I
w
ARTS
The Michigan Daily Tuesday, October 14, 1980 Page 5
Catch ti
By MICHAEL KREMEN
You can eliminate some of the con-
fusion that surrounds the "Two-Tone"
bands (The Specials, The Selecter,
Madness and The Beat) simply by ap-
proaching them as the pop.groups that
they are. In the manner of pop bands of
the last twenty years-from. The
Beatles and Stones to The Buzzcocks
and The Clash-The Beat, following the
lead of The Specials, have synthesized
various pop musical elements,
specifically, ska, rock, soul and reggae,
to create yet another modern pop
sound.
And a very good and very danceable
music it is! Now consisting of two
guitarists (one of whom serves as co-
lead vocalist), keyboards, saxophone,
bass, drums, and another main vocalist,
The.Beat is solid at all points. The
guitars and keyboards occasionally
provide lead melody but their prime
function is percussive. Like its
Jamaican sources, the bass is mixed to'
the front and periodically emerges as a
lead voice. Saxa, who appears to be old
enough to have been involved in the
original ska explosion (1963-69),
provides sonic color with his swinging
-- "
us Beat
two men's differing vocal styles con-
trast effectively when they sing on the
same tune.
The songs performed this Sunday,
with the exception of a slower piece that
featured lots of echo and was identified
as "Psychedelic Rockers" (remember
this is a pop band and England is in the
midst of nascent psychedelic
revivalism), were from The Beat's
superb debut LP, "I Just Can't Stop It."
The club performances were a satisfac-
tory "live" rendering of the recorded
material. While many of the songs were
played as . they appear on the album,
"Tough Rider" and "Twist and Crawl"
were extended and elaborated, the lat-
ter featuring a heavily echoed bass part
that created a dub-like effect, although
faster than in classic reggae style.
The Beat, in existence for less than
two years, still don't seem to have suf-
ficient performance-ready material.
Called back for a deserved second en-
core, they replayed tunes from earlier
in the evening. Considering the superior
treatment they give to Smokey and the
Miracles' "Tears of a Clown", I would
hope that they would select a couple
oldies the vaults of Studio One or
Motown and give it a Beat treatment.
MSTISLA V R OS TR OPO VICH
Living up to a reputation
By ED PRINCE
Ann Arbor is frequently honored by
the visits of important political figures
and great musical artists, but less
frequent are visits by persons who can
claim both distinctions. Last Sunday,
October 12, cellist Mstislav
Rostropovich played to a full house at.
Hill Auditorium and though it mat-
tered little to most of his enraptured
audience, he fits that description on
both counts.
As a musician his virtuosity is un-
disputed. Mr. Rostropovich has won
consistent critical acclaim not only as a
cellist, but also as an accompanist and
as a conductor of both opera and the
symphonic repetoire. He was the music
director of the National Symphony Or-
chestra from 1977 to 1978, and he has,
received over thirty awards and honors
from univ.ersities, musical
organizations and countries around the
world.
ding musically. Mr. Rostropovich
played the third suite in C major,
meeting the piece's demands with no
problems and giving an expressive and
dramatic interpretation. This he
achieved through the use of a wide
dynamic range; especially in the
Praeludium where the juxtapostion of
loud and soft passages proved to be ex-
traordinarily effective.
AFTER THE BACH came a work
with much less to recommend it; the
Arpeggione Sonata of Franz Schubert.
Schubert originally wrote it for Vincenz
Schuster (the inventor of the musical
instrument that the sonata is named af-
ter) and according to Maurice Brown, a
Schubert biographer, the composer did
not take the instrument or the sonata
form seriously. The work is slight but
contains some nice melodies which
both father and daughter played with
an appropriately ilting touch.
Following the Schubert oddity was
akin to the styles of Tchaikovsky and
Rachmaninoff. Rostropovich was quite
at home here and brought out the
soulful melody effortlessly. The second
and fourth movements provided some
excitement and interestingeffects, but
taie real high point of the sonata was the
third movement, Largo, which was
filled with grief.Rostropovich gave -a
tremendously powerful and convincing
performance, and this more than any-
thing else confirms his stature as an
artist.
Besides being a great artist, he also
knows how to keep his audience happy,
as he concluded with two short fanciful
encores. The first, a transcription of the
song "Apres un Reve" by Faure, had a
beautiful melody which received a warm
and loving treatment, and the second
was a delightful bit of virtuoso fluff by
David Popper called "Dance of the
Elves" which brought the house down
and finished off a wonderfully rewar-
ding evening of music with a thrill.
r1
Russian expatriate and virtuoso cellist Mstislav Rostropovich shown here in
'a casual moment during rehearsal for his extremely well-received recital
this past Sunday at Hill Auditorium.
IN HIS NATIVE Russia he was
awarded the State Prize in 1951, the
Lenin Prize in 1964, and most recently
he was named People's Artist of the
USSR, the highest possible award for
an artist in the Soviet Union. All these
official plaudits meant nothing in 1970
after he sheltered the dissident author
Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his home.
Thex Soviet "government banned the
cellist's name from publications and
prohibited hih'from performing out-
side of Russia for three years. In 1974
Mr. Rostropovich left the Soviet Union,
pledging not to return until he could pur-
sue his professional life without gover-
nmental restraint. In 1978 he was
stripped of his Soviet citizenship.
Political bravery, does not, however,
bring in capacity audiences, which is
something else Mr. Rostropovich has a
knack for. What his audience came to
hear was the playing of a cellist many,
describe as the finest in the world, and
they were not disappointed as he
presented a program of works ranging
from Bach to Shostakovich. Accom-
panying him was his daughter Elena, a
student of the great pianist Rudolph
Serkin, who proved to be a sensitive and
accomplished musician.
Elena did not appear in the first
piece, though, which was predictably
enough a Suite for Unaccompanied
Cello by Bach. Bach's six cello suites
rank among the greatest pieces written
for that instrument, and apart from the
not-inconsiderable technical dif-
ficulties, they are extremely deman-
DeBussy's Cello Sonata in D minor, a
work written during the first World War
which seems to reflect the grim times
into which it was born. There is a
feeling of tension and anxiety in the
work conveyed through irregular, jum-
py rhythms and constantly changing
moods, and this aspect was emphasized
in the 'Rostropovichs' performance.
The artists handled an opening passage
dramatically as the cello, playing low,
repeated notes, was partially obscured
by the piano to produce an ominous and
forbidding atmosphere.
The work which followed was of even
greater emotional impact, and not sur-
prisingly as it was by Dmitri
Shostakovich, who was until his death
in 1972 the greatest living Soviet com-
poser. Many important composers have
written works for Rostropovich (in-
cluding Benjamin Britten, Walter
Piston, Leonard Bernstein and Aram
Khatchaturian) and Shostakovich con-
tributed two cello concertos to that list
of works. Shostakovich was the cellist's
orchestration professor at the Moscow
Conservatory, and suffered much of his
life from the same sort of intimidation
and deprivations that the Soviet gover-
nment imposed upon Rostropovich. It
was only natural then that the cellist
should' conclude with Shostakovich's
Cello Sonata in D Minor, opus 40, a work
which reaches a truly tragic emotional
level in its slow movement.
The first movement presents
Shostakovich at his most Russian with
a melancholy Slavic melody somewhat
MANN THEATRES
DAILY DISCOUNT MATINEES
VILLAGE 4 All seats $2.00 'til 5:30
375 N. MAPLE Mon-Sat, 'til 2:00 on Sundays
'rE 0 DOUBLE FEATURE
Coast to Coast (PG)
BE NJIMIN 3:30 7:15
1:15 3:15 5:15 Caddyshack (R)
® J7:30 9:45 1:45 5:15 9:00
DOUBLE FEATURE Why Would
Honeysuckle\Rose (PG)
1:45 7:00
Willie & Phil (R)130 530
4:00 9:15 330 7:30
9:30
CINEMA II
PRESENTS
Kuhle Warmpe
(Slatan Dudow, 1932)}
Bertolt Brecht wrote the screenplay for this film, the first ever fr-omn
Germany to express a communist viewpoint. Its plot concerns the sor-
rows of an unemployed worker and his family, but within this dramatic
context lies a complex cinematic rendition of the proletarian /bourgeois
struggle. A film of historic, political, and aesthetic interest. German,
with subtitles. (80 min.)
Tuesday, Oct. 14 MLB 3 7 & 9 $2.00
Bing Long's Traveling All Stars
(John Bodham, 1976)
James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, and Billy Dee Williams star in this
hilarious comedy of, baseball when it was really baseball-the 20's,
before there were such things as free agents and designated hitters.
The humor is as fast and furious as Satchel Paige's fast ball and just
as lethal. (111 min.)
Friday, Oct. 17 Aud. A 7 & 9 $2.00
This Weekend: THE BLACK STALLION
(Watch For Our Special Matinees)
DODES' KA-DEN
Series tickets still available-l0 shows/$15
Daily Photo by MAUREEN O'MALLEY
Ranking Roger, one of two lead vocalists with 'ska/pop/rock/reggae band the
English Beat, stretches out a bit here during the band's Sunday night perfor-
mance before a typically packed Bookie's Club in Detroit.
and lighthearted tenor work. He brings
a carnival-fiesta feel to the many tunes
on which he is featured.
FURTHER variety is achieved by using
two lead vocalists. Dave Wakeling, who
also plays guitar, has a cool and precise
style, while Ranking Roger has a more
animated, emotional style. Roger also
does the occasional "toast" (Jamaican
D.J. style rap that inspired The
Sugarhill Gang and Kurtis Blow) and
serves as the band's visual focus. The
World'
S
old
The Beat is already a commercial
success in England with several top ten
singles and a best-selling LP to their
credit. Given the current state of the
American music business and the
(related) hostility to new music that
commercial radio displays, it's im-
possible to predict the Beat's ultimate
success in the music marketplace.
Their rythmically potent distillation of
pop styles makes a strong case for suc-
cess.
est Beatle fan
of the 1963 guitar during a private
demonstration for the Beatles on Feb.
8, 1964, t day before the group made
its U.S. t evision debut on the Ed
Sullivan show. The Beatles didn't buy
the instrument but Saks did, for $479.50,
according to his story. Later that year,
he had the Beatles autograph the in-
strument in gold leaf. He now has it in-
sured for $50,000, he said.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)-Beatles
fans may want to hold A.D. Saks' hand
after they find out who has held his
guitar. Saks' prized possession is a 1963-
model electric guitar signed by all four
members of the disbanded British rock
Sgroup. More than a beloved artifact,
this guitar: It's a meal ticket.
Saks traveled to the third annual New
England Beatles Convention at
Southern Connecticut State College
over the weekend to sell picks that have
strummed the guitar and charge a fee
to photograph Beatles fans holding the
precious instrument. "I'm probably the
oldest living Beatles maniac, and I'm
proud of it," says Saks, a 71-year-old
music teacher from Norfolk, Va.
Saks represented the manufacturer
the ann arbor
7 film cooperative
Tonight THE BICYCLE THIEF Tonight
One of the first Italian neo-realist films. A man and his son search for the
father's bicycle which is essential to his livelihood, since the only job he can
find is that of deliverynkan. Both father and son learn about each other by
how they react during the crisis. 7:00 & 9:05.
Wednesday: FOOTLIGHT PARADE
Thursday: THE MARRIED WOMAN
CINEMA GUILD-Lorch Hall Auditorium
0 MORE D.R.E.A.D.
SGOLD CARD DISCOUNTS:
TONIGHT
TONIGHT
PRESENTS
LUIS BUNUEL
NIGHT
THAT OBSCURE