THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Arts& Entertainm ent Tuesday, October 21, 1975 Page Five
Graham
dance
group
'U' Choir: Pleasant sound
Derforms exauisitely
By JAMES BURNS
Many lovers of classical music, myself
included, often fantasize a world where no
composer ever conceived of the nre o te-
I- -- - 'U
By CATHI SUYAK
The Martha Graham Dance
Cotpany has an excellent repu-
tation based on the merits of its
namesake, the most famous art-
ist in American modern dance.I
The group lived up to its repu-
tation in a fine performance
Friday night at Power Center.
The choreography is almost
above 'criticism. Graham once
said that "the function of dance
is communication." She does'
display an intimate knowledge
of dance as language.' Music'
and movement convey stories
and emotions so effectively that
program notes seem absurd.
"Seraphic Dalogue," the open-
ing number, featured the spirit
of Joan of Arc in a dialogue
with three saints. Joan reflects ,
on her roles in life as maiden,
warrior, and martyr. Different
dancers express each role. It
could be confusing, but Graham
ingeniously uses blocking and
costumes to define the charac-
teriztton.
The set was stunning. The
dancers interacted with three
chrome wire sculptures. The
geomtric forms of the set echo
the angularity of the dancers'
motions. Part of Graham's style:
is frequent use of staccato, lin-
ear rnevements, and she uses
them liberally in this piece.
"Lamentation," t h e second
piece, was a short, intense por-
trayal of the essence of grief. '
A seated figure wrapped in a
tube of purple cloth swags and'
sways, stretching the material
iite taut lines of tension and
woe. The figure at first has
little facial contact with the
audience. It makes one feel de-
tached from the emotion, until
she takes a sweeping scan of
the audience enfolding us in her
grief.
"Diversion of Angels" took us{
from a somber note to a buo-
yant exploration of young love.
The piece emphasizes romantic
rather than erotic love, making
it remarkably tame next to cur-
rently popular orgiastic dancers.!
It is vivacious and lilting. I
lked the spirit, even if the sym-
bols were weak at times.
The most obvious motif, pre-
carious one-legged stands, was'
a fitting metaphor for the un-
stability of young love. Even
though the dancers were in
prime shape, they were wobbl-
ing and trembling from the
strain of the balance.
The finale was a Graham
classic, "Appalachian Spring,"
featuring A a r o n Copland's
famed score, the best in the
Graham repetoire.
This Americana dance con-
cerns a thundering revivalist
preacher who is evangelizing to
a newlywed couple and an ideal-
istic pioneer woman. The char-
acters are well developed, and
everyone portrayed their parts
convincingly.
Daniel Meloney was an en-
thusiastic preached. Tim Wen-
gard and Diane Gray were ap-
propriately tender and sweet as
the newlyweds. Wengard was ous notion of using the human voice in
versatile enough to carry off a their works. A planet without opera,
rowdy, knee-slapping jig and choirs, mammoth choruses, or even the
progress smoothly to the wist. traditional Christmas presentations of
ful contentment of a mountain Messiah would bring no tears to my eyes.
man. , Or so I thought as I waited last Friday
The preachers four female night in Hill Auditorium. As workers hust-
audience as they bobbed and" led around the stage and anxious singers
marched in true Calvinistic spir- peered from behind doors to watch the
it. The audience laughed-the slowly filling seats, I settled back for what
d a n c e was communicating. I assumed would be an unpleasant eve-
Deep pathos is difficult to de- ning of easily criticizable offerings. In that
pict in dance, but humor pre- regard (and in it only) disappointment
sents an even bigger challenge. awaited me.
It's a triumph if both emotons
can be transmitted. What Thomas Hilbish and his Univer-
Indeed, a wide range of feel- sity Choirs did was to transcend any mun-
ings was displayed in Friday's dane questions of the utility of vocal
program, p r o v i n g that the music and overwhelm the audience with
Martha Graham Dance Com- a wide-spread collections of choral works
pany is capable of expressing from Baroque to ultra-modern. It proved
what their f o u n d e r wanted
dance to be: "a graph of the a shattering expperience for any instru-
heart." mental chauvinist.
into an eerie imitation of it by the women.
The premiere performance of Leslie Bas-
sett's Of Wind and Earth presented a cap-
tivating use of aural effects to enhance
the obvious goal of the piece - to provide
a complete presentation of two natural ob-
jects using all capabilities of the human
voice.
The second piece, Preghiera Di Maria
Stuardo by Luigi Dallapiccola, required
the use of two pianos, two harps, and a
moderately sized percussion section. It
FOUR WIN MONEY
IN OPERA AUDITIONS
SAN FRANCISCO (/P) Four
singers were presented cash
awards at the 1975 Grand Fin-
als of the San Francisco Opera
Auditions.
They are soprano Linda
IHealy of Sheboygan Falls, Wis.,
who received $2,000; tenor Ro-
ger Bryant of Ft. Worth, Tex.,
who received $1,000; baritone
Craig Fields of Newhall, Calif.,
who received $500, and soprano
Elaine Pavlick of San Diego,
who received $250.
The program was supported
in part by a grant from the Jo-
seph Schlitz Brewing Co.
brought to mind a slow procession which
methodically approaches and then dis-
plays a gamut of emotions, ranging from
a hymlike "Domine" chant to a sparkling
use of the entire ensemble.
Bach's Cantata No. 150 ("Nach dir,
Herr, verlanget mich") opened with an-
other small instrumental group composed
of violins, violas, a cello, and a bassoon.
Their playing reminded me instantly not
only why Bach is my favorite composer,
but why his appeal remains, universal. The
smooth, emotion - evoking procession of
affectively logical notes brought forth
feelings that all too often lie buried in de-
fense of cool rationality.
I
TECHNICOLORS'A PARAMOUNT RELEASE
Faculty entertains
in chamber concert
By STEVEN BENJAMIN j
This past Sunday, the faculty
of the School of Music put on a
chamber concert that was, for
the most part, entertaining and
well-performed.
Featuring music in a lighter
vein, the concert's major flaw
was programming that juxta-
posed three serious Bach vocal
duets with several smile-provok-
ing works of varying vintage.
The Bach pieces seemed out
of place, and created a concert
that seemed overly long, and
lacking in continuity.
The first composition on theI
program was G. P. Telemann's
Mourning Music for an Artistic
Canary Bird. Contrasting an ab-
surd text lamenting the death of
his canary with a score typical
of his more serious works, Tele-
mann's Canary cantata is a
marvelous showpiece for a tenor
with sensitivity and control.
John McCollum did an excel-
lent job, combining a warm,
rich tone with a characteriza-
tion that brought to mind Peter
Schickele's PDQ Bach. McCol-
lure's facial expressions were
delightful throughout, and help-
ed project his interpretation of
this humorous piece. A string
quartet and harpsichord accom-
paniment balanced well against
the voice, providing some tasty
commentary with furious scalar
passages.
Merrill Ellis's A Dream Fan-
tasy for clarinet, percussion,
and prepared tape followed the
Telemann cantata. Fantasy is
just what it says: a dream-like
fantasia, opening with five min-
utes of long, suspended phrases
and delicate tape and percus-
sion timbres. But the texture
(and mood) of the piece begins
to degenerate as the clarinet
player (John Mohler) gets up
from his seat and walks around
(Continued on Page 7)
Iiiq
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