ARTS
The Michigan Daily Tuesday, January 24, 1984 Page 5
Not just high school stuff
Maestrofarl Dahler and his Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra played host to violinist Ida Kavafian in a
heartfelt presentation of some classical pieces Saturday night at the Michigan Theater.
Music from the chamber
By Robin Jones
A
D EDICATION. In a word, that sums up Saturday night's
performance by guest violinist Ida Kavafian and the
Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra. Kavafian and the Orchestra
played their hearts out to an appreciative audience at the
Michigan Theater despite the sub-zero cold.
The concert began with William Boyce's delightful Sym-
phony No. 1 in B-Flat Major. Perhaps overshadowed by Han-
del, Boyce is regarded today as the leading English represen-
tative of the late Baroque style.
The first movement of the Symphony had an upbeat,
positive style, utilizing the Baroque conventions of sequence
rnd imitation. The piece continued in two more movements
that the Orchestra performed with confidence.
Kavafian then joined the Orchestra in a strong performan-
ce of Mozart's weel-known Concerto for Violin in D Major, K.
,218. In the Allegro, Maestro Carl Daehler led a playful
;dialogue between the Orchestra and soloist, showcasing
Kavafian's virtuosity in a difficult cadenza full of double-
tops. The musicians kept the Concerto under control per-
orming with extreme concentration, considering the an-
$oying pounding going on in the bowels of the theater.
;Kavafian seemed to be venting frustration during the Con-
certo, executing each passage as if she were running the last
leg of a 10 mile race. Yet, the music was technically superb.
Kavafian just didn't look like she was enjoying herself.
Following the intermission, the Orchestra performed "The
Lark Ascending" by Ralph Vaughn Williams. Though the
piece had a sloppy start, it soon smoothed itself out.
Kavafian's solos as the lark sang above the accompanying
Orchestra with clarity and grace. She relaxed her grip on the
instrument, and allowed the smoothing sounds of the strings
to coaxe the violin along, resulting in a balanced performan-
ce.
As an encore, Kavafian appropriately chose the "Winter"
section from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.
It's too bad that the Orchestra and soloist never connected
rhythmically. Daehler was in a panic from the beginning,
trying to unite the soloist and lower strings, while the har:
psicord struggled to fit in without sounding rushed. Yet,
Kavafian made it all worthwhile, playing the familiar
melodies that make you want to hum along. Unfortunately,
that is where the concert's life ended and the Michigan
Theater went from warm to chilly.
The final work of the evening, Haydn's Symphony No. 710
in B-Flat Major just didn't have the energy that the rest of
the concert did. The Symphony's four movements dragged
on, exhibiting poor intonation, obvious missed notes in the
horn part, and generally a lack of conviction in the Or-
chestra. Kavafian's departure from the stage seemed to have
taken the professional out of the Orchestra.'
The concert was a success, as a whole, and demonstrated^
Ann Arbor's devotion to good chamber music. A little Mozart
on a bitterly cold night can warm you, especially if it is
played well.
Kavafian was pleased with the performance, and
remarked that the Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra plays like
s "real chamber orchestra," and "listen well," a crucial skill
that can either make or break an ensemble.
That is a valuable compliment coming from a fine
musician. Maybe she'll even come back.
By Larry Dean
W WHAT, YOU MAY ASK, is
poetry. Well, that's the type of
age-old question that sets the most
learned minds achatter in yet another
in a series of intellectual debates, or
else harkens other folks back to their
grammer or high school days, when
Chaucer, Frost, and Dickenson were
the only poets the faculty found to be,
palatable for impressionable young
brains. Even the, analytical geometry
was must-do prior to that artsy-fartsy
stuff, especially in lieu of a future rung
on the company ladder.
But now we're in college, and with
distribution requirements that rage
that they are, that question carries a lot
more weight than it used to. On a cam-
pus like ours (if I may use the
familiar), there's a proliferation of
poetry readings, workshops, classes,
and the like - however, the audience
for those events is normally limited to
those involved directly with the
proceedings, so a lot of good stuff
passes through, unnoticed, but an un-
wary general public.
The University Visiting Writers.
Series brings in a choice selection of
personalities to grace us with examples
of their craft. Tuesday afternoon at 4
p.m. in the West Conference Room of
Rackham, there will be such an oc-
currence happening: Diane Wakoski,
Writer-In-Residence at Michigan State
and author of some forty-plus volumes
of poetry, will be reading from her
works. Admission is free.
Jacki~e
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (UPI) -
Friends of singer and songwriter
Jackie Wilson, who died Saturday
at age 49, say he "thrilled the
audience wherever he went" and
was one of the great singers of his
generation. -
Wilsonk who gained fame with
his 1958 best-seller "Lonely
Teardrops," was admitted to
Burlington County Memorial
hospital Jan. 8 and died Saturday
morning at 11 a.m., a hospital
spokesman said.
Wilson had been in poor health
since suffering a heart attack in
Septembert1975 and collapsing on
stage at the Latin Casino in
Cherry Hill. He had been unable
to speak or care for himself and
stayed in nursing homes and
hospitals in Philadelphia and
New Jersey.
"Jackie was an electrifying
singer. He thrilled the audience
wherever he went," said Hal
"Doc" Wade, a former radio disc
jockey on WNJR-Newark and a
popular radio personality during
the 1950s.
Wakoski was born in Whittier,
California in 1937, and attended the
University of California at Berkely
where she received her B.A. degree.
From there, she moved to New York
City, to work as a clerk in a bookstore,
and then teach English to junior high
students. In 1962, her first book of
poens was published; that same year,
she was anthologised in a collection
called Four Young Lady Poets, which
was edited by LeRoi Jones. This earned
her some wider recognition as a poet,
but with receipt of a Robert Frost
Fellowship in 1966, and the publication
of her book Discrepancies and Ap-
paritions, Wakoski finally seemed to
establish, a stronghold in the poetry
universe.
Wakoski considers poetry to be "a
human art"; furthermore, she feels
that poetry which is the most readable
is also the most intimate and touching.
It's no surprise, then, that she regards
the spoken experience as an incredibly
important one wherein the dynamics
that might escape the reader on the
page spring to life in the poet's ver-
balizing. Not poetry as performance,
but poetry as itself, where the poet
reads that which is essential to them,
and puts their heart into the com-
munication of such essentiality. She
cites Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg,
L NFDIVIDUAL. THEATRES
M.THRPU FR I. 1:ob P.M. SHOWS
and William Carlos Williams as artists
whose work she has both admired and
been affected by.
Contemporary poetry can be every
bit as alive as the movies, or any other
comparable kinetic experience, by vir-
tue of the aliveness and sincerity
present in the poetry. Diane Wakoski's
work far outshines the show-offish
nature of other present day poets with
the simpicity of its language, and the
emotional wallop that is potential in its
directness of statement. So don't go
away from this endorsement thinking
that poetry is just for the English
majors, writers and highbrow literati,
because-it's not -'as Wakoski herself
says, in her poem, "Greed, Part 4": If
only life left us with metaphors./
But we are lucky if life/ leaves us!
with life- it's for anyone who wants to
experience the most minimum
requirements for living blown open by
the tremendous facility of a few words
spoken in a manner that is as universal
as the art of speech itself.
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3VI
3
Rick Derringer - "Good
Dirty Fun" (Passport Records)
What do you get when you cross Van
Halen's lyrics, the Stray Cats'
reckabilly, and the Ozzy . Osbourne
Band's lead guitar? Rick Derringer's
latest album Good Dirty Fun, a com-
bination of rock's commerciality and
latest trends.
Derringer hits listeners first with two
hard rocking tunes, "I Play Guitar"
and "Party at the Hotel." Both songs
deal with Derringer's life as a rock star
'and are directed to a teenage audience
with superficial lyrics such as, Get
drunk and raise hell and Party till
we go insane.
Derringer's intense and pleasing lead
guitar is .the only redeeming value to
these two songs, which ignite the
listener.
The first side of the album
establishes a hard rocking image for
Derringer, but he strays from this in-
tensity. On the second side, Derringer
tries his hand at a little rockabilly with
"Mitake Magnifique" - and its distur-
bing similarity to the Stray Cats leaves
one bored with the all too familiar
twang of guitar and bass.
The following cut, "White Heat," puts
Derringer back into a favorable light
since it is the first time he shows any
glimpses of personal feeling and
emotion.
Following that he confuses the
listener once again with, "When Love
Attacks," a stab at the middle-of-the-
road top-40 in a duet with Bonnie Tyler.
Their voices are musically compatible,
yet there is a certain chemistry lacking
which makes one wonder if they were
even in the same studio recording.
He abruptly switches gears again and
finishes with two more driving songs
which nicely frame the album, and
gives a false impression that this is'a
solid rock and roll package.
Rick Derringer's style is very
imitative and his songs hold little
lyrical value. But his lead guitar perks
up many of the songs and puts him in
competition with the current "hard
driving rock" trend.
- Robert Danowski
i
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EVERYTHING IN THE LIVELY ARTS
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- INTERVIEWS
Monday January 30th -- 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. 4
Student A ctivities Building
. 3rd Floor
Wilson
... thrilled audiences
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