THE MICHIGAN DAILY
.Page Five
THE MICHIGAN DAiLY Page Five
ndergrad
Art
Show
opens
U' Collegium Musicum
recreates Maximilian court
By BOB SCHETTER
The Undergraduate Art Show, which open-,
ed Thursday night at the Rackham Galleries
and continues through March is a joyous,
mixed bag of ideas and media goodies.
The show is "an experiment" sponsored,
produced and presented solely by University
art students. Not that the art is any more
experimental than in other years, but as
chairman Wendy Yuthers explained, "Under-
grad shows are successes or failures depend-
ing on the organization (of steering commit-
tees) and are usually competitive. This year-
no prize money will be awarded." A high de-
gree of organization was evident as I sur-
veyed the meticulously selected and hung
works.
The show will highlight appearances by ar-
tist Larry Rivers and Bill Burback, Curator
of Photography at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York.
Rivers, a well-known ex-jazz saxophonist
and artist, revolutionized art with his mon-
tage-like iconography. He visited the show
Friday and led discussion groups with stu-
dents at Dominick's for lunch and later at
the Architecture library over tea and cook-
ies.
Burbeck will attend the exhibit on March
29th and - 30th. At that time he will lead
photography workshops at the A and D
school, which will be open to all Univer-
sity students.
The function of both "judges" is to criti-
que the exhibit and help students with what-
ever problems they are having in relation
to their work. Their comments will be video-
taped and played on monitors f1r viewing
during the exhibit hours.
The show itself is a menagerie of colors
and forms, offering work of very high
quality to almost every available taste. Yu-
thers says, "The work here speaks of all the
things we are and eat - including the car-
rots."
There does, however, seem to be a pre-
ponderence of tongue-in-cheek work There's
a giant super-burger that bites back by John
Angell, a sperm-like object that crawls by
Kathe Rogers, a table of filing cards with
each card containing a miniature painting by
R. J. George, and a series of textile pieces
by Lence Lewlou where you must peek un-
der covers to see the work. For the voy-
eours, a series of photos will tell you how
to eat a woman - cooked.
Even the more solemn pieces are fanci-
fully named. Jeremy Long calls his sen-
suous blue and green oil painting, "Flasher.!
There are other paintings which are equally
well known and just as outrageously named.
One of the show's finer points is its. free
quality. Here, unlike in most museums, you
can play with and touch the art, discovering
qualities that one would otherwise miss. You
might even try making up your own titles for
the, work. It's fun and is an easy way to
discover new artistic dimensions.
Two of the exhibit's drawbacks are poor
lighting and dirty gallery walls. Rackham
has not kept up its galleries, and they are
now falling into disrepair. Such circum-
stances greatly detract from the present
show. It has been pointed out that the Uni-
versity seems to continually short-change its
student art community. The problems of the
present show would then, according to this
view, not be atypical.
Although not all the work presented is
top-notch, there is sufficient material here
to more than fill an enjoyable afternoon. No
not denigrate the work because it is "only
student work". Contemplate. And most im-
portantly, have fun!
By LYN MERRILL'
The court of Maximilian I, Holy Ro-
man Emperor, was vividly recreated
Thursday night as the University of
Michigan Collegium Musicum brought
period costumes and music to' the
stage.
The presentation, ably directed and
joined in by Dr. Thomas Taylor of the
Music History department, was both
impressive and delightful. The early
music ensemble performed to a nearly
packed Rackham Auditorium.
The presentation, part of the Thom-
as Acquinus Festival, is based on The
Emperor Maximilian I and Music by
Louise Cuyler.
Collegium music consists of both
voices and a variety of early instru-
ments, ranging from the large bass viol
to the small high pitched recorders. In
Thursday night's performance most of
the players doubled in ,voice and on
instruments. Though sung in German,
occasional English dialogue helped
keep the audience informed.
The versatile cast sung, danced,
and played its way through various
early 16th century ensembles. Choral
music included the impressive Seven
Last Words of Christ Upon the Cross,
and a humorous rendition of a madri-
gal-like hunting song. The blending
voices created a pleasantly archaic
sensation in the velvet silence of Rack-
ham Auditorium.
The instrumental portion was equal-
ly enjoyable. Though hampered by a
broken string and the constant retun-
ing necessary, the- ensemble recovered
quickly to bring off a strong ending.
The performances on the harpsi-
chord were especially skillful. The
plaintive twang of the keyboard min-
gled with voice, dance and costume to
recreate the court life of Maximilian.
Taylor has directed the Collegium
for the past five years. The group is
actually a talented class of both gradu-
ate and undergraduate students. In-
terest in this type of music is steadily
increasing, said Taylor, as evidenced
by the large and growing audiences at
concerts.
The Collegium ensemble has per-
formed on tour in Indiana and Ohio.
Their next performance will be in Al-
bion on April 5. They will present a
NET television special sometime in the
near future.
Thursday: Vulgarity and visuals
"Centrifuge"
Mary Zawacki
(Etching)
Ch uch WOr4Aip en'ice4
By BRUCE SHLAIN
Sitting in last night on the
shows at 7 and 11, I luckily had
the foresight to skip out of the
middle show in order to witness
Campy Russel's job on Notre
Dame. And so, reminded by h:s
performance about what fo~rn
and technique can do for you if
you have some guts, I returned
to the Festival with renewed
spirits.
I say "renewed" because one
film at the 7:00 p.m. show,
Scream Bloody Mary, reached a
kind of hiatus in the realm of vul-
garity. It concerned the marriage
of two rather unintelligent greas-
ers (the woman in this film can
be unflinchingly referred to as
such) who have not come . to
terms with the sexual im;lica-
tions of being husband and wife.
And so, at the wedding party,
the bride is having these awful
fantasies about what is going to
transpire when hubby demands
his due in bed, all in an atmos-
phere of leering drunkenness. Of
course, she has a fit of delirium
and shoots her new husband with
a rifle. Very subtle.
Still, we would be denying
something vital in us if we pre-
tended that one of the great oc-
casional joys in life was none
other than the desire to be
grossed out, e.g. Pink Flamingos.
And if this secret desire is one
of your basic traits, you pro-
bably would have enjoyed The
Citizen's Band by Jon Lapidese.
The setting is Warsaw 1944, and
the Gestapo sirens can be heard
outside the parlor. The grand-
mother, mother, and youngster
excuse themselves, talking in Po-
lish with English subtitle w, and
go down a trap door to tune in
to Independent Radio for Free
Men. They sit tensely around
the box, until the voice comes in,
spouting out a series of Polack
jokes that puts the oppressed
family in absolute stitches. The
awareness of the tragic impli-
cations of such jokes either
makes them, for the first time,
really funny, or it makes them
horribly anti-semitic. Who's to
say? One man's meat may not be
another man's poison, but it
could very well make him down-
right vomit.
The visuals at the Festiva! are
always interesting, mast of
which having an initial theme or
premise that they proceed to
beat into the ground with minute
variations. Two short studies in
abstract sexuality, Flesh Flows,
and The Pirate, were alts-nately
humorous and mystical, and a bit
pornographic, although nothing
to challenge the eroticism of a
good Betty Boop cartoon.
The best special-effects fiin
I've seen in a while was screen-
ed last night, Jordan Belson's
Light, which should be shown
on Sunday as one of the winners.
But probably the most interest-
ing offering last night was a
30-minute film by Kris Paterson
called Latter Day Lunch, in
which cosmic-wheeler Donov, n
sits around a table on some gras-
sy knoll with about a dozen other
"beautiful people" whose reflec-
tor sunglasses mirror the large
spread of crab and champagne
in front of them.
The premise is the same one
that everyone thinks of ii Ann
Arbor: to juxtapose shots of Vict-
nam atrocities with scenes on the
Diag and thereby produce a
heavy political commentary.
Well, the approach in this one
is equally immatur'e, with ma-
chine-gun bullets heard in the
background, almost drowning out
the voices.
But the film is made inta some-
thing by the dialogue, as pover-
ty, schizophrenia, suicide, a n d
"getting a buzz" are discussed
with a high seriousnes that is
alternately laughable and depres-
sing, depressing insofar as it is
glaringly obvious how far a
certain kind of bourgeoise "rais-
ed consciousness" can take you
towards imbecility with flowers
in the hair.
mandy finishes side one, devoted
to the Chinese worms, with
Sousa's Stars and Stripes For-
ever. Not that it isn't performed
well, but the placement of this
brash, patriotic song with the
Chinese works goes to show
where many of our heads are at.
Here, Sousa's song is slanderous
to the Chinese people.
And so, I feel the Chinese are
justified in condemning Western
music if neo-Crusade attitudes,
similar to those found on this
album, persist.
FIRST UNITED METHODIST !
CHURCH and WESLEY FOUNDA-
TION-State, at Huron and Wash.!
Sermon by Dr. Donald B. Strobe:
"What To Do 'Til the Excorist
Comes," Exercises in Excorism.
8:30-9:30 a.m.-Communion Serv-
UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN
CHAPEL (Lutheran Church-- ,
Missouri Synod)!
1511 Washtenaw Ave.
Alfred T. Scheips,;Pastor
Sunday Morning Services at 9:15
and at 10:30.
Sundav Morning Bible Study at
BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH l
John A. Woods, Pastor9
900 Plum St.
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
Church Phone-NO 3-3800
Services:
Sunday School-9:00 a.m.
Morning Worship-10:30 a.m. 1
CAMPUS CHAPEL
1236 Washtenaw Court
The Rev. Don Postema
10:00 a.m.-Coffee.
Yellow River Concerto:
By BOB SCHETTER
Eugene Ormandy and the Ph il-
adelphia Orchestra have finally
released a definitive recording df
their Red China tour, and The
Yellow River Concerto (RCA
ARL-0415) is an extremely well
executed flop.
Neither content nor context
work here. Consisting mainly of
The Yellow River Concerto and
Respighi's Pines of Rome, the
album is an exercise in bad taste
passing for art.
I have never been too fond
of The Pines, it is always seem-
ed poorly written, relying heav-
ily on lush orchestral trappings
and the audiences imagination
for unification of the piece It
always seems like a bad movie
soundtrack. The Chinese work
falls short for much the same
reasons.
But what I find inexcusable is
the deliberate selection-of Pines
for its'obvious oriental flavorings
and orchestrations. It is po'iJizal
patronization: the "let's make
good friends by playing t h e r
music" approach. This seems as
ludicrous to me as Sammy Davis
Jr. singing' "Summertime" for
President Nixon.
The Chinese composition is the
lesser of the two evils. Taken
from a much shorter work by
Hsien Hsing-hai glorifying t h e
Red Chinese of WWII, it was
composed by a group of Chinese
composers. The Chinese govern-,
ment explicitly asked Ocnandy
to perform this piece.
The Yellow River Concerto
consists of five tone poems, each
purportedly describing part of
the Communist war campaign. A
certain ingenuity and joy of
composition are found in them,
which are lacking in similar sec-
tions of Pines. But as in The
Pines, the piece relies too heav-
ily on the audiences' imagination
to hold it together. The music
simply comes nowhere near to
describing the character of the
Chinese people nor the labours
they endured. In fact, one par-
ticular tone poem sounded like
the score from a Max Sennett
comedy. Really!
The non-continuity of the over-
all piece is by far the most de-
structive aspect of the Chinese
work. Structural unification
seems non-existent. Maybe this
explains how the piece was com-
posed - each composer addng
his own section. A-compositional
method like this would hint at a
Dada-type joke which we Amer-
icans took seriously' in our read-
iness to "share cultures."
But the tour was hailed by
the Chinese government and their
big wigs. According to the a.-
bum notes, "the biggest official
blessing was the attendance of
Mme. Mao at the Sept. 16 con;
cert." Further, the Peking Peo-
ple's Daily originally reviewed
the concert as "brilliant in varia-
tions of color and tone."
Why then the recent attacks on
Western music? The same Peo-
ple's Daily has termed Respg-
hi's Pines of Rome and Beethov-
.en's Moonlight Sonata "weird
and bizarre" and has /:ondemned
them as "bourgeois works of
music."
The highly polished and lush
orchestral sound of the Philadel-
phia orchestra bespeRks of its
elitist origins, designed for the
entertainment and leisure of the
wealthy. Function, as in the folk
traditions, and central to Chinese
revolutionary thought was disre-
garded for music for its own
sake. Being considerabiy differ-
ent from traditional Chinese mu-
sic, it is quite posible that a great
deal of curiosity arose from the
concerts.
To make matters worse, "' -
DFORD as
ASON"
9:30 and 11:00 a.m. - Worship 9
Services. Wednesday Evening Worship at
9:00-12:30 a.m.-Nursery Care. 10:00.
9:30 and 11:00 a.m. - Church
School (thru grade 5).
9:30-10:30 a.m. - Church School CANTERBURY HOUSE
(thru grade 8). 218 N. Division
10:30-11:00 a.m.-Coffee - Conver- 8:00 a.m.-Holy Eucharist.
sation - Fellowship. 10:00 a.m.-Morning Prayer and!
Broadcast on WNRS (1290) AM Sermon.
and WNRZ (103) FM from 11:00- 12:00 noon - Canterbury. Housej
12:00 noon. Eucharist.
The Church of the Wesley 'Foun- 7:00 p.m. -Holy Eucharist in
dation. chapel.
* ** * *
ST. ANDREW'S EPISCOPAL BETHLEHEM UNITED CHURCH1
CHURCH, 306S. Division OF CHRIST
Holy Eucharist at Noon in St. 423 S. Fourth Ave. Ph. 665-6149
Andrew's Church. Minister: Dr. T. L. Trost, Jr.
8:00 a.m.-Holy, Eucharist. Associate Ministers: Dennis R.
10:00 a.m. - Holy Communion Brophy and Howard F. Gebhart.
and Sermon. 9 a.m.-Morning Prayer.
12:00 noon - Canterbury House, 10 a.m. - Worship Service and
Eu-charist. Church School.
7:00 p.m.-Evening Prayer in
Chapel.
LORD OF LIGHT LUTHERAN
CHURCH (ALC, LCA)
801 S. Forest at Hill
Donald G. ZilI, Pastor
Sunday Morning:
Study Class-9:15 a.m.
Worship Service-10:30 a.m.
Sunday Supper-6:15 p.m.
Program-7:00 p.m.
Ash Wednesday: Eucharist -
7:30 p.m.
603 E. Liberty DAV I D LEA
DIAL 665-6290
Open 12:45. Showsat "The British have
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BEST ACTOR
JACK NICHOLSON Next Wee
"THE LAST
DETAIL"~
Morning Worship-11:00 a.m.
Evening Worship-7:00 p.m.
10:15 a.m.-Morning Worshil
6:00 p.m.-Evening Service,
A Ministry of the Christian
formed Church.
UNIVERSITY CHURCH OF
THE NAZARENE
409 S. Division (near William)
M. Robert Fraser, Pastor
Church School-9:45 a.m.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1432 Washtenaw Ave,
Ministers: Robert E. Sanders, John
R. Waser, Brewster H. Gere, Jr.
"Where many students worship"
Sunday Services at 9:00 and
10:30 a.m.
Theme this Sunday-"On Taking
God's Name."
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UNIVERSITY REFORMED
CHURCH, 1001 E. Huron
Calvin Malefyt, Alan Rice, Mlin-
isters
Services at 10:30 a.m.
5:30 p.m.-Student Supper.
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