Arts
Page 11 Thursday, May 7, 1981 The Michigan Daily
'81 May Festival highlights
I Ormandy
By CHRISTOPHER POTTER
Eugene Ormandy maneuvers his tiny
frame onto the concert stage with the
small, halting steps of an infant, and at
first you wonder whether he's ever
going to make it to the podium. Then
this diminutive octogenarian raises his
baton, and his wondrous Philadelphia
Orchestra becomes the quintessence
of-if you'll pardon the ancient but, in
this case, true cliche-a single, finely-
tuned instrument.
Following forty-four years of unin-
terrupted directorship, the maestro has
now graduated to the less rigorous post
of The Philadelphia's Conductor
Laureate. Yet what a dynamic ensem-
ble this orchestra remains under his
conductorship! Opening night of this
year's May Festival was blessed with
passion and precision, rendering this
writer's less-than-favorite composers
(Mozart) enjoyable, and his favorite
composers (Rachmaninoff) heavenly.
If there's no such thing as perfection,
The Philadelphia surely comes within a
razor's edge of attaining it.
WEDNESDAY evening's concert
opened with a performance of Samuel
Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra, a
rich rendition which encapsulated this
recently-deceased American com-
poser's most notable traits-a lush,
warm neo-romanticism occasionally at
war with the school of dissonance. And
all, sadly, just a little bit anonymous.
Following the Barber came Mozart's
Exultate, jubilate Motet featuring Met
soprano superstar Judith Blegen. Ah,
Mozart-the most "in" composer in the
history of music, exalted by many as
the greatest genius in any field who
ever lived-yet the bulk of his work
leaves me stone cold. Try though I
might, I get drowned in an
exasperating tinkle-tinkle-tinkle drib-
bling into irrelevancy. Call it my
cultural blind spot; I must be wrong
and the rest of the world right-I plunge
ahead accordingly.
Even Mozart is appealing when ren-
dered by Judith Blegen. Blessed with a
lyrical yet powerful voice, she brings
the motet bouyantly to life, turning the
"Alleluja" finale into a rollicking hymn
of praise.
FOLLOWING intermission, Ms.
Blegen performed three songs by
Ravel, Stravinsky and Rach-
maninoff-three very different com-
posers here blended into the soul of im-
pressionist romanticism. The soprano
was especially atuned to the subtle,
almost mocking mode of the Stravinsky
Pastorale,, mixing its wit with its
almost aching loveliness.
The Rachmaninoff Vocalise (in con-
trast to my ordeals with Mozart, I could
happily spend a month locked in a room
with only Rachmaninoff's music to
keep me occupied) provided the one
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vague disappointment of the evening.
Though Ms. Blegen remained
stylistically true to the piece's lyricism,
her voice was occasionally drowned out
by the sonorous Philadelphia strings.
Even so, it was a mismatch of sonics,
never of stylistics.
The evening concluded with a per-
formance of the Tchaikovsky Fifth
Symphony. Over the decades, Ormandy
and The Philadelphia have so wedded
See2NIGHTS .naa Li1
I Ceccato fails Philly I
By JOSHUA PECK overall as splendid as May Festival
Friday evening's May Festival concert followers have happily become ac-
featured a piece that probably qualifies customed to.
as one of the three or four greatest YET THE JUPITER'S familiar
crowd-pleasers in the symphonic reper- strains lacked the fire, the inspiration
toire - Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony that can make live Mozart an enduring
(No. 41 in C major). The Philadelphians memory. One had the feeling that the
were conducted by the Detroit Sym- musicians regarded the Austrian's
phony Orchestra's once-and-never- penultimate symphony as a by-rote
again king, Aldo Ceccato, bore to be mindlessly trotted out
As always, the orchestra was ex- without much care or concentration.
tremely precise; crescendos perfectly The mechanics of the relationship
balanced, ritards managed with stun- between a conductor and his orchestra
ning synchronousness, its technique are, perhaps, a bit complex for out-
siders to be meddling in, but one
suspects that the problem with the 41st
was chiefly Ceccato's. His work with
the Philadelphians, after all, was quite
reminiscent of some of the nastier
things critics and audiences used to say
about the DSO when Ceccato was at its
helm. Furthermore, no Ann Arbor
rostrum with Eugene Ormandy or Ric-
cardo Muti atop it has ever been faced
with a sound as lusterless as that
generated by the orchestra Friday.
THE SECOND HALF of the evening
brought happier tidings. Gioacchino
Rossini's massive work Stabat Mater
was the bill of fare, and it gave the
University Choral Union a well-
deserved opportunity to show off its
considerable abilities. The four im-
ported soloists had their moments too,
but the heroes of the day were the brass
men, particularly the French horns.
Whenever the metal section was per-
mitted to rise in volume above its usual
CAeccato hush, the spirits of the audience soared,
right along with the lush emotionality of
the Rossini score.
More of the weight in the Stabat
Mater is borne by the soloists, an im-
atproved foursome who showed varynmg
throughout Bruch's passages of both degrees of proficiency. Katherine
lush lyricism and exuberance. Ciesinski, mezzo-soprano, was
The finale, Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 especially impressive in the seventh
in G major, Op. 88, a pastoral, romantic section, the Cavatina Fac ut portem.
work spiced with nationalistic sen- At the other end of the spectrum was
timents, was given a stunning perfor- tenor John Gilmore, whose syrupy
mance by the Philadelphia Orchestra, vibrato and overhefty vocalization
The piece displayed the orchestra's ex- were gone yet one better by a shocking,
cellent brass section in both the begin- shrieking high note late in his aria
ning Allegro con brio and the final Cujus animam.
Allegro ma non troppo, and was rich Overall, the third concert showed
with contrast in the Allegretto some of the best, and, alas, some of the
grazioso, alternating between aching worst elements of the May Festival
sensuality and lightheartedness. tradition.
Aldo(
Thursday
By JANE CARL
The Philadelphia Orchestra's April
30th concert at the May Festival was a
musical treat. Under the direction of
Aldo Ceccato, former musical director
of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the
concert started rather slowly with an
underplayed rendition of Rossini's
Overture to 'Semiramide,' marred by a
lack of brilliance and a shrill, uncon-
trolled piccolo solo. However, bright
moments in the piece included a full-
bodied treatment of-the opening theme
by a magnificent horn section and a
beautiful oboe sound.
The Bruch Concerto No. 1 in G minor
for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 26, was
given a virtuoso performance by Ani
Kavafin, a native of Royal Oak.
Possessing a truly sweet sound,
Kavafian produced exquisite
musicality that was preserved
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