The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, October 22, 1980-Page 7
The maestro
By JANE CARL
The arrival of the outspoken conduc-
tor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
Maestro Antal Dorati, was met with an
eager reception at a crowded rehearsal
hall at U of M's School of Music Monday
morning. Mr. Dorati conducted the
University Symphone Orchestra and
gave an informal lecture primarily
aimed at the student conductors.
The maestro, who will be 75 on April
9th, has recently been caught amidst a
controversy concerning the funding of
the DSO. Dorati, chiefly accredited
with bringing the orchestra to its
current status during his three years of
residence, said in an open letter to Or-
chestra Chairman Robert B. Semple,
"Detroit has a world-class orchestra
that is supported in a provincial way."
Then, in a furor, he quit. After a fren-
zied bargaining session with the board
members, Dorati agreed to return for
this season; but he is still not satisfied
with the funding. On his 75th birthday,
he will donate $50,000 to the orchestra.
SPEAKING OF this in his lecture,
Dorati said, "Orchestras were always
financed by 'somebody.' It was first the
European courts; then, after the Fren-
ch Revolution, the governments. In
America, it is based upon the free en-
terprise system. Both have their good
and bad points. America has produced
the greatest number of first-class or-
chestras, but they are travelling from
one catastrophe to another. Europe has
comparitively fewer orchestras, but
they enjoy more stable lives."
Dorati acknowledged the lack of
positions for new conductors. "Conduc-
torship is a very humble profession in
that the conductor never makes the
music-the musicians, the performers
do. Now, there is less opportunity for
new conductors. That's a very big
problem. The trouble in America is a
lack of large opera companies, because
the best training for a young conductor
is to go to an opera company and
become a coach. The solution is to go
back to more solid beginnings. Over the
past fifteen to twenty years in com-
parison, American conductors have not
become more qualified while European
conductors have become less."
THE OVERVIEW of American per-
formers fared somewhat better. "The
'American performer has an excellent
quality which the European does not:
The European either plays inspiredly
and well or uninspiredly and badly; the
American plays inspiredly and well,
uninspiredly and well, or uninspiredly
and badly."
, In the course of his lecture, Dorati
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speaks
also said, "I'd like to clear up the
misnomer of 'interpretation.' Of cour-
se, art must be interpreted, every art;
but it is the essence of art -which has to
be interpreted. Art is man-made
symbols which force the confrontation
of creation. The symbols are put into
the matter of time, and then the time in-
to which they are put does not exist
anymore. We should not be called the
inteipreters, but the recreators Our
duty is not to recreate what we .think,
but to recreate what we think the man
who composed it thought."
The so-called "difficult" conductor
proved to be an amusing and
enlightening speaker, attempting to
open minds to new thoughts abodt
music in general and proving that dt
age 70-plus, Antal Dorati is going
stronger than ever.
BOAT
NIGHT
at
thG ouqr
1140 South University
668-8411
This gang of malcontented ne'er do wells is called Split Enz, and they are from New Zealand. Oddly enough, they perfor.
med at the Second Chance just this Monday night. Their names are Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs, Neil
Finn, Eddie Rayner, Tim Finn (Neil's brother). Split Enz is indeed an unusual rock and roll ensemble.
Split En
7
i
By STEVE HOOK
Split Enz is an odd sort of rock and
roll band. Not funny "ha ha" but
"downright unusual. And after hearing
and reading about them for the past
three days, and seeing them live and in
color Monday night at Second Chance, I
-don't know whether I like them or
not-but I don't think so.
Split Enz for the record, is a
struggling pop-rock band from New
Zealand. Although the comparison is
damaging to Split Enz, the American
band which comes to mind is Devo.
Split Enz members-both ier-
cussionists, both guitarists, and the;
keyboardist and keyboardist-
singer-like to dress up in funny
clothes. One has sported a foot-high
mohawk for years, another com-
plements every performance with a
spoons solo. In general, they have used
their generally non-human behavior as
their claim to fame since starting out six
years and albums ago.
AND THEIR music? Innovative,
playful techno-pop; songs that change
speeds, entail many exotic synthesizer
and drum solos, incorporate enigmatic,
Virginia' a
(Continued from page 6)
for hours after the curtain falls. The
characters-Virginia, husband
Leonard Woolf (Nicholas Pennell),
lesbian lover and confidante Vita Sack-
ylle-West (Patricia Conolly) -enter
and leave the stage like shadows rising
and fading from memory, disappearing
behind the two tall silken boxes that
{:frame the stage. Philip Silver's
stark set mirrors the tone on O'Brien's
pastiche-abstract, chilled, haunting,
tinged with isolation and melancholy.
The sole props are a pair of mauve
chairs centerstagel-Virginia sits in
one, while Vita and Leonard oc-
casionally drift by-yet the play has a
duriously visual charge. Woolf's ,en-
dlessly descriptive prose sometimes,
seemed agonizingly indulgent in print,
but as spoken by Maggie Smith, it calls
up images of rich, contemplative
beauty.
t Ronin Phillips' direction is extraor-
dinary-Virginia's stream-of-
consciousness structure defies staging,
but the Stratford production (ten-
tatively scheduled to be transferred to
London) is a brilliant sleight-of-hand
trick. As Vita, Patricia Conolly, all
wrong for the role physically, is wholly
e / 0
z need protein
occasionally absurd lyrics. Blatant polyester checker-suits we
dance tunes that are fun on the floor, the circus-tent gimmick
sometimes. marked past years are pu
Yet the product is apparently not discarded, although Noe
fully realized here: The group's energy, spoon solo remains. Some
its blood and guts spirit, seems transition, and fairly re
suspiciously ignored. On most of their Enz seems to have been sw
compositions-from the bouncy in- new wave bandwagon, a
strumental called "Double Happy" to embraced as This Dynam
the surprising finale, "Shark At- from Down Under. TheyE
tack"-Split Enz seems to just get onto ABC's "Friday Night"
clicking when its songs come to an got raves for their trend
abrupt end. For most of the concert, spiration. These guys hav
there was a lot of standing around on- around; now they have s
stage, a lot of untapped energy: An idle fill.
percussionist, a left-out organist sip-
ping a beer, a bassist laughing with the ' In the end, there is op
sound man. All this would not be distur- is hope. Here is a band tt
bing, except for the rather low-energy, some truly potent qualitie
unambitious product that results; cer- to have a gift to lay on th
tamn musicians didn't break a sweat. they seem to be getting
The nightclub was filled with patrons t e get
eager to pogo, but I suspect they would mark-their recent al
have appreciated a little more oppor- Aolours contains some f
tunity. And they certainly ha
tunity. market, which, in the
The 1980 model of Split Enz, possible wrlds, would tak
ironically, is slightly more tame than hand and make them play
before-(they no longer wear such off- like they really know how.
the-wall apparel, although their
re peculiar);
s that have
rposely being
el Crombie's
where in this
ecently, Split
wept up by the
nd suddenly
ic New Band
even made it
last week, and
iness and in-
e always been
ome shoes to
imism. There
;hat possesses
s, that seems
he world. And
closer to the
bum "True
ine moments.
ve found a
best of all
e themsby the'
rock and roll
TONIGHT at Cinema Guild
TOP HAT
FRED and GINGER
Puttin' on my Top Hat, dustin' off my tails.. Well the words may be wrong,
but the fee inas riaht. The swirling, fast stepping, suave, sophisticated,
dancing of Fred and Ginger, and the syncopated rhythm of the time remain
well a ter you leave the theatre. You may do a soft shoe accompanied by
the hum of your own happy heart as you walk home after the show. 7:00 &
9:00 at LORCH HALL AUDITORIUM.
Friday: Fellini's ROMA
Saturday: THE MALTESE FALCON
CINEMA GUILD
30 years of fun
7 Stratford triumph
-
TOMORROW at the
MICHIGAN THEATRE ..
ALFRED HITCHCOCKS
PSYCHO.
Classic Film Theatre 4,7, & 9
603 E. Liberty
Admission: $2
commanding, vibrant with Sackville-
West's intelligence and expectations of
the world. She manages to distill the
generous swagger of true originality.
Nicholas Pennell's Leonard is allowed
to fade into the woodwork a bit too
easily, but he does suggest the calming,
steadying influence 'that Virginia
desperately needed and which still
wasn't enough to allay her anxieties.
Maggie Smith's moments of sheer
hysteria don't quite work-perhaps
such moments rarely do, because they
demand an out-of-control element that
always seems a bit out-of-place in the
context of a carefully modulated per-
formance. Aside from that, only kudos.
Smith has perhaps never been so edgy,
funny, tragic, arrestingly intelligent.
She's entirely riveting, withouta single
note of Here-Is-The-Star knowingness.
Virginia is a triumphant work of art;
Maggie Smith's performance
slightly awesome effect of a
nature.,
has the
work of
SCIENCE SHOW RETURNS
NEW YORK (AP)-A science series
seen by some 23 million young
television viewers earlier this year has
returned to the airwaves.
3-2-1 CONTACT, the Children's
Television Workshop program designed
to inspire 8- to 12-year-olds to "tune in"
on science, this time around will be
shown twice daily throughout the fall on
the more than 280 stations of the Public
Broadcasting Service.
The 13-week series, recommended by
the National Education Association to
its 1.8 million teacher members, is
scheduled to be seen overseas soon,
with French and German language
variations in the offing for 1980-81.
UIVALL WARRIOR
WITHOUT
A WART
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til 5:30
' ...:(or cap.)
PG)
Wed-1 05, 3:10, 5:25, 730,9:35
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri-7:30, 9:35
I'
When
you want
to show your
.stop in and see us
r' '' We have more Michigan it6ms
than you ever believed existed.
From baby bottles and playing
cards to sweatsUits and Stetsons,
LI".* - .i'
INDIVIDUAL THEATRES
S5th Ave. ot liberty 761-A700
MARTY FELDMAN * RICHARD PRYOR
$1.50
~nA~~ me tust5:30
Wed-3:35, 7:00, 10:15
Mon Tues, Thurs, Fri-7:00, 10:15
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