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The Michigan Daily Friday, February 11, 1993 Page 11
Classical icon Andre Previn shows his jazzy side
by Jessie Halladay
When most people hear the name Andre Previn,
they think of the world-renowned classical conduc-
tor / pianist. Some jazz enthusiasts may remember
him as the man whose adaptation of the "My Fair
Lady" soundtrack was the bestseller of its time.
What many may not know is that Previn is now
making a brief tour with his recently created jazz
trio.
The tour, which will only last for 10 days, will
make its first stop at Hill Auditorium Saturday night.
Previn brings with him friends Ray Brown (bass)
and Mundell Lowe (guitar). His busy schedule de-
mands that this tour be brief. "As a classical artist,
and this may be hard to believe, I am booked four
years in advance," Previn said on the phone from
New York.
Previn has taken a25-yearhiatus from his profes-
sional jazz playing days. This does not mean thathe
has stored jazz in the closet all this time. He always
played for himself as a method of relaxation. Even
now that he is on a whirlwind tour, it is still like a
vacation for him.
With encouragement from his wife, Previn has
gotten back into professional jazz within the last two
years, making three records with plans to record a
fourth in May. "Well, it's really my wife's doing,"
Previn recalled. "... don't you think you might have
some fun if you went back and made another (jazz)
record. And I did and she was absolutely right, I had
avery gbod time. And it's turned not tobeembarrass-
ing musically, I mean for anyone to listen to, so I
decided we'd have another shot at it."
For some lesser artists the boundaries between
the two genres of classical and jazz may become
blurred. But for an artist of Previn's caliber, the
differences are very clear.
"It's a different kind of atmosphere all together,"
Previn said of playing jazz versus classical music.
"There's no period of studying and it's a different
kind of rehearsing, if any, and it's just much more
relaxed."
Another fundamental difference between jazz
and classical music is the way that the performer
approaches the material. "It's completely different
because you see, in jazz the emphasis is on the
performance and in all concert music, classical
music, the emphasis is on the piece," Previn said.
"In other words all you can do as a performer is
do your best to be responsible to the composer. And
whatever the composer has written is the reason
you're doing aconcert. And injazz if you think about
the really great players, you don't really care what it
is their playing."
But Previn does not make a distinction between
classical and jazz. For him, each mode is an artunto
itself. "It's completely different. I mean, I never
compare the two. I never think one is like the other,"
he said. "I never think one is better or worse or
anything because they have nothing to do with each
other. I think that the two kinds of music are as
separated as painting and architecture."
Previn understands the differences between clas-
sical and jazz music and successfully keeps them
separate.
"If you were a great fan of Dizzy Gillespie ... it
didn'treally matter what the tune was he was playing
because it was his ingenuity that made the thing
interesting. And in classical music it's not like that;
if you start out with a bad piece, you can't win."
THE ANDRE PREVIN TRIO performs Saturday
at Hill Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 to
$24, with rush tickets available Saturday morning
at the Union ticket office. Call 764-2538 for more
information.
You'd never think Andre Previn was such a jazz whiz too.
Just in 'Time' for Valentine's Day
by Lia Kushnir
If you're looking for something completely different, the
Performance Network announces "It's About Tune," a col-
laborative work of poems set to music, just in time for
Valentine's Day. Incomparable to any traditional theatrical
piece, there is no plot, and there are no characters. There is,
however, an emotional and intuitive connection in this
production which puts poetry into a musical setting and
surrounds it with an array of dance and movement.
"Although you won't be able to find a plot, there is
development," said poet Matthew Smith. "What follows is
the passage of a human soul, both in the sense of incarnation
and just the passage through life's different stages, with a
special emphasis thanks to Valentine's weekend, on love as
a turning point of the human experience."
"It'sAboutTime, butit'snot," added musician Ken King.
"There's adouble meaning to the title. It's about time that we
did this show, but what can you say about time except that
it gets away from you? We're using words, but it's not
enough, so you need the music and the dance to get the show
to be an emotional experience."
"Life is in a cycle and we come and go," Smith com-
mented, "but I really feel that the human experience goes
beyond the individual's lifetime, and that there's an emo-
tional response that is quickened in a dramatic and musical
setting. This goes one step further when Kate McQueen
shows up and starts rendering everything alive with move-
ment."
The production is musically diverse as well as emotion-
ally. "We have some traditional folk pieces, while the King
Brothers write in a contemporary Rock & Roll style, and Ken
composes some wonderful ballads performed on acoustic
guitar with some electric rifts stepping in to accentuate,"
added Smith.
"It's About Time" is not the first collaboration for these
artists. You may have heard of this group when they pre-
sented "Late Returns 92" at the Performance Network last
Fall. Smith and King have been thinking about and working
together on "It's About Time" for the past ten years, and they
believe it will be ameaningfuland worthwhile experience for
everyone, now that it has finally come to the stage. It's not
something that can be understood just on paper, or through
music or dance alone.
"'It's About Time" needs to be experienced," said King of
the production. "It will be healing and I think it offers
something that people will carry with them for a long time
and not just forget. There's a lot of entertainment available
out there to chose from and a lot of diversity, but this is not
an ordinary show. "It'sAboutTune" is something people can
take and keep."
Don't miss the world-renowned Leipzig Chamber Orchestra when they make their North American debut.
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eZi g goes North American
IT'S ABOUT TIME will be performed Friday and
Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Performance Network, 408 West
Washington. Tickets are $7. For information and
reservations call 663-0681.
Saigon Kicks surprises
by Kristen Knudsen
We can thank some gung-ho radio
guy for Saigon Kick'srecent catapult to
national attention. Said DJ's eagerness
to play the since-top-15 hit "Love Is On
The Way" led to its release and subse-
quent success. But if this is the only
Saigon Kick song you know, then their
current, second album, 'The Lizard,"
may surprise you. Itcovers awiderange
of topics and moods, from the anger of
"Hostile Youth," to the silliness of the
title track, which tells about a dance
performed by lead singer Matt Kramer
(that, according to bassist Chris
McLernon, "has to be seen to be appre-
ciated and understood").
Saigon Kick, which besides
McLernon and Kramer includes guitar-
ist Jason Bieler and drummer Phil
Varone, manages to express countless
feelings with intensity and unique mu-
sical style. Perhaps this explains why
McLemon has found his band's album
under "Pop, Metal and Alternative -
sometimes all atonce at the same store."
He offered that a more accurate descrip-
tion of Saigon Kick's sound would be
"everybody's record collection on one
record," made coherent by the combi-
nation of harmonic vocalizations and
often powerful thoughts.
In the mid to late '80's, McLernon
said, an album byBandX would unfail-
ingly contain "nine kind of rock songs
and a ballad co-written by Desmond
Child - quiet, then the verse, then the
big chorus."You know, something like,
"I love you and I miss you and how
come I lost you but you're coming back
and I'm happy now" (sound familiar,
Jon Bon Jovi?). McLernon explained
that this is something Saigon Kick has
been careful to avoid. The result of
Saigon Kick's efforts is a group of songs
dealing with obsession in "Chanel," the
dark side of the city in "God of 42nd
Street," and everything in between.
"There's a lot that goes on in'
someone's day," McLernon stated. "I
don't think it's all happy, all sad, all,
exciting, all boring. It's all mixed up."
This is honesty designed to get a reac-
tion, good or bad. "I'd rather have a
reaction one way or another than be
ignored," McLernon said.
Rock 'n' roll to them thrives on
danger, or is, as McLemon put it, "like,
a mosh pit, a horrible swirl of energy"
Guitarist Bieler, having just finished
singing an impromptu "opera" concert
in the background, added to this charac-
terization of rock music - "It's the
physical price for having mental fun."
Though intended as ajoke, this sen-
timent seems to fit a band that fuses
originality with energy. Check out
Saigon Kick - they're on the way.
SAP GON KICK appears tonight with
EXREME at 7:30 p.m. at the State
Theatre in Detroit. Tickets are $18.50
through Ticketmaster.
by Keren Schweitzer
More than 20 years ago, Georg
Moosdorf founded the Leipzig Cham-
ber Orchestra comprised of 23 musi-
cians from the famous Gewandhaus
Orchestra. This orchestra has become
world-renowned in its superb interpre-
tations of early chamber orchestral
works, andhas appeared in all the major
concert houses in Germany.
Their visit to Ann Arbor marks their
first visit to North America as a cham-
ber group. Moosdorf, in addition to
directing this orchestra, is also the prin-
cipal violinistin the largerGewandhaus
orchestra that performed in Ann Arbor
last year. Of the city, Moosdorf said, "I
know the public and the audience of
Ann Arbor well, and I am happy to
perform here with the Leipzig Orches-
tra for the first time."
The concert will begin with the ear-
liest dated work on the program, the
Sinfonia Concertante in F Major for
oboe, cello and orchestra by J.C. Bach.
The composer was J.S. Bach's young-
est son and was written in 1718. The
performance will feature oboist Tho-
mas Hippei, and cellist Matthias
Moosdorf, who is himself Georg
Moosdorf's son.
The next piece on the program is
Haydn's Symphony No. 3 in G Major.
"This is a very impressing work,"
Moosdorf said. "Haydn uses many new
practices in composing, such as the
fugue in the third movement and the use
of the minuet as a canon ... It is one of
Haydn's early works; it has a very per-
fect character."
Mozart's Concerto in B flat major
for bassoon, written in 1773, is a well-
known work and will be performed by
soloist David Petersen. The bassoon
concerto is notconsidered an early com-
position, since Mozart was the ripe old
age of 19 when he wrote it. The Mozart
bassoon concerto is considered stan-
dard repertoire for any serious bassoon-
ist.
Many comparisons have been made
concerning Mozart and Schubert, since
both were outstanding musicians and
both died at an early age. Schubert's
Symphony No.5 is the final work on the
program. "I likeitverymuch,"Moosdorf
said. "It is Vienna and it is the great
impression of Mozart which has influ-
enced his form andmanner to compose,
it is a useful work."
There could be no better way to
spend Valentine's Day than to listen to
the wondrous music of Bach, Haydn,
Mozart and Schubert. These four com-
poserswere masters atcreating serenely
beautiful music with great ease. Hill
Auditorium will be transformed with
the sounds of eighteenth century Eu-
rope.
THE LEIPZIG CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA will perform Sunday at
5 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Tickets are
$20 to $29, with rush tickets available
Saturday morning at the Union ticket
office. Call 764-2538.
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Good music, intense lyrics & different styles.
Check 'em out.
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VISIONS OF PARIS
Summer Programs 1993
Intersession : May 24 - June 1 1
Summer Session : June 14 - July 23
More than 50 regular offerings from the University's liberal arts curriculum.
* A three-week French-language Immersion program, featuring
cultural walking tours and conversation classes.
Weekend excursions : Normandy, Champagne, Loire Valley chateaux,
Burgundy,Givemy and Chartres.
Seminar tours with the University of Texas, the University of
New Hampshire and the University of California at Berkeley.
Also, two new French Immersion Sessions:
Summer '94 in Biarritz Winter '94 in Paris
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T h t icluding:
DOGS OF LUST
LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH
HELPLINE OPERATOR
SLOW EMOTION REPLAY epic
LEONARD COHEN
THE FUTURE
Including:
CLOSING TIME/THE FUTURE
DEMOCRACY MM
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