I w The Michigan Daily-Weekend etc. October 1, 1992 Page 1 Watch your back at the border it's almost three a.m. Saturday night, and all is well in Gothan City. The Wolvies made mince- meat of an overrated Houston team, there's a new Nine Inch Nails ep, (which is so good I actually paid for it) and the party on Liberty and Fourth is a definite beat happening. Yer boy on the turntables is spin- ning all the dope new joints (that new Mary J. Blige twelve-inch bumps!) and everyone seems to be .Samuel Wong and the Ann Arbor Symphony enter A [IL /I _Tp "W1 1w qr AIR .4 -V d V A 0 0 AL IML 7%6. by Roger Hsia chilled and enjoying the ride. Dig it, a night in Ann Arbor with no scandal! (Well, maybe just a little..) So like any other hops-saturated student, my taste buds are jonesing for that almighty late night sodium fix, with a healthy dose of choles- terol and starch on the side. The only logical conclusion: Make a run for the border! If you've ever spent any time at A's humble Taco Bell on East U. at night, you're well aware of its often dubious (if not down right hostile) atmosphere. When one throws together way too many keg- powered undergrads, a few streetpeople, and 59-cent bean burritos, you're best bet is to duck. Hopping out of the grunge-o- matic across the street from the border, it's quite obvious that there's more than your average amount of tension going down out front. Big mob scene, some guys yelling at each other. Of course, in the blue corner, wearing Cross Colour jeans and Xcaps, are "The Homeboys." In the other corner, wearing Gap oxfords and Sperry topsiders, are "The Fratboys."God, I'm so sick of this shit ... More yelling, a flying backkick, and a couple of vicious headshots later, and Fratboy is down. And not moving. Hey look, just in time, the Five-O! (aka "The Man," "Johnny Law," Ann Arbor's finest.) Mr. and Mrs. Police have The Homeboys lined up against the car, frisked, handcuffed, and in the car. Strangely enough, no one's thought to help Fratboy on the ground who's still not moving. The now-huge throng of gawkers (which has not-so-subtly divided into white folks over here, black folks over there) just pas- sively watch the whole spectacle as if it was a new episode of "Cops." People just step over Fratboy to cross the border and plunk down some chump change for a bag o' tacos. Finally, a kind soul decides that maybe Fratboy needs some help. I can't help but wonder where all of this anger comes from. It doesn't seem to bother anyone here that you can't even get a lousy burrito without getting your ass kicked, or thrown in the back of a cop car. It sure bothers the hell out of me. And I'm sure that even if the Fratboys didn' thave a problem with African-Americans before, they sure do now. And vice-versa.Ihave no idea who started it or what hap- T he Ann Arbor Symphony Or chestra and Dr. Samuel Wong might just be a musi cal match made in heaven. The AASO enjoyed a bril- liant period of growth with its former con- ductor, Maestro Carl St. Clair. His succes- sor, Dr. Wong is also currently the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and thus has profited from working with the likes of Zubin Mehta and Kurt Masur. Both Wong and the AASO are on the upswing, and will try to maintain their momentum approaching opening night of a new season this Saturday night. It is in anticipation of their (and his) unveiling to Ann Arbor concertgoers that Dr. Wong expressed his readiness to mark a new era for the AASO. "I am very excited and happy to have this opportunity. Judging from last night's rehearsal, I think that we'll be ready to make music on Saturday." In fact, Wong, in his appraisal of the orchestra, had nothing but high praise for the musicianship of its members. "They're really a very responsive group that plays at a high level and is also extremely dedi- cated," he said. "I find that the group has a wonderful chemistry that is great to be a part of." Indeed, the "chemistry" that Wong re- ferred to has always been one of the ensemble's fundamental assets. The group's three constituents, which range from "artists who freelance in Detroit A knownst to many, besides being heralded as one of the finest young conductors on the music scene today, he also holds a medical degree from Harvard. What specifically "sidetracked" him into what he feels now is his true calling? "Working with the New York Philharmonic really just redirected my energies and made me realize what direction I wanted my life to take," he said. "I left medicine and devoted my life to music on the basic premise that symphonic music is vital and alive. "I don't think of it as a frill or as pure entertainment. It contains within it all the beauty, the sublime, the exhilaration and the pain of life. This makes it personally sus- taining and very essential. I simply could not do without it." Whew! If that's any indication of what to expect in the future from the AASO and Wong, some people had better rest up be- fore Saturday's opening which includes two favorites, the flairish Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and the soul-rending Fifth Sym- phony of Beethoven. The soloist, 19-year- old Corey Cerovsek, is, like the conductor, a man of many abilities. Besides playing virtuoso violin and piano, Corey also holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. Not surprisingly, "Corey plays a great Tchaik" to boot, Wong said. Don'tbe surprised if they can probably both balance a checkbook in their heads as well. Makes a guy want to take a self-improvement course, pronto. Beethoven. I used to listen avidly to old recordings by Bruno Walter and Toscanini, so it's been circulating in my blood for a while. I feel a strong identification with the piece." While the rendition will move in the "general direction of the Germanic tradi- tion," don't expect a going-through-the- motions retread. A great deal of knowledge and maturity inform Wong's take on the piece, as with any other. "I try to look within the score and let the composer come through. It's like a historian going toaprimary source. It's all there if you look closely enough," he said. While all of this sounds sensible enough, Wong chooses to go a step further. He explained, "Studying genres other than the symphony can inform and enhance your understanding of symphonic music. Even if the performance is strictly symphonic, it is important to consider the sonatas and string quartets of a composer as a source ofauthor- ity. Anything less would be like studying a writer by reading only his novels, while neglecting his short stories or poems." As- piring conductors who can't seem to gradu- ate beyond the living room, take heed. Wong has some very some very specific musical goals that he seeks to accomplish with the orchestra. "The AASO has a warm, dark sound that befits a big sweeping or- chestra.I also want to bring about rhythmic excitement and long, lush phrasing," he said. "My attention will also be fixed on orchestral color and blending and expand- ing toward an adventuresome repertoire." Wong said his other interest is "to bring American composers to the forefront. I es- pecially would like to give a voice to the U- M music faculty." With Saturday night's program, Wong accomplishes one of these goals even before raising the baton. Slated in addition to the aforementioned is Stephen Paulus' Concertante. The Atlanta Symphony premiered the work in 1989 with favorable results. The twelve minute work is, accord- ing to Wong, "viscerally very exciting and rhythmic with contrasting sections of great serenity and tranquility which are rudely interrupted by the clangor of the brass and percussion. In addition, it is a piece that requires great virtuosity on the part of the orchestra members. It really is a good show- piece for the orchestra." Wong is confident that there is more than enough room on programs for what he called "chestnuts," and modernmusic. He delights in the fact that "Ann Arbor is a very aca- demic and enlightened community that will be responsive to a mixture of new and old." As for the prospect of performing in an old, renovated theater, Wong waxes sur- prisingly complimentary. "It (the Michigan Theater) is quite a good hall. Although it tends towards the dry side, it'snot bone-dry, as opposed to a hall that reverberates and may smudge," he said. "The orchestra, with a good blend, should be able to take advan- tage of the subtle clarity which is the strength of the hall. I know that it has a stigma because it's a theater, but the bad rep that it has is undeserved. I have played in Avery Fisher and Carnegie Hall, at good halls with bad names and bad halls with good names. That doesn't matter. It's a good hall with a good ambiance."Truly a man after the hearts of Ann Arborites everywhere. 1992493 ~~aso THIS SATURDAY AT 8 P.M. Corey Cerovsek, Violin Paulus: Concertante Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 William Doppmann, Piano Rossini: Semiramide overture Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 Erling Blondal Bengtsson, Cello Dvorak: Cello Concerto Dzubay: Snake Alley Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye Ravel: La Valse SATURDAY, MARCH 13 Alexander Toradze, Piano Stravinsky: Symphonies of Winds Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 SATURDAY, APRIL 24 Martina Arroyo, Soprano Mozart: Symphony No. 1 Falla: 7 Popular Spanish Songs Mozart: Arias Mozart: Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" Afl~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~. .~net r t h ihgr Theaer.CaU66&8397f:.:nf.