.M. . THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SId E NE" ' music in r' ew Wednesday, November 26, 1975 Page Five

It

Nei Young's new 'Zuma'
reveals poet in disguise

By KURT HARJU to provide a compelling, con-!
NEIL YOUNG'S latest release, temporary forum for his ideas.j
Zuma (Warner Bros. MS 2242) Only Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell,
showcases his diverse talents as or Jackson Browne have dis-
singer and lyricist in such a played this talent in as thought-
way that it provides a captivat- provoking a manner as Young
ing retrospective to his long does on Zuma.
and varied career. While many of the new songs
The key to Young's musical rely principally on the lyrics,
success has always been his many others feature superb vo-
amazing versatility. Young is cals or guitar solos to convey
a sensitive lyricist, a creative what Young is trying to say.
vocalist, and an outstanding "Pardon My Heart," a throw-
lead guitarist - and the com- back to the days when Young
bination of these talents has had left the Buffalo Springfield
given him an edge over most and was trying to make it as a
artists in popular music. folksinger, is a sparse number
Nowhere are these qiialities that depends on the intricate
displayed more engagingly than subtleties of the lyrics to come
on his newest release. across to the listener.
ON ZUMA, Young's gift for YO U N G examines the
word play has rarely been bet- loss of his lover, and concludes
ter. Without a doubt, the LP in the chorus that he himself
confirms my feeling that he's a "brought it all on" and then
modern poet in a rock and roll denies that message by saying
disguise -- a creative artist who "No--I don't believe this song."
has merged poetry with music This vindictive attitude is also
SHORT WAVE':

exemplified by "Stupid Girl," in quered the Aztec empire and
which he blames a woman for suggests a similar slaughter
the mistakes he's made with might be happening today.
her.
"Drive Back," "Barstool The extended guitar solo, the
Blues," and "Don't Cry No perceptive storyline and the
Blue," nd Don' Cr Naanger which Young pronounces
Tears" are tunes that recall Corez name Yemn thes
Young's very first collaboration tener name reminds the lis-
with Crazy Horse on Everybody "C of such fine works as
Knows This is Nowhere. The "Southern the Sandand
technical abilities of the band S ern Man.
stand out here with efforts that After the critical success of
spotlight Young's considerable On the Beach and Tonight's the
talents on electric guitar. Night, Young has finally releas-
On mostofthothergcuts,.ed some material that may be
however, Young presents him- popular as well. He has combin-
self as a balladeer of no small ed the diverse elements of his
talents. On "Danger Bird," he powerful music into a cohesive
weaves a frightening tale in a force with which he expresses
manner that commands atten- the demons and angels that in-
tion. In "Lookin' For A Love," hibit his soul.
Young decides that he'll try to;
make his next love the best if 
it's possible.
YO NG 'S versatility isi
further demonstrated in "Cortez
the Killer," in which he de-
scribes how the Spanish con- t

Casals stng o
,,y ......... .ii: ".Byov d isap,,p oin tin g
BY ICHsDJAMESp
RICHARD.JAME Paul Parmelee, the pianist, ap
HOSE W HO attended the peared to need a bit more time
PaloCsasTro efom to warm up as several rapid
......,Pablo Casals Trio perfor passages in the opening allegro
ance in Rackham Auditorium and one or two in the final
Sunday afternoon with hopes of movement slipped out of con-
seeing a display of. virtuosity trol
and dramatic delivery reminis-
cent of the Tokyo String Quar- CELLIST Jurgen de Lemos
,,_,r:.". ... : .i'tet were, I suppose, somewhat gave the impression of being
disappointed. the most out of place. His vibra-
The concert did, indeed, start to was alarmingly tight and he
a bit slow. The individual mem- seemed to have a hard time
.,. ... ..bers of the trio were less than bringing his instrument to life.
. perfect and outwardly, far from He made one feel that he was
exciting. Yet the patient listen- plaving at his instrument rather
er soon began to recognize this than becoming one with it. Oc-
S.>.i::.i noted ensemble's hallmark -. casional technical problems
yfs {'a ~an impeccable sense of ensem- trinped him up, too.
- ble and a profound attention to Despite these difficulties, the
every detail of the works and performance was, in some ways,
the relation of these details to remarkable. The trio's real
the work as a whole. This as- triumph was their ability to play
pect of their playing can be absolutely together. Their long
o 1 credited with saving the per-; hours of work as an ensemble,
formance many times over. I for years under the coaching of
This contrast between individ-! Pablo Casals himself, were ap-
ual performers' difficulties and parent to all. One almost felt
ensemble precision was partic- that each one knew what the
ularly apparent in the first work others were going to do before
Flutra co n er on the program; Mozart's Trio it hapened.
in C Major, K. 548. Violinist Os- Their most serious problem,
wald Lehnert, while seeming a as an ensemble, was the ten-
joy, to the lonliness of vast open Fifth Symphony. Sadly, this bit detached, was the most con- dency of the cello to become
spaces, all conveyed master- I performance did not live up to sistent performer of the three. k See CASALS, Page 8



Stockhausen played poorly

By TOM GODELL j
A LTHOUGH it may not have

By KEVIN COUNIHAN
QINCE THE EARLY 1960's the
music of Karlheinz Stockhaus-
en has been increasingly direc-
ted towards "controlled improvi-
sation."
This genre of composition dif-
fers from "traditional" improvi-
sation, usually associated with
jazz, in that the composer regu-
lates the specific elements of
the work. Elements undersuch
control include the dynamic lev-
el, range of pitch, and tempo-
the improvisational quality rests
in the musician's cloice of pre-
senting these elements.
Improvisation of this type did
not originate with Stockhausen.
John Cage's efforts in this area
clearly preceeded Stockhausen
by over a decade.
WHAT MARKED Stockhaus-1
en's music as different from oth-
er composers who explored im-
provisational possibilities (most
notably Pierre Boulez), was his
ability to maintain coherence
and diversity within a frame-
work of relatively spontaneous
activity.

Whereas Boulez's Poi Selon
PH ornately structured all ele-
ments of his improvisational
labyrinths, Stockhausen ordered
his works through "signs" which
directed the reaction of the play-
ers to events they or others
had just performed.
Stockhausen's aleatory works
such as From the Seven Days
were also successful because
they were supervised by the
composer. In facts the lack of
his direction may explain the
general failure of Short Wave
(Finnadar SR 9009), as perform-
ed by the Negative Band.
Short Wave is scored for elec-
tronium, piano, amplified tam-
tam and viola, filter, and loca-
tor (employed for sound modifi-
cation and distribution of the
amplified instruments), and four
radios.
The group took advantage of
the allowance for instrument
substitution by replacing the
electronium with a Buchla syn-
thesizer and the viola with an
alto saxophone.

The composition is static in'
construction, despite the inclu-
sion of small canons and pass-
ages of pointilism. While the
general synopsis of the piece
seems hopelessly dull, the Nega-
tive Band sustains some atten-
tion through quality musician-
ship and skillful use of synthe-
sizer and filter.
AVOIDING conventional gim-'
mickery, Joseph Paul Taylor ef-
fectively colors the work with
synthesizer and aids its move-
ment with his fugue-like trade-
offs with the saxophone. The
inclusion of the filter provides
further periods of interest
through its timbral alteration
of the tam-tam.
A short piece, "Set Sail for
the Sun," is included with Short
Wave and requires that the per-
formers listen carefully to their
collective sound and bring that
sound into ''complete harmony.'
In this piece, written instruc-
tions are the only means of
formal direction for per-
formance.
The album's liner notes em-
phasize the difference between
the Negative Band's perform-
ance of Short Wave and those
supervised by Stockhausen. Be-
ing a group of West Coast com-
posers, the Negative Band sup-
posedly lends a collective "con-
cern with the nature of com-
position" in an "overtly Ameri-
can context." Most likely, this
explanation is meant as an apol-
ogy for the performance which
is neither stimulating or remin-
iscent of Stockhausen.
ALEATORY MUSIC is diffi-
cult and requires a unique un-
derstanding ,of the seemingly
obvious elements involved in its
construction. It is probable that
Short Wave suffered from a lack
of experience and comprehen-
sion; this recorded version
should be regarded more as a
work by its performers than by

been as dramatic as the fully by a letter perfect orches-
last minute substitution of tra, an da forceful interpreter.
Leonard Bernstein for the in- There is perhaps no greater joy
disposed Bruno Walter at a New than the discovery of a new
York Philharmonic concert in musical masterpiece. Lars-ErikI
the '40s, 28-year-old Valentin Larsson's violin concerto was:
Kozhin led the Stockholm Phil- such a discovery. Viktoria Post-
harmonic in a truly exciting nikova, the scheduled soloist,
concert Monday evening at Hill. chose to remain in Chicago withE
Kozhin, a protege of sched- her ailing husband, Rozdestven-
uled conductor Rozdestvensky, sky. Our soloist was Leo Ber-
who was sidelined in Chicago by lin, the orchestra's concertmas-
a kidney ailment, displayed con- ter. His performance was dra-
siderable ability on the podium matic and forceful, yet always
in a concert of music by Swed- lyric. He played the difficult
ish and Russian composers. passages effortlessly.
After a brilliant rendition of BUT THIS should not imply,
the American and Swedish na- that he played coldly or emo-
tional anthems the concert got tionlessly. Far from it-he,{
under way with the third sym- like every member of the or-
phony of Karl-Birger Blomdahl. chestra played with tremen-
sub - titled "Facets". This is dous passion. Berlin is with-
complex music, envincing men- out question a virtuoso in his
tions which are often difficult own right, better indeed than
to convey successfully to an many so-called 'soloists' now
audience. toring the world.
NEVERTHELESS, t h i s The . concerto itself was a
music is searingly emotional breath of fresh air, stultified as
and passionate, and Kozhin and we are in America by the stan-
the orchestra gave the music dard Germanic repertory. While
a sympathetic treatment. Dis- this is unmistakably- a product
sonance in the strings generat- of the 20th century, it is easily
ed white heat, climaxes were accessible, and no less great for
well demarcated ' producing that. It is music of romantic
great intensity, and the music depth and power, in its wayl
flowed beautifully, a result of like the Prokofiev second violin
the clear presentation of melo- concerto. Virtuosity is also pre-
dic material. sent, but never for its own sake.
The music ranged in mood After intermission the concert
from devilish glee, and drunken resumed with Tchaikovsky'sI
TONIGHT AT 8
THE UNIVERSITY. OF MIHIGAN
PROFESSIONAL THEATRE PROGRAM
GUEST ARTIST SERIES

the standard set by the first.
half of the concert. Kozhin, it
seemed, did not understand the
music, and his reading lacked
both lyricism and excitement.
Indeed, attempts to generate


excitement by erratic tempo
changes only succeeded in mak-
ing the performance less effec-
tive.
FOLLOWING this the audi-
ence was rewarded with an en-
core: Hugo Alfven, known pri-
marily as the composer of the
Swedish Rhapsody, has also
written numerous delightful
works for orchestra. Kozhin
chose his Shepherd Girl, a joy-
ois scherzo, to bring the con-
cert to a dazzling conclusion.
Anniversary
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Records In Bri
ENCOURAGED by girlfriend favorite group is Bad Com-
Britt Tames ani Britain's pany.
all consuming income taxes, The album's "slow side" is
Rod Stewart has come to Amer- h lu' so ie s
ica to make his first album clearly superior to the flip side
without the hF i rsand allows for more of the
w aces, band's musical abilities to shine
Atlantic Crossing breaks from through. Regrettably, Rod's
the past. Stewart's cocky, rock raucous voice destroys the final
and roll flamboyance has been tracks on this otherwise strong
subdued on this LP. With his side.
new band, the music has mel- WHILE SOME of his new
lowed and the sound is more band's musical attributes may
exact. But Rod's raspy, scrap- be superior to the Faces, Rod
ing vocals have not changed, Stewart's vocal sound is, in my
and his voice does not blend opinion, better suited to that
well with the music. British band.
D nid l

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poems and conversations
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Tuesday, Dec 16 8:00 pm
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ticket prices $2.50 and $3.00 patron seats $5.00
presented by William Monroe Trotter House, U of M International Women's
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Tickets co on Sale next Tuesday, Dec. 2nd, 11 a.m.
Michigon Union Box Office, 763-2071

I 111


I ii

1

PRESENTS
NOVEMBER
WED-SAT
SUNDAY
Directed by
Nicholas Pennell
Guest Artist-in-Resi

Recorded in New York and --av'u r ivasner its creator.
Miami and produced by Tom
Dowd, Atlantic Crossing is the
most professional and musical-,
ly tight of Stewart's albums. MUSKET Presents
THE ALBUM is highly com-
mercial. As a result, strong in-
strumental solos from the tal-
ented musicians backing up Rod
are often deleted. DECEMBER 4, 5, 6- 8:00 p.m.
A potentially dynamic sax Saturday Mat. 2:00 p.m.
solo is severely limited in the
album's opening cut "Three
Time Loser." One of Rod's self- M E N D E LSSO H N THEATRE
penned tracks, this song about
venereal disease sets the mood Tickets on sale now at UAC
of the album's "fast side." With
the exception of "Drift Away," Ticket Central in the Union
a song that has a tasty, raggae
feel, the music is simple and For more info call 763-1107
the beat repetitive - but this is
to be expected from Rod whose

I

26-30
8PM
3PM
dence

with WILLIA M LEACH Guest Artist- in -Residence
Tickets available through PTP Ticket Office-
Located in Mendelssohn Theatre Lobby Mon-
day-Friday 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 2-5 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL (313) 764-0450

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( Except Friday and Saturday Evenings )

OR

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Singularly fashioned jewelry of
rare and ancient beads.
Decorative textiles from three continents.
Intricately handcarved Peruvian Gourds,

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2:30 4:30 7-00

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