..... ...m.v.. wr.y - .v iv v4I Iv.y a. Uv ' .Ohlsson's performance honors Chopin Pianist's program pays homage to the composer's great following By BRIAN WISE One of the keys to Frederic Chopin's enduring popularity among audiences lies in first-hand experi- ence. Everyone that took piano les- sons at some point in their lives has Wat down with the neighborhood pi- Garrick Ohlsson January 13, 1995 Rackham Auditorium Auditorium turned out to hear over two-and-a-half hours of it Friday night, as performed by Garrick Ohlsson. Ohlsson is currently recording all of Chopin's solo piano works as a result of a long-held interest in the composer. To complement this project, he is performing the entire cycle in six recitals over two sea- sons at locations in Ann Arbor and New York. His first installment pro- vided a varied but coherent portrait of Chopin, and with the above-men- tioned interpretive elements. The Rondo in C minor, Opus 1 was a suitable beginning to the se- ries as it introduced the wide musi- cal palate of the composer at age 15. This is the work of a young genius, still grasping concepts of form, but clearly understanding the many pos- sibilities of the piano. Ohlsson pro- vided it with logic and balance, downplaying its sometimes abrupt shifts of mood. Ohlsson's abilities as a Chopin interpreter are first-rate because he avoids many of the traps of over- embellishment and rubato that tend to distort the underlying structure of the music. On the Bolero in C Major, Op. 19, the insistence of the Spanish rhythm was softened with skillful pedal work and contoured phrasing of the exotic melody. The Twelve Etudes were some of the most technically challenging works of the evening, from the per- petual motion arpeggios of Number One, to the grand and introspective Number Three, to the rapid and de- liberate Toccata in Number Seven. Ohlsson approached these with ex- traordinary agility and a feather- like touch, yet they never sounded like mere technical etudes, devoid of musicality. Particularly characteristic were the Two Nocturnes, Op. 27. Their lyrical nature was enhanced by Ohlsson's clear sense of dynamic contrast and fluency of phrasing. By no means cheerful works, the nocturnes were never dull either by virtue of his sensitive interpreta- tion. While Ohlsson could occasion- ally execute powerful depths of sound from his Bosendorfer, as in the broad octaves of the Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49, he used his most forceful tone sparingly. Often the finest moments of the recital, in fact, were the silences - dramatic pauses that added impetus and mys- tery to the course of musical events. The Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39 concluded the pro- gram, but not the performance. Four encores followed, including two post- humously published waltzes and pieces by a precursor and a student of Chopin's music, respectively Mozart and Scriabin. Ohlsson's tasteful play- ing and skilled programming indicate that there are more good things to come next time around. I I no teacher and worked through one of the composer's more technically accessible waltzes or mazurkas. While amateurism can foster an appreciation for his music, to hear it interpreted with all of the right in- gredients -technique, expressivity, taste, elegance, drama - is an ex- ceptional occasion. It was therefore appropriate that a packed Rackham Downset cranks out a rock'em sock'em concert By KIRK MILLER I understand there's a code of punk ethics to see who is more "hard-core", Madball with Downset January 13, 1995 Falcon Club, Hamtramck out someone needs to strike the manda- tory overdose of dedications and band announcements between songs from the Punk Rock 101 textbook. A case in point was New York hard-core / rap / metal sextet Dog Eat Dog, who played a decent second set last Friday at the basement-with-a- bar Falcon Club in Hamtramck. After one of their funky horn-driven hard- core songs ended, they would an- nounce, "Thanks, Detroit. Thanks for coming out. Thanks to my boys in Downset, Cold As Life and Madball, they'll be coming out in a minute. We're Dog Eat Dog from New York. Peace. This is our third to last song." After their next funky chant-a-long Beastie Boys-meet-Biohazard ditty, they continued with"Thanks, Detroit. My boys in Downset and Madball are next. Once again, we're Dog Eat Dog from New York. Peace. We have two more songs." And on and on. But these are the rules of hard-core,' and as all the bands urged, support your local scene, be true to yourself and bring all your buddies along for the ride; a third of the audience of maybe 150 were friends of the band and some- how made it on stage to chant back- ground vocals at some point in the night. Madball brought all their friends from other bands (and dedicated songs to them) as well as gave shout outs to the road crew, the hard-core scene, their friends they left back home, their friend who was shot in Detroit, the guy selling t-shirts and probably everyone else in the club except me. We missed openers Cold As Life, but discussion in the men's bathroom suggested it was a great set. LA hard- core vets Downset came on just fif- teen minutes after the pleasant but nonthreatening Dog Eat Dog, kicking off their rap-flavored hard-core with the appropriately entitled "Anger." The band immediately has two prob- lems facing future success, one being their exact similarity in song style and structure as Rage Against the Ma- chine, and the other a major label (Mercury) that picked them up for release without realizing most hard- core doesn't make MTV's Buzz Bin. With the exception of the slightly more melodic Rage boys and thrash / rap crossover Biohazard (yeah, they received a dedication from the boys in Downset, you know it), the hard- core scene is limited to an economi- cally undesirable cross section of the population, mainly boys under 16 and aging metalheads in Pantera t-shirts, both heavily populating the crowd. But give credit where it's due, because even with the departure of one guitarist a few weeks before, Downset played a tight, angry set, marred only by their annoying in- between song raps and some audi- ence fuckhead loser shit who kept yelling "White power." Sure, I felt sorry when other assholes in the crowd started yelling "shut up and play mu- sic" after lead singer Rey Oropeza went off on a tirade, but I couldn't really disagree with the hecklers; his remarks on rape (they're against it) and individuality (they're for it) were well intentioned but had a scripted, we've-said-this-a-million-times-be- fore feel. They may ask "Is Doc Mar- ten more important than a move- ment?" in the song "Prostitutionalized" but at least they could sound a little more spontaneous about their revolution. , " So it was a pleasant surprise to see a sharp contrast at the end of the set, when their love of the "scene" came out so naturally. Not only did they send their love out to the "straight edge movement, the real skinheads, everyone in the scene" but they started The MCAT has Its Own Agenda; really interacting with the crowd. During "Breed the Killer" a drunken Its Purpose is to Examine Your metalhead in a bright red sweatshirt understanding of Key Scientific walked up on stage, stood there for aUa minute in front of the band and then Concepts in a Non-Routine Way. sang the chorus to the song into the lead singer's outstretched mike. EXCEL provides Clear, Professional Definitely check out the boys in Instruction, Succinct Science Notes, Madball, who ended the night with a Videotapes for Further Clarification, sea of massive stage divers and a vio- lent pit up front. The band were once Focused Reviews & Individual Help. known as legendary hard-core heroes For Maximum MCAT Scores and Agnostic Front, and along with their new stuff (which was well received) Affordable Tuition, Choose to EXCEL! they played AF classics like "Down By Law." In the end they sent out their 996=1500 respect and called the whole hard-core scene "family." Test Preparation So, thanks dad, for a cool as shit tPrp ain show. Just less talk, more rock next 1100 South University time, OK? WANTED: STUDENT PHONATHON CALLERS The School of Education will interview students by phone who will be hired to call alumni nationwide for an alumni fundraising phonathon. $625 per hour, incentives, bonus pay, plus great work experience! Callers will be expected to work a minimum of two calling sessions each week for five weeks, February and March. Phonathon held Sunday through Thursday evenings. Only registered UM students are eligible for these positions. For interviews, call 763-4880 TODAY!! The University of Michigan is an Afirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Downset are a band of many faces. WORLD ontinued from page 8 an instant to a low-key, jazzy "Yes" or "Cabaret." The women are especially good, and Kander and Ebb write their best Music for women. Each has her own niche: Donna Lewis does the jazzy torch songs, Sabrina Childers does the sexy vamps, Marie Boyle does the show-stopping belting. 0Lewis took a while to warm up, ut once she did ("Maybe This Time") she was red-hot. Childers - also an adept dancer - worked it in "Arthur ii the Afternoon" and raised the tem- perature in "All That Jazz." With the exception of a tepid "Colored Lights," every number Boyle sang was perfec- tion. She ripped into a jarring "How Lucky Can You Get," broke hearts ith "Isn't This Better" and knocked- eni-dead in "New York, New York." Just by the nature of the material, the-men don't steal the spotlight too often. Kurt Schaeffer made a bit of a splash early on with his campy "Sara Lee," but fizzled quickly. 1993 Uni- versity Musical Theatre alum Danny Gurwin, on the other hand, clearly arose as the most versatile performer in the show. Portraying roles from a igolo ("Arthur in the Afternoon"), to adiva choreographer ("Pain"), to a nerdy "Mr. Cellophane," Gurwin proved himself a gifted actor - and his voice is adream as well. Gurwin is one of the best and brightest new tenors to emerge from this area in quite a while, and he's already taken off. The production's single flaw was Aat every singer's microphone - at ne point or another - faded in and out. This annoyance - most egre- gious in Lewis' opening title song - continued throughout the show, and was especially prominent in the bal- 1..~1, Now Channel 70 Monday - Friday 7pm - Midnight THE F' FAST-.T ULACEOR Record-breaking performance is a way of life at Parametric Technology Corporation - whether you're talking about our revolutionary mechanical CAD software, our continuing spectacular growth or the potential we offer for fast-track careers. people from a variety of back- grounds united in their pursuit of excellence. We offer challenge and growth of the high- est degree to students graduating with a BS or MS in a technical degree. The following opportunities are available: Boston. World Headquarters To explore a high perfor- mance future with PTC, please visit your Career Placement Office. Direct resumes are also accepted: send or fax to Dept. P.J., Parametric Technology Corp., 128 Technology Drive, Waltham, MA 02154. Fax: (617) 398-5674. " 0 s Software Engineers Programmer/Analysts Customer Support & Test Engineers CAt-t:PLIVtIa! lt[uivtuudta } '