Strings to echo at UNL
by Carolyn Hull
The first major symphony to visit UNL
since 1948 will appear in residence April
26-29, as the St. Louis Symphony closes
the UNL Performing Artists Series for this
year.
Thp St. Louis Symphony, founded in
1830, is the second oldest in the nation.
Old, however, doesn't mean traditional,
according to former manager Peter Milstein.
The orchestra is a young group, with more
than one-third of the musicians under 25
years old.
"While working from a classical base, the
symphony is also known for its work in
contemporary pieces," Milstein sa d. For the
p?st two years the Symphony has received
the American Society of Composers, Artists
and Producers (ASCAP) award for
contemporary music. The symphony also
gave the world premiere concert version of
Jesus Christ Superstar.
The St. Lou'S Symphony has undergone
a number of changes over the years. In 1890
it merged with the St, Louis Choral Society
and gave six chorai or instrumental concerts
each year for nearly 20 years. The
combination numbered about 55 musicians,
augmented by a chorus of 200 in 1907. The
choral section had been dropped by 1910
and the musicians were hired for a season of
20 weeks.
The symphony's home base, the Powell
Symphony Hall, underwent $2 million of
major renovations in 1968 converting it
from an old movie palace to a concert hall.
Performances have increased from the
original six a year to more than 200 last
season, performed in St. Louis and on tour
in the Midwest and East. Last seasons
symphony played to sell-out crowds at the
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and
Carnegie Hall.
Three performances, classes and a
number of mini-concerts in living units will
be given by the group. A conducting seminar
is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 27,
with Walter Susskind, music director and
conductor and Leonard Slatkin, associate
conductor.
A native of Czechoslovakia, Susskind
became the assistant conductor of the
Prague German Opera House at 20. When
the German Opera closed in 1938, Susskind
made a two-year tour of 26 countries as
recitalist and conductor, settling in England
after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.
He moved from the Toronto Symphony to
St. Louis in 1968.
Slatkin, 28, also joined the St. Louis
Symphony in 1968, after studying at the
Julliard School of Music, where he was a
student of Jean Morel. His association with
Susskind began at the Aspen Summer Music
Festival in 1964, which Susskind directed. In
addition to conducting duties, Slatkin serves
as music director and conductor of the St
Louis Youth Symphony Orchestra and has
programs on radio stations KDNA and
KWMU in St. Louis.
The woodwind quintet, brass quintet,
string quartet and percussion ensemble units
that the orchestra forms will give lecture
demonstrations from 1 :30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Friday. Rooms for the demonstrations will
be posted in the Nebraska Union.
Tickets for the three concerts are
available singly or in sets. All three concerts
will feature different works, reflecting the
symphony's combination of classical and
contemporary works. Tickets are available in
123 Westbrook Music Building, 11th and R
Sts.
V
(I
Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony.. .will perform
April 26-29 at UNL.
Emigrants-excursion to uncertainty
Review by Bart Becker
The Emigrants, currently showing at the Stuart
Theatre, is a well-made movie. Proof that this is true
can be shown in one way-by a look at the Academy
Awards nominees for the past two years.
If you think the Academy Awards are the final
'word on the movie industry's finest, then you'll be
adequately impressed to know that The Emigrants
has been nominated for Oscars two different years. In
1972 the Swedish-made movie was in contention in
the best foreign language film category. This year it
was one of the five films nominated for best film of
the year.
If, on the other hand, you're like me you think
the Academy Awards does a nice job of patting un
the back those films that made Hollywood look good
or took in a bundle at the box office,
And you probably think the best films are neither
being made in Hollywood nor receiving Hollywood's
accolades. In that case you're resigned to the
probability that o film as good as The Emigrants
couldn't be chosen as the year's best film.
However, seeing the copy of The Emigrants now
being shown in town may be less than a total
pleasure experience for one reason. A dubbed, rather
than subtitled, version is being shown (I'm assuming
that the film is available with subtitles.) This has two
particular adverse affects, in addition to the general
problems created by dubbing:
Because the characters are Swedish; the
English-language dialogue is heavily Swedish
accented. This has the unfortunate effect of hitting
American viewers as an instant coffee commercial
dialect and interferes with the intensity of some of
the earlier scenes.
Some of it can't be understood anyway. I don't
know why this is true.
The story is about a Swedish farmer and his wife.
Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann perform excellently
in their roles. Oppressed by fruitless hard work,
nearly constant pregnancy and even an apparent
enemy in nature, they decide to take their family
from Sweden to a new life in America.
They're joined for the trip by a number of other
people seeking a better life. Among them is a small
Trumpeter shifts his jazz style
M.F. Horn Two. Maynard Ferguson. Columbia
(KC31709) Back in the sixties, Maynard Ferguson
was leader of one of the best jazz big bands of the
time. Working his way through college by playing
trumpet and leading his own band, Ferguson rapidly
rose to nationwide prominence. Then something went
wrong. He left the United States and went to
England. From there he withdrew to India for several
years, finally returning to London and organizing a
new band. A couple years ago an older and wiser
Ferguson completed his oddessey and came back to
the United States, bringing his band and his talent
with him.
When Ferguson came back, he brought with him
some new ideas and as a result many of the songs he
does can be termed "popular."
With one of the most powerful, high blowing pair
of chops in the business Ferguson blasts his way
through his latest album on trumpet, fluegelhom and
valve trombone. With the exception of "Theme From
Summer of '42," which is a soaring delicacy,
Ferguson's powerhouse, driving band explodes its
way through "Give It One," "Country Road,"
"Theme from Shaft," "Mother" and "Hey Jude."
My only complaint with M.F. Horn II is that
Ferguson doesn't pet mit himself or his players to take
off on any of the long involved solos with which he
used to pride himself. It seems as if he doesn't want
to commit himself to permitting a song to run over
five minutes. That's a pity. But a little of Maynard
goes a long way and something is better than nothing.
Larry Kubert
The Art of the Modern Jaz Quartet The Atlantic
Years. The Modern Jazz Quartet. Atlantic. (SD
2-301).
If you'ie hip to the Modern Jazz Quattet you only
need to see the names of the songs on this album. If
you're not, let it suffice to say the MJQ has changed a
lot of people's conception of jazz in their time.
This album covers virtually the entire span of
MjQ's alliance with Atlantic Records, which began in
1956. It spotlights the group alone, with guest at lists,
and in a Third Stream context.
Among the 15 selections are "Bag's Groove,"
Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman," and "Sketch
(For Double Quartet)" with the Beaux Arts Quartet.
Bart Becker
Mothers Pride. Fanny. Reprise. (MS 2137.)
Fanny's fourth album shows more of what they've
shown before; that they're a pretty good band but
not the greatest. As on the earlier three records,
Mothers Pride contains some phenomenal material
which is all the more impressive for the average stuff
which surrounds it.
They display a whole mood range and, although
the easier songs are better done, the rockers really go
to it. Todd Rundgren produced this one, so it sounds
better through eai phones.
B.B.
group of religious outcasts led by a depressing man
who believes the Lord will take care of everything.
The trip from Sweden is fairly predictable.
Stuffed into a smelly ship's hold, they suffer through
an attack of vermin, seasickness, a storm, deaths and
near-deaths.
When they reach America they are led to
Minnesota by von Sydow. Although he is a somewhat
reluctant leader, he is the one they instinctively
follow. When the troupe reaches Minnesota they
appear to be in a wonderland of pastures, forests and
rivers. At the beginning of the movie they faced a
despairingly uncertain future. By the film's end the
future is still uncertain, but it is imminently more
hopeful.
The photography is excellent, especially during
the outdoor scenes, The director's skill becomes
apparent during the scenes in the ship's hold. And
von Sydow and Ullmann's acting is among the best.
Allowing for the distraction caused by the dubbing,
this film is one of the three or four best I've seen in
the past year.
Sleuth-few flaws
can be detected
Review by Jim Gray
Sleuth is, first of all, a murder mystery. But it's a
lot more than that.
First of all, it is a good mystery movie-something
rare these days. It manages to avoid the trite cliche
scenes and dialogue which characterize too many
attempts at intrigue. Its plot is tight, smoothly
flowing and delicately intricate-keeping the audience
entranced from beginning to end.
Second, it is an actor's bonanza. Sir Lawrence
Olivier gives a delightfully humorous performance as
a cuckolded murder mystery writer who hatches a
plot to revenge himself. Michael Caine's widely
versatile and deeply personal portrayal of Olivier's
victim rounds out the movie and gives it astounding
depth for a modern venture in Sherlock Holmes'
territory,
Most importantly, however, the show is a terrific
movie in its own right. Director Joseph Mankiewicz
and writer Anthony Shaffer turned Shaffer's Tony
Award winning Broadway play into one of the most
powerful movies in some time. Near-perfect timing
combined with a clever, believable script make it
difficult to imagine a better mystery flick.
Everything, right down to the set decoration and
highly stylized score, seems to fit. And nary a flaw
can be detected in acting or direction.
This, obviously would be a bad movie to miss.
Agatha Christie would be proud.
Wednesday, apri I 11, 1973
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