ARTS Monday, September 28, 1987 The Michigan Daily Page 7 Royal Philharmonic to By Ari Schneider It has been a very good week for classical music lovers. Last Monday, Leonard Bernstein conducted the Vienna Philharmonic; tonight Andre Previn will conduct the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London at Hill Auditorium at 8 p.m. as part of the University Musical Society's Choral Union Series. The concert will include three pieces: the Overture to Beatrice and Benedict by Berlioz; La Mer by Claude Debussy; and Edward Elgar's Symphony No.]. Andre Previn is an artist known for his versatility. Before taking the position of Principal Conductor with the Royal Philharmonic, Previn dis- tinguished himself as a conductor, composer, pianist, recording artist, television personality, and author. After studying conducting with Pierre Monteux and composition with Joseph Achron and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, he began his professional music career by working in Hollywood film studios as a conductor, arranger, a n d composer, eventually winning a total of four Academy Awards. He also found early success as a professional jazz pianist. This jazz talent would later be combined with other great classical musicians, such as Itzak Pearlman, to create a Grammy Award nominated jazz 'American Pictures- Exposing the ugly side album. In 1960, Previn began a symphonic conducting career. Within twenty years he was receiving acclaim as Music Director of three major orchestras: the Houston Orchestra (1967-69), the London Symphony (1968-79) and the Pittsburgh Symphony (1976- 1985). Previn was also nominated for two Emmy awards for a PBS television series. This series Previn and the Pittsburgh Symphony tried to give behind-the-scenes insight about the soloists' creative process of making music as well as the soloists performing great pieces of music. Previn's works as composer include the musicals Coco and The Good Companions , a piano concerto, two suites of preludes commisioned and -performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, song cycle for mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker, and a highly acclaimed music drama Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, made in collaboration with playwrite Tom Stoppard. As a recording artist, Previn has already over 150 recordings with major orchestras including the London Symphony, Vienna grac Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Previn's projects with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra include recording Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, a complete Elgar cycle, Beethoven's piano concertos with Emual Ax, and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Also, Previn conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) on the orchestra's own record label (RPO Records), which was launched in 1986. The record label is run solely by the orchestra members. Besides the RPO's acclaimed recordings, the orchestra is one of the most highly esteemed performing orchestras in the world, appearing annually in more than 200 concerts at home and abroad. The RPO has appeared at most leading international festivals throughout the world. Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham and gave its premiere concert on September 15, 1946. Sir Thomas held the title of Music Director from 1946 until his death in 1961. He was succeeded by Rudolf Kempe, Antal Dorati, and Walter Weller. Recent tours include a three week visit to Japan and South Korea, a four week coast-to- coast tour of North America, and trips throughout Europe. Since 1963 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has been completely governed by its members, each of whom hold shares in RPO Ltd.; most other orchestras are governed by a board of directors who are not musicians. The title "Royal" in the orchestra's name was conferred upon the RPO by the Queen in 1966. Although one might be tempted to check out some records by Andre Previn and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one should definitely not pass up this chance to see these accomplished musicians in concert tonight. Ticket prices range from $10 to $24 and are available at the Musical Society's Burton Tower Ticket Office between the hours of 9 and 4:30 p.m. For more information call- 764-2538. Hill By Peter Markus What is American Pictures ? Those who are vaguely familiar with one side of American Pictures simply say that it is a book of photographs, accompanied by brief narrations, focusing on the socially enslaved lives of the morally, deprived. Some may claim that it is a rather long and enduring multi- media s li d e s h o w present- ation/documentary concentrating on the effects of today's oppression. Still others declare that it is one man's journey into Hell crudely captured by the sometimes unfocused lens of a used Canon Dial. American Pictures is all of this and much, much more. The person behind American Pictures is the beard-braided Jacob Holdt, a Danish vagabond who, in 1970, fled Danish society and drifted over into the borders of Canada. After spending a year there, Holdt decided to cross another border, this time venturing into America, a land that always struck him as being a "boring white middle class country." After first stopping in Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan, Holdt purchased a bus ticket to Chicago, where his consequent journey across 48 states and 113,750 miles began. It is this odyssey that Hold t depicts in both his slideshow presentation and retrospective book. Many of those who experience Holdt's grueling, mind-spearing account captured in American Pictures will undoubtedly be changed and haunted by the stark realism of how the other half of America lives. For example, in one entry Holdt remarks: "My travels through the slavery-like conditions of the South resembled more and more a journey in internal colonialism. Here they work, in heat, dust, and soot with razor-sharp machetes. Fingers and toes are often chopped off. After an exhausting day's work, the men are driven in trucks like cattle to camps often enclosed by barbed wire and 'No Trespassing' signs. Inside the camps, (they live with) over 100 to a room ...(and) are immediately fired for talking with whites ... The prevalence of slave camps seems to be spreading in the 1980s." The juxtaposition of a white man's view on integration is shown in another entry where a man being interviewed says, "I've never had anything against niggers. They are a different race of people..." In the words of its conceiver, American Pictures is "a kind of diary to remember the people who came to mean something to me." Yet from these startling observations, you know that it is something more than simply one man's diary. Even if it only changes your. individual outlook on the conditions of this country, it will be worthwhile to experience. It is the only way to witness what it's like in the Hell Holdt reveals without actually being there. To call it a masterpiece would be less than flattering. To call it anything but "American Pictures: A personal journey through the American underclass," would be inadequate. Why not render it simply as being an important investigation exposing an ugly side of America. American Pictures will be shown tonight at 6:30 in Rackham Auditorium. Admission is free but please bring canned food for the homeless. 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The Michigan Ensian yearbook, recipient of an All American rating from the associated Collegiate Press, nearly doubled its sales figures last year. Find out why - Order the 1988 yearbook. UAC/SOPH SHOW- presents * t ,,,fi " " M a Mass Meeting Monday, Sept. 28 7:30 pm 0