The Michigan Daily-Friday, November 18, 1977-Page 7
Campus Orch. pleasant
Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG
Visitors examine "Behind Closed Doors", a Japanese arty exhibition which will close this Monday.
Priceless Japanese artwork
being displayed at 'U' museum
By SUSAN BARRY
T HE FALL semester concert of the
University Campus Orchestra
Tuesday evening included three pieces
that were brief but textually rich and
technically varied. The selections.
spanned two centuries of musical inno-
vation and presented many interesting
contrasts in style and tone.
The first piece was Concerto in D
Major by Handel. It begins with a "Lar-
go," a stately introduction in the strings
that soon shifts to the horns. This sec-
tion was performed with a sweetness
that was most remarkable in its con-
trast to the lightness of the trills. The
"Allegro" begins with a dance melody
in the strings and with trills echoed in
the cello and horns. Although there
were some slight difficulty with the
violins jumping beats, this section
brought out the considerable musician-
ship of the group, particularly in the ef-
fectiveness of the dynamics.
THE SECOND "Allegro" demanded
the difficult technique of rapidly jump-
ing strings in the violins, which was
achieved with accuracy and unifor-
mity. The dynamics were carefully
built and the intensity controlled.
The next piece, by Rimsky-
Korsakoff, was as dramatic and
capricious as its title suggested. The
Capriccio Espagnol is a series of
musical vignettes with .a Spanish
theme. It opens with a reveille in the
horns, the "Alborada," a Spanish
dawn. The flutes have the melody orig-
inally, and then pass it on to the strings.
As the violins began a pizzacato, which
could have been a little tighter, Concert
Master Tor Shwayder performed a dif-
ficult solo,, lightly skipping strings and
bowing chords neatly.
This was followed by the
"Variazioni," a slow variation
movement that includes a graceful
harmony in the cello with a swanlike
melody in the horns, accompanied by
hesitating arpeggios in the violin. The
minor melody was passed through the
orchestra with an effect of serene
reflection, however the violins did have
some difficulty with the extremely high
tones. This movement ended with soft
trills in the flute, and was followed by a
return to the "Alborada" and another
solo by Shwayder.
A DRUM ROLL led into the gypsy
song of the following movement. This
had a rather modernistic sound as
snatches of melody echoed and rum-
bled through each section of the orches-
tra. The harmony was halting and dis-
connected, as the movement ended with
a furious violin melody.
The last movement was an Asturian
dance that sounded faintly eastern with
its delicately sororous tones. David
University Campus Orchestra
Hill A uditoriumn
Novem er 15, 1977
Charles J. Gabrion, conductor
Handel/Ormandy.......... Concerto for Orchestra
in D Major
Rimsky-Korsakoff............Capriccio Espagnol
Respighi ....................... The Pines of Rome
Bartus performed a cello solo quite ad-
mirably followed by a crescendo that
finished the piece with spirited flam
boyance.
The next selection, Respighi's The
Pines of Rome, brought the time period
of the music into the twentieth century
and capped the excursion in musical
imagery from England to Spain to
Rome. This piece presented its own
unique series of images.
Beginning with a movement that cap-
tured the scene of the Borghese villa,
the splendid palace of the Roman
family which inspired the sculpture of
Bernini and other artists, a playful
melody in the horns resulted in a jing-
ling bell-like effect. The notes became
more chaotic and led abruptly into the
next movement.
THE SECOND movement took the
theme of a catacomb, and reflected this
eeriness in a dark cello melody with
shimmering strings in the background.
This movement also included a horn
solo. The following movement, "I Pini
del Gianicolo," continued the dark
melody in the cello, which slowly built
in intensity. It ended in a minor key
with the soft echo of the melody in the
cello and horns.
The final movement, "I Pini del Via
Appia," begins with a lovely oboe solo.
Its ethereal tones brought forth the
image of a silent, snow-covered moun-
tain, and was answered by sweetly
discordant strains in the violin. The
image built with chimes like a waterfall
and bird sounds.
This last movement gave the orches-
tra its full play of intensity, and the
resonance and maintenance of pitch
were highly commendable. This earned
the orchestra, and conductor Charles
Gabrion, a resounding ovation from the
audience as the concert concluded.
By DAVID LEWIS
It took two years to bring Behind
Closed Doors: Western Influence on
Japanese Art to the University of
Michigan art museum, but for Japa-
nese art expert Cal French it was a
labor of love.
"I've looked at these paintings for 20
years," the trim, bearded French ex-
'plained. "They're like old friends."
French, who organized the exhibit
jointly with Meadow Brook Gallery di-
rector Kiichi Usui, wrote his disserta-
tion on Shiba Kokan, one of the most
prominent artists in the show. Shiba
Kokan was one of a small group of
Japanese painters who took up the ar-
tistic challenge of the West. Though
never in the mainstream of Japanese
art, they kept alive a passionate in-
terest in the themes and techniques of
Western painting over Japan's two-
hundred years of self-imposed
isolation, 1639-1835.
Known as "komo-ga" (red-hair paint-
ings), after the contemporary stereo-
type of red-haired, big-nosed foreign-
ers, their works chronicle the dramatic
confrontation between a creative artis-
tic temperament and a new, completely
unknown aesthetic.
"You can say, 'they didn't know how
to do this,'" observed French, after
pointing out Tani Buncho's immense
"Flowers and Birds," -where a' flower
vase can never quite decide which side
of an arch it is on. "But you shouldn't
try to compare it to the art of the West.
It reflects another aspect of the
Japanese aesthetic. You can see in it a
Japanese sense of taste that makes it
beautiful."
While there are books and exhibitions
of "komo-ga" in Japan, French said the
genre is never mentioned in Western
books. This is the first time any of it has
been out of the country. Kiichi Usui first
thought of doing the show as a bicen-
tennial special, emphasizing American
influences.
"I didn't like the bicentennial jazz,"
French explained. The 89 pieces on
show here and at the Meadow Brook
Gallery focus on earlier material, and
when the show goes on to Denver the
American-influenced material will be
added.
But the art supplied by Japan's Kobe
City Museum of Namban (early West-
ern-influenced) Art hardly needs im-
proving. From Kawahara Keiga's
standing screen of Nagasaki Harbor,
designated a national treasure by the
Japanese government, to the oldest
world -map and the first oil painting
ever done in Japan, it is a priceless and
powerful display.
Behind Closed Doors will be on dis-
play at the U of M art museum and Oak-
land University's Meadow Brook Gal-
lery through November 21.
the anni arbor film cooperative
TONIGHT
Friday, November 18
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
(Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975) 7 & 10:15-MLD 4
MONTY PYTHON'S first film was so deliciously silly, even Anita Bryant liked
it. Now the lads of the Circus mess about with King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table. Sidesplitting visual spoof of chivalry,, courtly love,
INGMAR BERGMAN, and the Hollywood epic.
Friday, November 18
START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME
(Bud Yorkin, 1970) 3:40 ONLY-MLB4
GENE WILDER'S funniest role in this spoof of swashbucklers. Wilder and
DONALD SUTHERLAND ploy dual roles as two sets of twins mixed up at
birth. One set grows up peasant, the other aristocrat. Their accidental but
simultaneous presence at the court of Louis XVI years later causes such
riotous confusion that the French Revolution is almost averted! "A mad, affec-
tionate tribute to every historical mIodrama anybody ever saw. Wilder and
Sutherland perform magically."-L.A. Times. With BILLY WHITELAW AND
ORSON WELLES.
Single admission $1.50, double feature $2.50
FELLINI
1970
Live Santana LP fiery
SATYRICON
Fellini's most sensual film is based on the remaining fragments of the oldest
extant novel, Petronius' Chronicles of the Court of Nero. The film follows
the adventures of two handsome Romans, creating a stunning decadent
universe inhabited by albino hermaphrodites, elephantine prostitutes,
lascivious matrons, beautiful nymphomaniacs and homosexual youths. One
of Fellini's most controversial views of human self corruption. In a full-
sized color cinemascope version.
Sat: THE MALTESE FALCON
By KEITH TOSOLT
M OONFLOWERS" (Columbia
34914) is a collection of 11 live
cuts recorded in Europe and nine stu-
dio songs from Devadip Carlos
Santana and band. This double
album set offers a wide range to
satisfy almost anyone with popular
music tastes. It includes the progres-
sive Latin rock compositions that are
Santana's trademark, fusion jazz and
a rock oldie from the 60's.
Moonflower avoids strictly com-
mercial adventurism. The/inclusion
of new material on this album gives it
artistic credibility as opposed to the
blatant commercialism of cashing in
on old songs and recycled hits.
Santana is one of the true "artists" in
rock, as far as the aesthetic meaning
of that word goes, in comparison to
pop commodities like Frampton.
Of the live cuts, there are only two
that can be called "old" in the scope
of Santana's career. These two are
"Black Magic Woman" and "Soul
'Sacrifice," which can be considered
as two of Santana's greatest hits.
"Black Magic Woman", which was
actually penned by former Fleet-
wood Mac guitarist Peter Green in an
earlier era of that band, is probably
the definitive example of the Santana
style of guitar playing. The live
version is filled with the amplifier-
induced distortion and sustain which
typifies the Latinized heavy metal
sound of the early Santana.
THE OTHER live tracks are
material off Festival and Amigos,
Santana's last two albums. "Let the
Children Play" and "Dance Sister
Dance" are performed very tightly
and true to the studio versions. My
favorite is "Europa," one of those
Latin rock instrumentals with jazz
feel.
Now we come to the studio compo-
sitionsvon Moonflower. Santana real-
ly moves deeply into the realm of
fusion in his new material. "Zulu" is
one such fusion cut, containing a
funky, punctuated Stanley Clarke
style bass line by Dave Margine and
trade-offs between Santana's guitar
and Tom Coster's synthesizer.
"I'll Be Waiting" is one of the new
songs which is being exposed on the
airwaves. It features the incredibly
smooth vocals of Greg Walker. The
jazzy mood of the melody gets Carlos
inspired to play some speedy runs
and traditional jazz octaves.
. THE SONG I find most interesting
is Santana's version of "She's Not
There", which was originally a hit
for Rod Argent and the Zombies back
in 1965. The song really gets the
heavy metal treatment from Carlos
which makes it the tune that rocks
the hardest on Moonflower.
Carlos really cuts loose on "She's
Not There" in a way in which he
hasn't in a long time on record. The
cranked-up wah wah lead is so
intense and intentionally loud that it
seems as if Santana is indulging in a
little bit of excess.
Moonflower, on the whole, is a very
balanced album, with the hard rock
of "She's Not There" and "Black
Magic Woman" counterposed with
the jazz fusion material. It finally
surfaces completely in the new cuts
on Moonflower. Carlos is broadening
the scope of his music into jazz,
while still retaining the energy of the
heavy metal guitar on which his
technique is, and hopefully will re-
main, based.
Cinema Guild
TONIGHT AT
7:00 & 9:15
OLD ARCH. AUD.
$1 .50
CINEMA II
ANGELL HALL, AUD. A
Friday, November 18
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Director-FRANK CAPRA (1934) -
The romantic encounter of a runaway heiress (CLAUDETTE COLBERT) and a
wandering journalist (CLARK GABLE) provides the plot for one of the most
popular films of the 30's. First and probably the best of the screwball
comedies, it won all the major Academy Awards. "He flies through the
air with the greatest of ease ..."
78 9p.m. $1.50
Mediatrics
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
DELIVERANCE
This film, based on a novel by James Dickey, is a tense drama.
A peaceful canoe trip turns into murder and death in the
whitewater rapids. Starring JON VOIGHT and BURT REYNOLDS.
FRI., NOV. 18 7:30 and 9:30