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University Daily Kansan
Arts/Entertainment
Thursday, Feb. 27, 1986
Mary Burger/KANSAN
Imagery
Eduardo Olivares, Peru sophomore, completes his stretching exercises during his advanced ballet class in Robinson Center. The tree at 2146
Music to spur emotion in orchestra's concert
Bv Monique O'Donnell
University Symphony Orchestra, will perform its spring concert at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the Craton-Prover Theatre in Murphy Hall. The concert is free.
They begin with brassy fanfares and end with musical cries from the depths of the human soul.
KU's symphony orchestra has tried to tame a difficult combination of compositions for the upcoming spring performance. Director Zuohuang Chen chose compositions by Leonard Bernstein, Gabriel Faure and Gustav Mahler for the concert.
The piece by Mahler is the longest and most difficult to perform, said Katie Lehman, Prairie Village junior and a violinist in the orchestra. Mahler's "Symphony No. 1 in D Major" is laden with a variety of emotional experiences, she said, but without a doubt, it is the most difficult piece for the orchestra to perform.
Lehman said she thought the director was taking a big chance programming this piece for a student orchestra performance.
"I've never heard so many people in the practice room," she said. "We practice a lot on our own, because it's important to know the music so we can work out harmonies during the rehearsals."
Chen said the first piece in the concert, Bernstein's overture to "Candide," was light and only five minutes long. The audience will probably be familiar with this piece.
The second piece, Faure's "Pelleas and Melisande," is the most simple and most concise, Chen said. The composition contains four movements. It is a typical French piece, in the sense that there are no heavy instrumentations.
"Bernstein's music is very Americanized. The music is based on a feeling of hope, and this usually attracts the audience's attention immediately." Chen said.
Stephen Miller, Salina junior and a violinist in the orchestra, said the Mahler piece was his favorite. The
gigantic piece, which takes up the last part of the performance, is written in a very intimate style and is reminiscent of something a chamber orchestra would perform.
"It is always difficult for student orchestras to carry out a lot of the nuances in the composition," Chen said. "Mahler's symphony is a challenge for any orchestra because it requires a great performance."
"We are learning to listen to each other more during our rehearsals," Miller said. "We have been able to pull together, and we are beginning to sound harmonious now. It's a difficult and monumental piece to learn."
Because Mahler is a song composer, Chen said, there are obvious vocal qualities throughout the entire symphony. Capturing the delicacy of the style requires real virtuosity.
For the musicians, sitting in the middle of the orchestra can be an overwhelming and sometimes confusing experience. Miller said the only feeling he was aware of while playing the violin was the pure sensation of all the other sounds from the orchestra around him.
Mahler's symphony also contains four movements. The first movement depicts the awakening of nature in the early morning, Chen said. The sound is very thin and light, and a bird's song seeps through the background.
"I will not limit my imagery to this," he said. "There are many things to be heard in the music."
Lehman said Chen had given the orchestra members several other image descriptions to help them gain a feeling for what they were playing. She said he described the fourth movement of the Mahler piece as the deep cry from a human heart.
Chen said, "The fourth movement is not a description of nature. I can feel human beings cry. I feel the depression, the struggle and sometimes the joy."
Typical movie plot reaches for greatness, but satire on organized crime misses mark
Staff writer
Bv Grant W. Butler
Prizz's Honor, directed by John Huston. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Rated R, 129 min./color.
"Prizii's Honor," a film directed by John Huston, reaches for greatness by pitting the down-home standards of love and marriage against the deceit and revenge of gangland mob violence. But the greatness is never quite achieved.
This tried and true Hollywood formula usually works except when boy and girl are both hitmen for the mafia.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Boy and girl live happily ever after.
Charley Partanna, a middle-aged hitman for the Prizzi family of Brooklyn, N.Y., played by Jack Nicholson, falls in love at first glance with a beautiful blonde he sees at a mafia wedding.
Partanna tracks the blonde, Irene Walker, played by Kathleen Turner, to California, asks her to lunch and then flies across the country for the date. He is captivated by her and proposes marriage only to discover that he beautiful Walker is deadly.
Review
Walker is also a hitman who is hired by the Prizzi's whenever they need a job done by someone from out of town.
Endless comic possibilities present themselves given the "let's murder the burn and then have dinner" relationship Irene and Charley have, but the possibilities are not fully explored. The humor never goes beyond the clever, yet reserved lines. The film seems like something good that could be great if the plot had taken some different twists.
changes in the screenplay written by Richard Condon and Janet Roach.
The background music used in the film is a recycled Italian opera, but this seems predictable and does little to fill up the emptiness in many of the scenes.
Sure, this would have meant
Part of the emptiness can be attributed to Turner's performance. Granted, she is beautiful, but the characterization of Walker never seems to be anything more than skin deep. She comes across as just a pretty face.
in short, "Prizzi's Honor" is an excellent idea that has the potential to be a great movie, but only ends up being good.
Nicholson, in contrast, is super in his portrayal of the balding Partanna. His character is a gruff man with a pauchy stomach, who looks on the world with hesitation and skepticism but with a biting will to succeed.
Students compete in Gold Show
By Monique O'Donnell
Star writer
For two weeks, sculptures, drawings, paintings and photographs displaying the talent and hard work of high school students will adorn KU's Art and Design Gallery.
Gary Nemchock, associate professor of design and director of the show, said 75 high schools in Kansas had submitted art work for the "Gold Show." It began Sunday, with an awards ceremony, and will continue through March 8.
A jury composed of artists and teachers from Kansas selected more than 291 pieces to display in the art gallery on the third floor of the Art and Design Building. More than 2,900 pieces of art work had been submitted.
Chan Townsley, a former KU student who now works as a contemporary goldsmith in Kansas City, Mo., served as a member of the jury. He said that the quality of the work submitted was very high and that the jury had deliberated for six hours. There were separate juries for two dimensional design, three dimensional design and photography.
Works from the high school scholarship competition also were included in the exhibit, but these works were judged by KILL's art and design faculty members.
Students from Lawrence High School won most of the
awards: Daisy Reduque, Lawrence High School junior and a gold medal winner in the pencil drawing competition, said her art teacher had inspired her work in art
"Actually, the work that won the gold metal was an assignment," Reduque said. "Our teacher gives some very difficult assignments. She makes us work very hard, but that's good."
Pat Nemchock, Lawrence High School art teacher, said she was proud of her students' achievements. She said she had been driving herself crazy trying to select works for the competition. Most of the seniors also entered their work for competitions at other Universities. Nemchock tried not to put too much emphasis on winning the competitions.
the competitors.
"I tell my students that if they get in the exhibit at KU that's fine. If not, that's okay, too, because there are other things they can enter," she said.
offer things they can do. The "Gold Show" is intended to draw high school students' attention to KU, said Vicky Eudaly, administrative assistant in the show.
Immense baseball bat. But Nemchock said some of the high school seniors in art didn't want to attend KU because they'd rather get away from Lawrence.
Kirstin Wiechert, a Lawrence High School senior who won a $1,000 scholarship in art and design at KU, said she hoped to study art someplace other than KU. She also was a finalist in two scholarship competitions at other universities.
Snapshots
Beethoven to play
Camper Van Beethoven, a fivemember band from California, will perform at 8 p.m. Monday in the Party Room of Burge Union.
The concert, sponsored by Student Union Activities and KJHKFM, is free to the public. The band's music has been described as loud, raw and simplistic.
Music symposium shifts to biennial schedule
Cult exhibit to open
Artful representations of Symbols and Saints are powerful objects in the Hispanic folk belief.
The exhibit will feature Mexican music performed by the Hispanic Communities in Lawrence and Topeka at the opening at 2 p.m. Sunday in the museum
The exhibit "The Cult of Saints in Hispanic Nations" reflects particular cultural and religious ideologies, rather than displaying objects for their age or value, says Robert Smith, professor of anthropology and curator for the Museum of Anthropology.
Weekend Outlook
Dow Jones and the Industrials at 9 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at Cogburns, 737 New Hampshire St.
Guitarist Brett Hodges at 10 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at the Up and Under, 403 N. Second St.
■ Mackender-Hunt at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at the Jazzhaus, $92½% Massachusetts St.
Blues Express at 9 tonight at
Johnny's Tavern, 401. N. Second St.
By Grant W. Butler
Staff writer
The 1968 Symposium of Contemporary Music is an important forum for new music because it's the only way that many works might ever get played and it's a good educational tool, a co-chairman of the symposium said Monday.
"It's a valuable way for students and other interested people to learn what's going on in music," said Charles Hoag, a co-chairman and professor of music. "It's educational for the listeners as well.
The symposium for new music has been an annual event at the University of Kansas since 1959. But because of shortages of funds and a desire to keep high quality performances, the program will go to a biennial schedule.
"There's electronic music. There's vocal music. There's instrumental music of all kinds."
Edward Mattila, professor of music and a co-chairman of the Symposium Committee, said it was unfortunate that the symposium would only occur every two years because there was a need for more exposure to new music.
Hoag said the symposium, March 3-5, was a variety of concerts featuring both instrumental and vocal groups, demonstrations, lectures and panel discussions about the state of new music in America. All of the events take place in Murphy Hall and are free to the public.
"People need to hear contemporary music to know what's going on in the world," he said.
The discussions of the new music will be important, he said, because they will involve people from outside
"I've called on some of my colleagues in the humanities to come in and discuss the music, to discuss what's going on," Hoag said. "That's an attempt to bring in people from the humanities. After all, music is a part of the humanities."
the music department.
Tower, who holds a doctoral degree in composition from Columbia University, has had her compositions played by orchestras throughout the United States. She is the Exxon Composer in Residence with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
"Joan Tower is a very strong, up-and-coming American composer," Hoag said. "This year alone Joan is having nine performances of her works by major American symphony orchestras.
This years symposium will feature Joan Tower as the guest composer and the Da Capo Players as the guest ensemble.
"That may not sound like a lot, but it is. That's a mind boggling statistic, especially since the U.S. is the forefront of new music."
Many different types of ensembles can play Tower's music, Hoag said, because she has written so many varied pieces.
"Any composer worth the name is going to write for everyone," he said. "She's an all-around composer."
Mattila said it also was important to have Tower as a guest composer because she was a woman.
"She's only the second woman composer we've ever had at the symposium. It's important that we have female as well as male composers," he said.
"She writes primarily for live performers, emphasizing acoustic
music rather than electronic music." Tower will speak at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
Tower will spend 20 minutes in Tuesday in Swarthout Recital Hall.
The Da Capo Players, of which Tower was a founding member, won the 1973 Naumberg Award for chamber music. Each year they present four concerts in New York.
Members of the group are Laura Flax, clarinet; Joe Lester, violin; Patricia Spencer, flute; Sarah Rothenberg, piano; and Andre Emelianoff, cello.
The next symposium, in 1988, will host the American Society of University Composers, Hoag said. It will bring over 150 composers to the KU campus as guest artists and speakers.
The ensemble will perform "Petroshakes," which was composed by Tower, in its concert Tuesday night. Hog said it was a retrospective work that reflected the ballets of Igor Stravinski.
"It will be a much larger event," he said. "For that reason we're foregoing our 1987 symposium to store up money."
The symposium will continue to be a biennial event on even numbered years to improve the quality by having two years' worth of financing for each symposium.
"It it costs money to bring these people here. Our funds have been on the short side, so we had to do something to keep bringing them here," he said.
Joan Tower
The scheduling change was necessary, Mattia said.
Hoag agreed, saying that two years' worth of financing will help maintain the status of the symposium.
"We're not looking for a world class music symposium because we're already there," he said. "We are world class."
The
1986 Symposium of Contemporary Music
10:30 a.m.： Michael Kimber
presents Schulter's "On Light Wings,".
Skilton Lounge.
Monday
2:30 p.m.: Richard Reber presents C. Curtis Smith's "Rhap-
antles" 402 Murphy Hall
3:30 p.m.: Laura Flax, pianist with the Da Capo Chamber Players, presents "What makes a performance exotic? The piece?" The performance?" Skilton Lounge.
8:00 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
Concert, works by Tann, Jackson,
Gullivan, Snith and Messiaen.
Tuesday
**10:30** s.m.: Swarthout Recital Hall Concert of Student Compartments. Works by Niebaum, Moreland, Branson, Hogan and Cleveren. Joan Tower will give a guest lecture, Swarthout Recital Hall.
3:30 p.m.: The Da Capo Chamber Players present "Renewal Techniques for New Music," Swarthout Recital Hall.
Wednesday
8:00 p.m.: The Da. Gap Chamber Players present a concert, Swainorth Recital Hall
**10:30 a.m.** Joan Tower and Steven Alden will lead a panel discussion, "New Music: Views from the Humanities."
2:30 p.m.: Jack Winerock
presents "Six Preludes by William
Duckworth," 402 Murphy Hall.
8:30 p.m.: John Boulton and Richard Reber will present a concert, Swarthout Recital Hall.
8:00 p.m. : Swarshout Racial Hall Concert, works by Mobbeyer, Duckworth, Shatzkin, Mattila and Addias.