Arts & Entertainment Friday, July 23, 1976 Page Seven THE MICHIGAN DAILY Paray's back, and classier than ever By TOM GODELL Special To The Daiy ROCHESTER, MICH. - De- troit has not forgotten Paul Paray. How could they? For over fifteen years he was the Detroit Symphony's music di- rector, and in that time he brought the orchestra to the peak of perfection. Few men rate a standing ovation for merely walking on stage. Pa- ray got one; never was one more deserved. He was in town' to conduct the DSO in the Mea- dowbrook Music Festival, per- forming a program that will be repeated tomorrow night. The concert, consisting en- tirely of French music, began with Berlioz' Overture to Ben- venuto Cellini. It is, of course, Berlioz' at his most high-spirit- ed, Paray is a master at this kind of music, and as always, his performance was brisk and exciting. Never before has the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed as well. In particular, the string tone has improved tre- mendously over the course of the last year; but it took Paul Paray to create a tone that was as magnificent as it was in- describable. All of this was produced with clear and concise gestures by the maestro. Far more than merely coaxing lovely sound, Paray was able to build cli- maxes and make the music as exciting as it could possibly be. The end result was even bet- ter than I had hoped it would be. The second work on the pro- gram was Chausson's Symphony in B-flat major, op. 20. The work, modeled after Franck's Symphony in D-minor, is far from being great music. Or so I thought, until I heard Paray's performance. He recorded the work with the Detroit Sym- phony many years ago, how- ever that performance lacked both dramatic force and dyna- mic power. The performance given last night was impassioned and dra- matic. This resulted from rapid tempo choices, and a great sen- sitivity to orchestral color. Un- like many other conductors, Paul Paray has improved with age. A nonagenarian, Paray is able to command tremendous respect from the orchestra, a direct contrast with the way the DSO treats the current con- ductor Aldo Ceccato. Part of this is undoubtedly in defer- ence to Paray's status and re- putation, but most of it to his superb musicianship. When will the Symphony's less - than- perspicacious administration al- low Paray to conduct in Ford Auditorium? The second half of the con- cert consisted of four short works, beginning with Lalo's Overture to Le Roi d'Ys. This is a lovely and powerful work which has too long been ne- glected from the regular con- cert repertoire. Again, the work was given a loving perform- ance. Particularly notable for their lyricism were the wind solos. This was followed by a suite of pieces from Bizet's opera Carmen. This suite, arranged by Paray himself, preserves the composer's original orches- tration. It was played to per- fection. Although the perform- ance was perhaps not as free- wheeling as his recording, it gained in immediacy what it lost in spontaneity, Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess followed. The com- poser once remarked irritably that "it wasn't the Pavane that was dead, it was the Princess", Certainly in the hands of mae- stro Paray, even this piece gained life. He chose a fairly brisk tempo, complemented by brilliant coloration and lush strings. Concluding the concert was the ever - popular Sorcerer's Apprentice of Paul Dukas. This work, one of the most stunning of all orchestral tone poems, was given an extremely atmos- pheric performance. Once again the performance was highlight- ed by its string tone. One could just see the young sorcerer commanding the brooms to bring water. This was simply the most vivid reading of this work that I've ever heard. While Paray is definitely get- ting better, he's sadly getting older. At the conclusion of the first half of the concert, he was obviously tired and worn, so much so that concertmaster Gordon Staples had to assist him offstage at the intermis- sion. All in all, this concert was even better than the two Paray gave at Meadowbrook last year. More than likely, this was due to the fact that Paray could concentrate this year on per- fecting one group of selections, as opposed to last year, when he conducted two different con- certs in the same week. Never has the DSO sounded better-- and it was no surprise. They were directed by Paul Paray. TABLE TALK Ken Parsigian We were sitting around the Taste Club the other day (a club whose entrance requirements consist only of the possession of impeccable Taste), and discussing Bridge, as we so often do. I polished off the rest of my foie gras as I listened to Mitch extol the virtues of finesse. "None of your silly grand coups for me," he said, picking at a hamburger terribly well done. "Why, a simple ace-queen tenace over a king is worth six squeezes." "Squeezes?" I said brightly, those particular plays being my forte. "Why, certain hands beg for a squeeze!" "I'll say," said Jeffrey. "Why, I had an unbeatable hand just this afternoon, unbeatable by the pressure of a squeeze." We urged him to tell us about it, and he required no further prompting. Grabbing the back of our rich friend Philthy's bank statement, he wrote down the following hand: North 4 x x x YQxx * K Q x x T. A 10 x West 4 A 10 x x V xx f J 10 9 8 4Qxx East A x x y J x x f x x x 4 K J x xx South 4KQJ8 V A K x x x # A x 4 xx "My partner, after a long and psychotic bidding sequence, jumped my four notrump to six hearts, and I, having mentioned them earlier, simply gaped as he put down the not inadequate dummy." Jeffrey paused and lit a cigarette. "West opened the jack of diamonds, having read in Watson's book that the correct lead from jack-ten-fourth might as well be the jack," he continued, "and I won my Ace, East following low. "I had 2 spades, 5 hearts (providing they broke 3-2), 3 dia- monds, and 1 club-11 sure tricks in all. The 12th could come from spades if that suit broke favorably, but that was unlikely," Jeff said as he ground out his butt and quickly lit another. "No," he sighed, "there had to be a way to make the hand without a spade break. Stopping only a moment to survey the hands, I quickly realized that if the person with the long diamonds had the long spades too, then I was facing a baby simple squeeze. Rather proud of myself, I must admit, I led my King of spades, which West won with the Ace. He returned a heart to my Ace. I led a small club to dummy's Ace, then drew trumps, West show- ing out on the 3rd round. There was still the chance spades would break, so I led both my Queen and Jack. But East showed out the Jack, setting the stage for my squeeze. At this point the hands were: North * K Q x . + xx West 4 10 f J 10 9 4x East 4 -- 4 x T. K Jx x South, 418 xx # x 4 x "On my penultisate heart, West shed a club, as did dummy and East. Now, I led my last little spade and spread my hand. West was fixed. If he tossed a spade, my 8 would be good, and if he threw a diamond dummy's King and Queen would drop his 10 and 9, making dummy's small diamond good for 12th trick," he said finishing the last of the port "And that is how you played the hand?" I asked. "Well, uh," he hedged, "iot, uh, exactly -" "I remember," said Mitch, who had been trying to find a 12th trick via a finesse. "I was dummy, and you didn't make the hand. Although I'm not qiute sure why. Maybe if you had tried a deep finesse-" "Nonesense," Jeff replied, "but you are right. I didn't make the hand. That palooka, Philthy, did me in. When I led the King of spades, he ducked; And he ducked again when I led the Queen. Now, I could no longer rectify the count, and had to concede down one." "A remarkably brilliant defense from our not so brilliant friend," I replied, "maybe we have misjudged him." "No, no, no," Jeff exclaimed, shaking his hand wildly. "You don't understand. He didn't do it on purpose. He had the Ace of spades mixed in with his clubs, and he didn't realize it until the 4th trick, when I led clubs!" "Did I do that," said a surprised Philthy, who had been strangely quiet the whole time. "Well, at least it didn't cost the contract; that would have been unforgiveable." A2 Medieval Festival to open The Ann Arbor Medieval Fes- 3 pm Burns Park; August 1 cert of medieval and Renais- tival is back again, with a se- 11:00 am The Ark, 3 pm The sance music, using instruments ries of programs the last week- Arboretum. from the Stearns Collection, di- end of July and on into August. The dramatic offerings in- rected by Prof. Thomas Tay- As in past years, the group will clude St. George. and the Dra- lor. The Interlochen Collegium Present a complete medieval gon, The Farce of Master Pet- Musicum will also perform, and fair (August 7 & 8) replete with' er Pathelin, and from the Wake- there will be a program of me- medieval dramatic offerings. field Cycle, a mystery play, dieval dancing (including mor- The weekend before that, a The Killing of Abel. ris dances and courtly danc- toutring company will perform ing.) at area parks. The schedule: The University's Collegium There will also be an arts July 31 11:00 am, West Park, Musicum will perform a con- and crafts exhibition.