Eastman School of Music - Score Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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7 Canvaii I on . 5' forganillllol O I a erecogftllt it Little fl are mo 5 , freedflmaqi gain P ' OI Cell, gl the Not every concert can make a point, musical or otherwise. Music often just is , good, bad, indifferent. In addition to making some telling musical points that verged on the edge of inspired, the Italian composer-conductor Bruno Maderna conducted the 95-piece Eastman Philharmonia yesterday afternoon in Eastman Theater in a program that sharply defined three points which frequently affect the Rochester musical community. One: Maderna's own Biogramma, one of 22 commissions in commem- oration of Eastman School's 50th anniversary, strongly pointed to a strong trend in the contemporary music so frequently performed but so consist- ently ignored here: the crafting of accessible music. Two: Maderna's conducting, after only five two-hour rehearsals this week, proved that communication between conductor and orchestra is one of those elusive, intangible things that, when all goes right, musicians tran- scend themselves and great ideas emerge between notes, staves and barlines. Three: The artistic success of a concert like yesterday's cannot be dim- inished much by the small number of people tabout 3005 scattered through Eastman Theater on a rainy afternoon. The Philharmonia responded to Maderna's piece and presence with some outstanding solo work and the kind of professional rapport which leads one to Point Two. With all the pressure of numerous concerts for their school's sorh anni- versary, Eastman Philharmonia players have had little chance to learn and perform works in the standard orchestral repertory this season. In both Claude Debussy's three-movement Iberia and Robert Schu- mann's Spring Symphony they got a chance to work with a conductor who was more sympathetic to them than to all the musical values more normally associated with these two standard works. The first movements in both tspecifically, the section called In the Streets and Byways and the fanfare prefaced Allegrol seemed a little clini- cal for my taste. Not that Maderna did not fire them with energetic, even exquisitely rounded rubato and all the care that a lesser conductor could Only think about, let alone muster, But the Debussy was too much a literal slice of life approach, not near- ly languid enough, too lusty to evoke the state of mind associated with the Iberian peninsula as Debussy conceived it. 'The closing figures to the first theme group in the Schumann were like- WISS 500 intensely driven to allow them to spread a graceful umbrella of Soun , if f -WFWEYJ. ' A Q All In spite of these minor critical carpings, Maderna roused his youngimu- sicians to frequent musical heights that, over a year's careful observations, are much too infrequent. Members of the Philharmonia obviously respond ed strongly to Madernafs confident but deferential manners toward them and his striking well-prepared musicianship. q V And as for Point Three? Obviously, with high-quality music offered in a free Sunday afternoon concert, those musical Rochesterians who thunk they have stayed in out of the rain, haven't. Theodore Price Democrat and Chronicle 101

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f Maderna was here. That was one of the really bright spots of the year. Inside this one man there is more .t .t . vi a 1 y, excitement, and love of music and life than astman for a long, long time there has been around E He stood Philharmonia on its ear for the entire time he was here. Musicrnalcing with passion: a good lesson for all of us. W 'Committees, committees - we must have commit- tees lf!! when in doubt, form a committee and if you're lucky, by the time the committee forms a report the problem will have disappeared. Then you can ignore ,the committee. l?et's look for a dean of faculty. We don't need a ,deanwof faculty, but let's look anyway. lt'll give us something to do while waiting for Godotf' W' , , newspapers got the story! Boy, was Mr. Wallis Someone found out that underneath the dirt, Eastman feally does shine. Vilallis, don't you think there are some sub- 5i51targgtial,g,reasons for the activities going on at Eastman ? i - I , . . - ll f Aun1vers1ty is made up of administration. X X X X 103