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Wednesday, September 26, 1984

Michigan Daily


Page 6

Chicago symphony dazzles at Hill

.Py Eric Mattson
HEN YOU'RE HOT, you're hot.
And the Chicago Symphony Or-
Oh'estra was hot in more ways than one
Sturday night at Hill Auditorium.
The climate in the packed theatre
As nothing short of tropical, and the
nation's finest orchestra heated it up
even more with superb renditions of
Samuel Barber's Overture to The
School for Scandal, Symphony No. 1 by
,Shostakovich, Dvorak's Symphony No.
7, and a rousing encore piece-Berlioz's
'Radetzky March.
British-born conductor Raymond
Leppard jumped up onto the podium
and started with the Barber piece,
barely acknowledging the thunderous
applause behind him. It would be dif-
ficult to think of a more appropriate
piece with which to begin the evening,
since Leppard's lively pace was certain
to escape any heat-inspired lethargy.
The orchestra's precision, as always,
was simply amazing.
The relatively short overture was
followed by the four-movement

Shostakovich piece, which
Shostakovich composed when he was
19. Some aficionados might complain
that Leppard took the piece at an odd
tempo, and indeed the pace seemed a
bit askew at times. But the effect was
nonetheless delightful. Besides, most
of the orchestra members probably
relished the change of pace.
After all, when you've done
something quite a few times, it spices
things up to play around with it a little.
The lento section of the piece flowed
like a dream and featured an inspiring
solo by principal cellist Frank Miller.
The final movement was similarly
haunting, although it was far more in-
tense. A noisy ensemble moment
flowed perfectly into a beautiful
Samuel Magad violin solo. (A red-
faced Magad complained at inter-
mission that "It's hot as hell up there,"
but he was partly responsible for fan-
ning the flames.)
The piece closed with a timpani solo
and another cello solo, both of which
were-of course-flawless.
After intermission, Leppard led the
93-year-old orchestra in the 99-year-old

Dvorak symphony. Surprisingly, the
Dvorak was the weakest portion of the
program, partially because the
traditionally dominant brass section
didn't ride on top of the sound. To be
sure, the string section is pleasant
enough, but the balls of the ensemble
are in the brass.
The poco adagio movement, which
the program notes called "one of the
most deeply moving pieces Dvorak
ever composed," moved at about half
speed. Technically, it was perfect, but
emotionally it was missing something.
Fortunately, the sinister final
movement (which probably influenced
whoever wrote the Munsters theme)
ended the scheduled concert on an ex-
cellent note.
After several curtain calls, Leppard
obliged the audience with the jaunty
Radetzky March. The brass finally
came alive, and the strings and wood-
winds grabbed all the gusto they could.
All in all, the CSO was as impressive
as it always is. Hopefully, Hill
Auditorium's acoustics-if not its air
conditioning-will be enough to lure the
orchestra back to Ann Arbor yet again.


Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs at Hill Auditorium Saturday night.

.4

Second City improvises laughs

Classicalpianist
romances audience

_.y Dave Kopel
L ast Saturday at the Michigan
Theatre, the Second City comedy
troupe proved it deserves its reputation
as America's finest. The company won
applause not only for its humor, but for
its willingness to take chances. With
art becoming increasingly
prefabricated these days, Second City
is a refreshing change.
The four men and two women who
make up Second City's national touring
company built several skits around
spontaneous audience suggestions. In
"Symphony of Pet Peeves," the cast
asked the audience to name five pet
peeves. After the audience suggested
Ronald Reagan, Geraldine Ferraro,
hemorrhoids, John DeLorean, and Jane
Curtain, each cast member took the
role of one of the peeves, and delivered
lines according to the instruction of the
"conductor." The "symphony" builtto
a wild crescendo, with each peeve
lalking at once, as "there you go

again," blended into "shrinks painful
swelling."
The most impressive improvisational
skit of the evening was "Dr. Know-it-
all," in which three performers collec-
tively played "Dr. Know-it-all." When
answering questions from the audience
(such as "Why is an orange round?"),.
Dr. Know-it-all's three personalities
would each speak one work in turn,
eventually building a sentence or two.
Some of the Doctor's answers were
hilarious, while others never got off the
ground. On the whole, however, the
routine showed a confidence and a
daring seldom seen today.
Other skits were more conventional.
After buying some cocaine, one charac-
ter announced, "I'm a cop." "Fifty
percent off," was the reply. In another
skit, Nancy Reagan did a commercial
featuring a poverty-stricken poster
child. To do her part to wipe out pover-
ty, Nancy pulled out her tiny pistol and
shot the child.
Taking audience suggestions was not
the only way Second City interacted

with the audience. To begin the show,
an actor led the audience in singing the
theme song to the old Dick Van Dyke
show (no easy feat, since the song
doesn't have lyrics). At the close of the
first set, the audience witnessed a
meeting of the Everret Grove P.T.A.
While the P.T.A. moderator remained
on stage, the rest of the cast dispersed
throughout the auditorium to portray
concerned parents. The P.T.A. debate
centered around sex education.
Although one woman found a sinister
link between sex education and
fluoridation, the Catholic mother of six
who had learned the merits of birth con-
trol carried the day.
The P.T.A. skit, which was first used
over a decade ago, has seen several
Second City casts come and go.
Another old favorite performed Satur-
day night was the funeral of man who
had suffocated because he stuck his
head in a gallon can of Van Kamp's
Beans.
Political satirists and songsters Mark
Russell and Tom Lehrer also have ob-

viously influenced the Second City
troupe. For example, the "Macro-Eco-
Be-Bop" song detailed the confusing
state of macroeconomics.
While none of the routines fell flat, a
few went on too long, including the
opening song by two women who would
rather be a "broad" than a "Ms." But
if a little self-indulgence is the price one
pays for so much improvisation, it's a
bargain price.
Second City's performance resem-
bled Saturday Night Live at its best:
fast-paced, daring, creative, and spon-
teneous. Maybe it would be accurate to
say that SNL (which has featured many
Second City alumni) at its best ap-
proaches a typical Second City perfor-
mance. The only way to see a better
evening's worth of comedy would be to
go to Chicago, where Second City per-
forms regularly in smaller clubs and
does a half-hour encore of im-
provisations. But in Ann Arbor this
weekend, the Michigan Theatre was the
funniest place to be.

By Neil Galan ter

A TRULY inspirational perforac.
The recital given by guest pianist
Nelita True on Thursday opened on a
romantic note. True's first piece
was a very intriguing reading of the
Scarlatti Sonata in B-flat.
Scarlatti has all the grace of
Mozart and the equal difficulty of
Bach in terms of contrapuntal style.
A pleasant way to open a concert,
but it takes an extreme amount of
control combined with grace to have
it result in an effective reading.
At times True's style was a bit too
frenetic and nervous for Scarlatti,
but it was always very jubilant with
plenty of musical depth.
The program continued with
Mozart's Sonata in F, which in my
opinion is one of the most energetic
sonatas written. True again took a
more romantic approach rather
than the traditionally interpreted
classical style of Mozart.
To close the first half of her
program and give the audience
something to contemplate during the
intermission, True performed the
Sonata Number 3 in E by Ross Lee
Finney. The piece, which is a 20th
century work, has a mixture of both
contemporary and romantic
qualities.
The brilliant passagework com-

bined with rich choral textures and
effective musical phrasing made the
piece something to relish during in-
termission.
After intermission followed a for-
ceful and convincing rendition of the
Fantasy Pieces Opus by Brahms.
The set was a combination of Cap-
priciosand Intermezzi, and it was a
nice coupling of sentimentality and
sheer grandeur. Particularly in-
spiring was her playing in the
second E major Intermezzo. The
aching, hauntingly beautiful chord
progressions lingered long after the
performance was through.
The final piece was Chopin's
Scherzo in B Flat Minor. This was
quite a whirlwind performan-
ce-perhaps at times a touch too
fast-because one was not able to
savor the individual parts of the
piece completely. This did not,
however, detract from her visceral
and rousing performance.
By performing a Chopin Mazurka
as an encore, True really confirmed
her standing as a musical pianist.
There was a true robust flavor to the
Mazurka, which is really necessary
for small Poljsh dances by Chopin.
In my opinion, True is more effec-
tive in romantic music than in
classical but there really was a lot to
grab onto and retain in her musical
offerings-and that is what counts
the most.

14


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