ARTS
The Michigan Daily Tuesday, November 11, 1980 Page 5
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School
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School combines quality
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(212594689
or 232.3754
Horowitz: A
musical miracle
By ED PRINCE
The world of classical music has
always had its superstars. In the
nineteenth century Franz Liszt whip-
ped audiences into a frenzy not unlike
at found at rock concerts, and today
usicians such as Zubin Mehta and
Luciano Pavarotti are idolized and
givenextensive coverage by the media.
These musicians have reached this
level not only through their formidable
musical abilities, but through other fac-
tors such as stage presence or sex ap-
peal- Vladimir Horowitz, who gave his
fifteenth Ann Arbor concert at Hill
Auditorium this past Sunday must cer-
tainly be classed as a superstar, yet he
stands apart. At seventy-six years of
ge, Horowitz has maintained his place
s one of the world's greatest musicians
by very quietly sitting before a piano
and working miracles.
When he sat down on Sunday he re-
affirined his position as one of the
greatest, if not the greatest pianist
alive today. Despite his years Horowitz
remains a colossal technician with a
volcanic temperment. There is a ner-
vous energy in his playing which, when
' nleshed, leads to some truly in-
credible music-making.
HOROWITZ PRESENTED a
program which ranged from late
Beethoven to early Scriabin and though
he did well with all the music, he was
definitely in his element with the more
romantic works. The pieces played
were the Sonata in A major, Op. 101 by
Beethoven; the Impromptu in G major,
Op; 90 by Schubert; six Etudes, Op. 8 by
Scriabin; the Ballade in F minor No. 4,
Op 52, the Etude in C-sharp- minor Op.
5, the Etude in G-flat major, Op. 10, the
Waltz in A-flat major, Op. Posthumous
and the Scherzo in B minor. Op. 20, No.
1, all by Chopin.
Horowitz is somewhat less at home
with the 18th century classical masters
than the romantics of the 19th. He tends
to stay away from the music of Haydn
and Mozart and Brahms as well, who
was imbued with a rather austere
classical bent for a 19th century com-
poser. Beethoven (1771-1823) was a
transitional figure between these two
eras and his piano music exploits the
tonal resources of the instrument as
they had not been before. Beethoven
demanded more from both player and
instrument than his predecessors had,
and Horowitz is certainly up to the task.
As was to be expected, his was an in-
terpretation which stressed the roman-
tic elements in the Beethoven Sonata.
There was as much warmth and ex-
pressiveness as one could wishfor in
the lyrical melodies of the first and
third movements, and in the last
movement he really lets his romantic
tendencies take hold. Rubato was'used
rather extravagantly at times and a
large dynamic range was used effec-
tiv4ly to underscore the character of
the contrasting sections. Only in the
second movement, the scherzo, did
Horowitz fail to do full justice to the
music. Here his phrasing sounded
strained and mannered and he would
have profited by a simpler, more direct
approach.
The Schubert Impromptu which
followed is a much less demanding and
problematic piece than the Beethoven,
consisting for the most part of a lively
melody over a simple accompaniment.
.Horowitz gave an expressive inter-
pretation that swelled and receded per-
fectly with the flow of the melody.
NEXT CAME THE Scriabin, and
judging from the smile on his face
before he started, it was a favorite.
Scriabin was a composer who was at
once ultra-romantic and modern. His
Op. 10 Etudes are early works written
before his modern tendencies had
developed, and they were composed
under the influence of Chopin.
Horowitz's big romantic style may
have been a little misguided at times in
the Beethoven, but in music such as this
he has few peers. The moods of the
Etudes range from playful to wild to
weeping melancholy, and the pianist
accurately captured all of these. The
nervous energy which makes his
playing so exciting was very much in
evidence here and made the rather
savage second Etude and the
passionate twelfth expecially effective.
iHorowitz showed in the Etudes he
really knows how to use the pedal;
staying off it in the more agitated sec-
tions to create a lean, percussive, ex-
and the singing quality of the lyrical
'sections was effectively contrasted to
the violent, but never harsh sound of the
other sections.
The two Etudes and the Waltz also
received exceptional performances,
but the real high point of the Chopin was
the Scherzo in B minor. The word
"scherzo" means "joke" in Italian, and
scherzi are generally light or humorous
in character. Not so, this one by Chopin.
The B minor is a tempestuous and im-
mensely exciting work, and to Chopin's
biographer Huneker, it suggested the
descent of a damned soul to Hell.
Horowitz's nervous energy contributed
to an absolutely shattering performan-
ce which gripped the listener from the
very first bar. The scherzo begins with
a stormy opening section which leads to
a calm middle and then returns to a
repeat of the opening section. In the
middle section Horowitz kept his
playing simple and quiet, lulling the
listeners so that the return to the
opening storms was all the more
jarring.
There was one detail which detrac-
ted a great deal from the enjoyment of
this wonderful playing, though. Hill
Auditorium is very fine, acoustically
speaking, but it is also old, and the
heating system competed with the
soloist for attention with extremely an-
noying clanking noises. In an old
auditorium which is visited by a steady
stream of some of the greatest
musicians in the world this is un-
forgivable and should be corrected
immediately.
Despite this annoyance Horowitz
seemed in excellent spirits and presen-
ted three encores; "Traumerei" by
Schummann, a set of variations by
Kreisler, and the "Military" Prelude of
Rachmaninoff. The first two were
played with a great deal of grace and
charm, and the Rachmaninoff with a
great deal of gusto. Rachmanin-
off, an expatriate Russian like
Horowitz, was considered by many to
be the greatest pianist of his time, and
he in fact considered Horowitz his
spiritual heir. He was absolutely correct.
MIR
M"A1:30
jam 3:30
5:30
SESSION 7:30
9:30
at
"A EI A uP R I T F E A 3:15
515
.II .NI 730
1140 South University 945
668-8411 R Goldie Hawn
the ann arbor
film cooperative
TONIGHT TONIGHT V
presents 1:30 3:30 5:30
APOCAYPSE7:30 9:30
DOUBLE FEATURE
NOW AIRPLANE
6:30 & 9:30 1:15 4:45 8:15
Aud. A, Angell Hall COAST TO COAST
Admission: $2 3:00 6:30 9:50 (PG)
YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN
StrigKIRK DOUGLAS,. LAUREN BACALL, DORIS DAY. Suggested b the
life of Kix Biderbecke, this compelling drama depicts the rise and downfall of
an outstanding trumpet player. An orphan boy with an obsession for jazz
grows to be a big name player, but an unhappy marriage causes him to
neglect his work and friends and he gradually skids downward, finally ending
up in a sanitarium. HARRY JAMES brows the riffs while Kirk looks like he Is.
"The Very Thought of You," and "With a Song in My Heart." 7:00 & 9:15 at
LORCH.
Vladimir Horowitz
citing sound and then employing it ex-
tensively in the lyrical sections to
create a fuller and more flowing tex-
ture.
If he did not surpass this level in the
second half of the program, he cer-
tainly equalled the greatness of his
Scriabin playing with his Chopin. The
beautiful Ballade in F minor was given
such a perfect rendering that for quite
some time my critical perspective gave
way to sheer ecstasy. Horowitz's
phrasing and dynamics were just right
'MUSICKE OF SUNDRIE KINDES':
CINEMA GUILD
Our gig is film
fly
By JANE CARL
Ann Arbor has an interesting addition
to its concert series' this year-the
newly formed "Academy for the Study
and Performance of Early Music."
eir main function, as the name im-
plies, is to bring authentic performan-
ces of early music to Ann Arbor audien-
ces: Sunday night's second Academy
concert also featured the Ann Arbor
debut of "Musicke of Sundrei Kindes,"
a quartet of women playing on authen-
tic baroque instruments.
The concert site was the sparse and
ecclesiastical University Reformed
Church on East Huron, a place whose
asic architectural graces are un-
stained wooden pews and unpainted
concrete walls. The Academy's pam-
phlet stated that the three churches
where their concerts are held "have
been chosen as performance halls for
their complimentary acoustics," but,
as violinist Sarah Sumner noted, the ac-
tual sound is similar to that of "singing
in the shower." At times, the echoing
was not at all unwelcome, due to the
rapid baroque tone decay faithfully
eproduced here; but it hindered more
han it helped when obscuring flutist
Catherine Folkers in Bach's "Sonata in
A Major for Flute and Harpsichord."
THE SETTING WAS basically in-
formal. The late arrivals were
graciously welcomed by the smiling
performers between movements of the
first work. Every piece was preceded
by ,an introductory statement usually
containing some interesting
gacground information. The most
charming of these was told by har-
psicpordist Penelope Crawford. -It
seems that the group's afternoon
rehearsal had been interrupted briefly
by a Hungarian couple who wanted to
bor'ow the church for a moment to be
married because one of their visas had
The School of Music
presents
The University of Michigan
company
POWER CENTER
U _ I'm . ~.
music coimes to le
expired and, as a result, one of them
was going to be shipped to Canada the
next day.
The most interesting factor about
"Musicke of Sundrie Kindes" was their
use of authentic baroque ,instrments
and techniques. It was a harpsichord,
not a piano; a viola da gamba bowed
underhand, not a cello bowed
overhand; and a keyless flute, not a
modern, Boehm-system wonder.
Vibrato was used as an ornament in-
stead of our modern day, "machine
gun" effect.- Of course, authenticity
creates its own problems. For instance,
the intonation of baroque instruments is,
at best, precarious. Knowing this all too
well, the group tuned extensively bet-
ween pieces and occasionally between
movements.
The program was begun with
George Philip Telemann's "Quartet in
A Major for Violin, Flute, Viola da
Gamba and Continuo." A collection of
dance movements, the piece was
beautifully executed with a lilting,
uplifting approach. The group easily
filled the barn-like church with lush
sonorities and displayed a remarkable
ensemble quality and sensitivity found
in few chamber groups. Violinist Sarah
Sumner's accented punctuations were a.
welcome addition to the piece.
THE SECOND PIECE was Dietrich
Buxtehude's Sonata for Viola da Gam-
ba and Continuo. This was the com-
poser who so intrigued Bach that he
walked 200 miles to Lubeck to work
with him and hear him play. The work
is not a sonata in the traditional, multi-
movement connotation; instead it har-
ks back to the original meaning of the
term-an instrumental composition
rather than a vocal one. Buxtehude was
an organist ind indeed, this piece is
closely related to organ music. It is free
and virtuositic in form, like many
organ works, and Enid Sutherland's
fine playing explored all of its
possibilities.
Ending the first half of the concert
was Bach's Sonata No. 2 in A Major for
Violin and Harpsichord. In reality, this
piece is a trio sonata, because the right
hand of the harpsichord serves as a
second melody instrument. Violinist
Sarah Sumner's performance Was truly
exhuberant. Her dolce was suitably
sweet, her allegro was bouncy and
vivacious, her andante un poco was a
perfect interweaving of canonic
material with harpsichordist Penelope
Crawford, and her presto was
magnificantly joyous.
The concert resumed with Jan
Pieterszoon Sweelinck's Variation 'On-
der un linde groen for harpsichord.
Here, Penelope Crawford exhibited her
more than proficient technique. This
piece is based upon an English tune
which was set by many composers of
the day. Sweelinck's setting involves
dividing the piece into sections and
repeating each section, with the
repetitions containing many brilliant
variations on the simple tune. Ms.
Crawford's cleanliness on those
figurations was quite amazing.
Bach's "Sonata in A Major for Flute
and Harpsichord," was performed by
flautist Catherine Folkers a nd Ms.
Crawford. Performed on a baroque
flute, which has no keys, the tone was
pure and pastoral, at times exquisitely
ethereal. Unfortunately, this
delicateness was often lost in the bath-
tub like acoustic environment. Ms.
Folkers displayed food facility on the
instrument and commendable con-
sistency. It is unfortunate that the set-
ting should mar such a fine performan-
ce.
"Musicke of Sundrie Kindes" ended
their concert with Jean-Phillipe
Rameau's "Concert No. 3 in A Major
from the Pieces de Clavecin en concer-
ts." It is a piece in which the other in-
struments, for a change, accompany
the harpsichord. This is attributed to
the rise.in amateur musicians at the
time. Therefore, the other instrumental
parts are comparably easy, but still ef-
fective. The melodic treatment is
typical Rameau; recurrent, imitative
themes in concerto-like settings. The
"Le Tambourin en rondeau" was
especially lively and dance-like with a
folkish, almost peasante feeling, a hap-
py ending to a very happy concert.
The
DAVID B
FMSHALL1
A ward
Musical
L Theatre
sponsored by
The Professional Theatre Program
at The University of Michigan
For information write.
Marshall Award
Professional Theatre Program
227SA . Ingalls
Ann Arbor. MI 48109
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eCjseRAY
CHARLES
THE RAELETTS
and the
RAY CHARLES ORCHESTRA
Special Guest:
Ernie Krivda Quartet
November 12
Wed. 8:00 p.m.
Hill Auditorium
Tickets
on Sale
Box Office
Michigan Union
$8.50 7.50 6.50
reserved seats
- m \
I