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 EUROPE/Isroel LOW COST FLIGHTS Center tor Student Travel 1140 Broadway New York, N.Y. 10001 (212) 689-8980 800-223-7676 "OUR 8th YEAR conducts! I 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 MEDICAL or VETERINARY SCHOOL Clerkship Guidance W.H.O. LISTED Ph.D., D.C., D.P.M.-M.D. Program LIVE IN THE U.S.A. 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