10A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 14, 2000
ARTS
Mutter delivers
violin classics to Hill
Joe Chang
Daily Arts Writer
Anne-Sophie Mutter captured the
audience's attention with her
aggressive style of playing Saturday
night at Hill Auditorium.
Muttter did not waste any time
starting her performance as she
walked across th
Anne-
Sophie
Mutter
Hill Auditorium
Feb. 12,2000
\ N
e stage accompa-
nied by brief
applause. She
wore an eye-
catching silver
dress that only
accentuated her
thrilling perfor-
mance.
The program
consisted of
W e b e r n,
Respighi, Part,
Bart6k and
Ravel, which
were all similar
in style ranging
from harmonic
chords. Yet each
various techniques such as plucking
and attacking of the strings, Mutter
proved to the audience her capabili-
ty of producing dynamic sounds
from her violin. She had a clear cut-
ting sound that was piercing and
rich in vibrato.
The "Sonata for Violin and
Piano" by Respighi consisted of
three movements: Moderato,
andante espressivo and Passacaglia.
The Moderato began with graceful
weaving melodies Mutter so elo-
quently performed. With vigor,
Mutter breezed from one movement
to the next, giving each note a
sense of important value. The Pas-
sacaglia evoked dramatic melodies
and thundering chords that were
intensely controlled with the help
of Mutter's piano accompanist
Lambert Orkis.
This preceded Arvo Part's
"Fratres," which consisted of varia-
tions on tunes that once again
brought out Mutter's virtuoso style.
Mutter then enchanted the audi-
ence with the chromatic Hungarian
style of Bartok in his "Sonata for
Violin and Piano, No. 2." The piece
had a natural tension between the
solo violinist and pianist, since their
parts intentionally did not feel as
though they matched. Mutter and
Orkis exchanged tunes back and
Pnoto Courtesy oUMS
Reknowned violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter captivated Hill Auditorium on Saturday.
FOSTER
Continued from Page 5
nuance and devoid of explana-
tion. We savor his hints at the iden-
tity of little Jennifer, who wears
boots that are the wrong size and
has a coat lined in worn out fuzz.
We know nothing about her mother,
who abandons her at the roadside
with the narrator (an ageless, name-
less, sexless older sibling). The
story is like a photograph, capturing
a single moment of life, dismissing
the past and the future. The rela-
tionship between the children and
their mother doesn't happen to
come up. The characters have
potential, but they are too distant to
be affecting.
Most of the stories in "The Kind
I'm Likely To Get" don't have a
plot. This needn't be a liability in
short fiction, but Foster's focus on
inner conflict is so complete that it
leaves his characters exposed. With
nothing to do and no actions to
take, they confront the reader with a
deer-in-the--headlights stare and
begin making excuses:
"I am the sort of person who
should be kept away from
romance..."
"This is the story of a man I have
no interest in..."
They're ordinary people, and
they're unbearable because they're
too real. You know these people;
sometimes you're like these people.
They know no one will ever under-
stand them. They are more compli-
cated than their friends. They are dis- *
appointed in everyone. They mistake
self-indulgence for introspection,
constructing secret images of perfec-
tion and falling into despair when no
one can live up to them. They are so
self-involved that they can't touch
one another. They isolate themselves
so completely that growth is impossi-
ble. Nothing keeps them in check.
When the narrator says, "The (cof-
fee) shop had none of the frantic
energy he remembers," there is no
one to say, "Frantic energy? You ,
weren't building the A-bomb in there'
- you were serving drinks! Get over
yourself?"
"The Kind I'm Likely To Get" is
thoroughly annoying, but maybe you
should read it anyway. You ate at
least guaranteed to have a reaction.,
You will either revel in identity with:
the characters or indignantly deny it.
Although the people Ken Foster
writes about are tiresomely similar,
the scenarios are original and diverse.
Best ofall, Foster has an easy mas-
tery of the English language. His
ideas don't overwhelm his prose, and
his words don't eclipse his i-as. He
achieves a rare, balanced expression.
Still, he can't be forgiven for the
fact that self-indulgent loneliness has
been done to death. If you really
can't get enough of it, you might
enjoy this collection. Everyone else
may put it under the short leg of the
coffee table. If Ken Foster is any-
thing like the characters in his sto-
ries, that's probably what he was
hoping for anyway.
tones to volatile
forth, giving a dance-like feel to the.
piece. They definitely worked well
as a team to produce wild, sensuous
sounds that felt as if there were no
limits.
Mutter's last piece on the pro-
gram was Ravel's "Tzigane, rap-
sodie de concert." This piece was a
reminder of her versatility in grasp-
ing such deep, exotic tones and vig-
orous style. Throughout the concert;
Mutter did not draw the audience
into her performance, but rather
allowed them to observe her. Yet
Mutter cast a spell during her per-
formance of the Ravbl piece, caus-
ing viewers to hold their breath
until the last note. With gypsy tones
and flushing sounds of the piano,
this last piece was probably her best
performance of the night.
Mutter rewarded the audience
with an encore by Ravel. Although
this piece was nicely played, it was
not the best choice for a finale. The
audience's response was not over-
whelming and the night would have
ended better with "Tzigan, rap-
sondie de concert." But on the
whole, Mutter did give an excep-
tional performance, making it all
worthwhile to see.
piece was played with gentle precise
strokes of the bow.
Mutter started off the first piece,
Webern's "Four Pieces for Violin
and Piano, Op. 7," with light, har-
monic sounds that evaporated into
the air. With the combination of
Rose and drummers pound Hill
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Senegalese sensation Doudou
N'Diaye Rose and the Drummers of
West Africa commanded the Hill Audi-
torium stage on Thursday night. The
world-renowned percussion orchestra
brought the pow-
erful rhythms of
*r ~their native coun-
try, Senegal,
Drummers shocking and
of West delighting the
Africa audience.
C omb i nin g
Hill Auditorium technical mastery
Feb.10. 2000 and stylistic flare,
the Drummers of
West Africa
enveloped the lis-
teners into their
native world. The
performance con-
sisted of five
pieces, featuring 20 to 35 musicians.
The opening number, "Rosettes," dis-
played ten women using the Sabar
instrument, with ten men in the
M'Balax rhythm section. Rose's swift,
direct movements of the baton beck-
oned a rapid fire of drumbeats. loud and
punctuating. Playing a 20 minute piece
such as this one requires a great deal of
concentration.
The second piece, "Baifall," opened
with a lyrical duet between a man and a
woman. It begins at a waltzy, relaxed
pace and later quickens to the speed of
the first number. The most impressive
of the pieces was "Saouroubas," which
opened with Rose's son playing tri-toms
and gradually built into a gigantic per-
cussion chorus. Rose and another
drummer dueled on their respective
instruments. Most enjoyable, however,
was Rose's address to the audience -
in French. As he looked toward the sky,
he praised God and persuaded the audi-
ence that "all we need is love"
This performance was as much a
visual delight as it was for the ears.
Dressed in traditional orange and green
robes, the women performers added a
classic elegance to the show. In many of
the pieces, the female dancers were fea-
tured as soloists, displaying their unique
steps. At 70 years old, Rose defied his
age in performance. Throughout the
show, he leapt, skipped and even did the
running-man. Always animated, Rose's
facial expressions and blend of humor
welcomed the listener into his world.
Rose, the chief-drum major of Sene-
gal, employs nearly forty of his rela-
tives in this remarkable ensemble.
Previously, the group toured the capitals
of Europe and South America and was
fortunate enough to be the opening act
for the 50th Annual Cannes Film Festi-
val. Always an innovator, Rose works
hard to improve his skills and develop
new techniques.
As their musical experiences show,
Doudou N'Diaye Rose and the West
African Drummers have proven they
are truly world-class musicians. During
the performance, each member, enthu-
siastically engrossed in their music,
captured the sounds of a place very dif-
ferent from Ann Arbor. The audience
clapped, chanted and stomped to the
syncopated rhythms of this fabulous
entertaining phenomenon.