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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1991)
Arts & Entertainment 1 Instruments set quartet apart By Andrea Christensen Staff Reporter Ai first glance, the Classical Quartet looks like a standard string quartet. However, this quartet is different because the musicians play on authentic 18th-century instruments. The group was formed to perform the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on instruments of the classical period. The en semble will perform an all-Mozart program at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Friday at 8 p.m. to commemorate the bicentennial of the com poser’s death. By using original instruments, the quartet hopes to recreate the sound the composers heard in the 18th century. Compared to modern instruments, the in struments the group uses have shorter necks and looser reinforcements inside. They have gul strings and are played with lighter, shorter bows. The instruments also arc tuned to a lower pitch, as they were in the 18th century. The ensemble was formed at the Aston Magna Festival in 1979. Since then, it has given an annual scries of concerts in New York City. The quartet also has been featured in several National Public Radio broadcasts and Mostly Mozart festivals. Since the ensemble’s formation, the popu larity of using original instruments to play classical music has resurged. Linda Quan, violin; Nancy Wilson, violin; and David Miller, viola, graduated from Jul liard and arc founding members of The Classi cal Quartet. Cellist LindaO’Sullivan isa gradu ate of the Hartt College of Music. The instruments the ensemble will be play ing include violins made in 1730 and 1655, a viola made by Matthias Albanus in 1687 and a violoncello made by an anonymous German around 1800. The musicians also will use bows from that period. Tickets are available at the door or from the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. Courtesy of the The Classical Quartet The Buzzcocks back with ‘power pop’ sound By Carter Van Pelt Staff Reporter A fundamental part of punk rock history will take the stage tonight at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha. The Buzzcocks of Manchester, England, a group whose musical peers include The Damned, The Sex Pistols and The Clash, arc touring the United Slates to support several new releases from the United Kingdom. The core line-up of Steve Diggle and Peter Shelley on lead guitar/vo cals, Steve Garvey on bass and John Maher on drums recorded three al bums and more than 15 singles on the United Artists record label from 1977 through 1981. Their success was gradual, because of their controversial choice of songs slated for singles in the early days. The first attempt was “Orgasm Ad dict” in 1977, which BBC radio re tused to play. More problems arose when women at the EMI pressing plant refused to handle their second single, “What Do 1 Gel?” because of the B-side, “Oh, Shit!” Despite such obstacles, The Buzzcocks eventually gained a rav enous punk following after several U .K. lours w ith The Sex Pistols. After a welt-received LP, “ Another Music — In A Different Kitchen,” the band made its mark on new wave music forever, creating what is now known as the “power pop” sound. The second of these, “A Different Kind of Tension,” was picked up by IRS Records in America and enlarged the group’s U.S. audience even fur ther. As with many bands of the time, The Buzzcocks fell victim to the spoils of their own success and in 1981, parted ways for solo careers. Last spring, the band released a See BUZZCOCKS on 10 Pat Di Nizio, vocalist/lead guitarist for the Smithereens, keeps the crowd entertained at the Peony Park Ballroom Tuesday night. Actor began with Hepburn, not tnree sons One of film’s most understated actors passed away quietly last week. Fred MacMurray was best known for the fatherly advice he gave on television’s second-longest running program, “My Three Sons.” How ever, MacMurray’s career was well established nearly 30 years before “My Three Sons” was introduced to television audiences. RKO Pictures’ release of “Alice Adams” in 1935 served to introduce the soft-spoken MacMurray, a char acterization that film fans came to expect. MacMurray’s under-played characterization, combined with the fact that the fiery Katharine Hepburn was given the lead role, accounts for the lack of critical attention paid to MacMurray. Because his mild-mannered role was so believable, critics passed up MacMurray’s splendid performance. The Academy also ignored him, pre ferring the enthusiastic Hepburn, who had won the prestigious Best Actress Oscar for her performance in “Little Women” two years earlier. Hepburn received a nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Alice Adams,” but lost the prize to Bette Davis’ film, “Dangerous.” Davis later revealed that she thought Hepburn deserved the Oscar. The choice of “Alice Adams” was not Hepburn’s first. After the failure of RKO’s “Break of Hearts,” Hep bum was interested in doing another costume piece, since they did much better for her than modern-day ve hicles. She offered to star in an adap tation of Booth Tarkington’s “Seven teen.” But producer Pandro S. Berman eventually had the final word in script choice. Berman preferred the more modem 1921 Tarkington novel, “Alice Adams.” Hepburn agreed. The Pulitzer Prize-winning story had been previously filmed as a silent film starring Florcnz Vidor in 1923. This time out, however, the film did considerably belter. RKO’s 1935 incarnation of “Alice Adams” received a second Oscar nomination for Best Film. Since Hepburn’s contract with RKO allowed for her to choose her direc tor, she suggested William Wyler for the position. However, since Wyler was under contractual agreement to Samuel Goldwyn, RKO offered an alternative. At 30 years old, George Stevens was the youngest director in Holly wood, with little directing experience other than a couple of poorly received Wheeler and Woolscy slapstick comedies. Surprisingly, Hepburn agreed again. After the rough initial meeting that Hepburn has with everyone she first encounters, Stevens and Hepburn got on famously, eventually becoming good friends. Much of the magic of the “Alice Adams” is derived from the liberty that the script writers look in their adaptation of Tarkington’s novel. Reasoning that Depression-era audi ences wanted an escapist break from the bleary times, RKO demanded that the ending of the story be completely re-written for the film. The now-idyllic ending to “Alice Adams” was worked to magic by Stevens’ direction, winning him a long career as a major film director. Stevens would go on to direct a trio of brilliant Cary Grant vehicles, “Gunga Din” in 1939 with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., “Penny Serenade in 1941 with Irene Dunne and “Talk Of The Town,” in 1942 with Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman. Stevens would also be responsible for the successful direction of “Giant” in 1956, starring James Dean, as well as a number of other largely successful films. Hepburn and MacMurray would also continue to succeed in Holly wood for nearly five decades. Lisa Pytllk/DN