland," (M 30649)
contains Fanfare for the Com-
mon Man, Lincoln Portrait, and
Appalachian Spring. That Cop-
land is a fine conductor has been
demonstrated on the previous
albums. Here, with the London
Symphony, he gives an eloquent
renditionofFanfare. Someone
told me Ormandy's was also
good, so I compared the two. Or-
mandy may have a better brass
section, but evidently has the
more common man in mind.
Copland's version has great dig-
nity and comes out ahead. The
Lincoln Portrait has never been
a favorite of mine, and t h i s
feeling is not helped by hav-
ing to listen to Henry Fonda
mouth the President's immortal
words. Appalachian Spring is a
chestnut like the others, but re-
mains one of Copland's most
poignant scores, and is treated
well here. It would, have been
good of Columbia, however, to
inform us, that this is not the
complete ballet, but the suite,
which is basically the same, but
omits one rather large section.
* * *
In the re-issue department,
Columbia offers elilo by Berlioz.
(M 30588). Pierre Boulez con-
ducts the London Symphony
Chorus and Orchestra with Jean-
s: Note,
Louis Barrault as narrator. This,
recording was originally put out
by CBS together with Symphonie
Fantastic, of which it is the con-
tinuation. The work is made up
of bits and pieces composed at
various times in Berlioz' life, and
lacks any real musical unity. The
cohesion comes from the nar-
ration, in which the composer,
alias Lelio, voices his thoughts
about the Symphonie and makes
plans for a fantasy on Shake-
speare's "Tempest." Both music
and text convey the image of the
idealistic romantic composer
who seems to work better the
more he suffers. The L o n d o n
Symphony plays superbly under
Boulez, and the choir is quite
good. John Shirley-Quirk, t h e
baritone, does a better job than
John Mitchinson, the tenor, who
sounds strained in singing t h e
setting of Goethe's Le Pecheur.
But most of the credit belongs
to Barrault, whose French is de-
licious to listen to, and who con-
veys the tormented feelings of
the composer with much success.
Barrault played Berlioz in a film
during the 40's, so one is not
surprisedhat4his sure interpre-
tation. All in all, this is an in-
teresting album and worth hear-
ing.
(M 30081) Rudolf Serkin plays
Beethoven's Sonata in B flat, Op.
106, "Hammerklavier." I admire
Serkin as, a pianist, but I do not
like this recording. He is cer-
tainly able to control the piece,
and his interpretation is polish-
ed. But Serkin has a very per-
cussive sound, which, Hammerk-
lavier or not, sounds too harsh too
much of the time. The first and
last movements are not bad, but
the second movement is too un-
feeling in all its heroics. T h e
hymnlike Adagio is marred by
Serkin's heavy breathing, a n d
concentration on the music is
almost impossible. (At least he's
not humming to himself, as he.
did during a performance of the
Chopin preludes I once saw. It
may have helped him, but the
audience wasn't particularly
pleased.) If one can put up with
these eccentricities, then t h e
solid performance will be enjoy-
ble. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
To Vladimir Ashkenazy, for in-
stance.
* * *
Those who saw Garrick Ohls-
son perform here this summer
may be in terested to know that
his first recordings have just
been released on the Connois-
seur Society label. Ohlsson won
first prize in the Chopin Inter-
on diversity
national Piano Competition in
Warsaw a year ago, and on these
recordings are live performances
from the competition. On the
one I listened to (CS 2029), he
plays the b minor sonata, the
Etude in A flat Op. 10 no. 10, the
Polonaise in f sharp minor, and
the rarely heard E major
Scherzo. Having heard him per-
form all of these works numer-
ous times, I can only say that
while his playing here is indeed
excellent, it has improved enor-
mously since last October. The
engineering is not all that good
-many places sounded tinny.
The Sonata, which takes up
Side One, seems to have been re-
corded at a higher level than
the other pieces, so that one has
to readjust in'playing the other
side. One curious item: why
does Louis Biancolli say in his
notes that there are only two
piano sonatas by the composer?
The other record features the
minor, a nocturne
$.l
Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor,
a nocturne and some mazurkas.
The tapes that I heard of the
concerto's performance w e r e
phenomenal; he really does a
terrific job. But be warned: the
orchestral introduction has been
cut to a few bars, if I recall, and
there is the possibility that the
engineering here, too, is not the
best.
PRESENTS
MR. D.W. GRI FFITH'S
THE BIRTH
OF A NATION
Cinema Guild's annual tribute
to the birth of the narrative
film. To be appreciated, The
Birth of a Nation must be
thought of in its historical con-
text. Behind the overtones of
racism and the 57 years of
wear on the print lie narrative
innovations (parallel cutting,
revealing camera movements,
and so on) which stunned the
film-going world in 1915. These
innovations gave the cinema
some of its first moments of
breath-taking excitement. Pres-
ident Woodrow Wilson described
the film by saying: "it's like
writing, history in lightning.".
Birth of a Nation stars the great
Lillian Gish (Mae Marsh also
has a role). It will be shown at
7 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday and
Wednesday nights in
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JACK MacGOWRAN, most celebrated Irish actor of his genera-
tion, In a scene from his one-man show of the works of the great
avant-garde dramatist Samuel Beckett, author of "Waiting For
Godot." MacGowran, winner of the 1971 Obie Award for dis-
tinguished drama from the New York reviewers will be brought
to Ann Arbor Friday and Saturday by the University's Profes-
sional Theatre Program to perform in Mendelssohn Theatre, direct
from his smash success Off Broadway.
Segovia
Adres Segovia, world-famous
master of the Spanish guitar,
will appear in concert at the
University in the Choral Union
Series at 8:30 p.m. this Satur-
day in Hill Auditorium.
The concert, which is c o m-
pletely sold out, will be given
under the auspices of the Uni-
versity Musical Society. Segovia
appeared here previously in
1960, 1965, 1967 and 1970.,
Now 78, he has seen the guitar
gain acceptance in many of the
world's leading conservatories
and has been- the inspiration for
innumerable works added to the
guitar literature.
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