18—The Daily Collegian Wednesday, Feb. 14,1979
Choir leaves its mark with Previn in Pittsburgh
By CORLISS BACHMAN
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
The University Concert Choir again won the
hearts of audiences and critics when they per
formed last weekend with Andre Previn and the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Pittsburgh.
All three performances of Carl Orff’s, “Car
mina Burana” received spontaneous standing
ovations from near-capacity Heinz Hall
audiences.
Previn, music director for the symphony, told
the choir, “It’s really been terrific. It was nice to
show the chorus off.”
The performance was filmed by PBS, and will
be telecast nationally this spring as part of the
‘ 'Previn and Pittsburgh’ ’ series.
“Carmina Burana,” the ovation piece, is a
American goes to Africa,
rejects system
By DEBBIE SHEER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
All through school, the teachers tell us,
‘Write about what you know.” Sup
posedly, that was the secret to good
writing.
Now, well-known American writer
John Updike poses as a black African
dictator in his latest novel, “The Coup”
and succeeds. Perhaps he doesn’t
succeed in convincing us of any
authenticity in the situation. His dic
tator, Ellellou, is as much Updike as any
of the middle-class American heroes in
his other novels. The reader, however,
comes to realize that this is not a novel
about Africa as much as about
Americanism, especially about
American commercialism.
While the majority of the people in
Updike’s imaginary nation of Kush
starve to death, those who have
managed to do well in the urban areas
crave brand-name American products,
wear American clothing and listen to
American music. Ellellou finds no relief
from these constant signs of America.
His minister of the interior wears a
digital watch and synthetic leisure suits,
he believes he is not served the hot
chocolate he has ordered, but instead,
Ovaltine. He is convinced that the
government secretaries who he has
forbidden to don Western clothes wear
elastic American panties under their
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collection of secular songs from the Middle Ages,
celebrating the joys of springtime and young
lovers, drinking and adventure.
" 'Carmina Burana’ is a piece that choruses
love to do,” Previn said. “It gives a chorus a
chance to sing full out. A good chorus has fun
singing it."
The 24 songs, most of which have three verses,
are written in distorted dialects of Latin, Ger
man and French. The Penn State choir “is
certainly the only chorus I’ve ever worked with
who learned it from memory,” Previn said.
“That’s insane!"
Choir director Raymond Brown and assistant
Tommie Irwin train the 200-voice choir each
week to prepare them for concerts with Pitt
sburgh and other symphony orchestras.
in "Coup'
African robes
As his chief minister encourages this
Americanization of Kush, Ellellou burns
crates of American breakfast cereal
while thousands starve and wanders
among his people, often as an orange
seller with no oranges, then as a digger
of wells that yield no water. After this
last disguise, he takes the woman with
the well-diggers back to his capital, only
to have this example of African culture
change into a modern woman with a
growing appreciation for American
tastes.
The book is a series of ironies, ironies
that endear you to this dictator and have
you laughing at our American
materialism. In his past works, Updike
characterizes middle-class America,
and in this novel, he does it again, by
taking a step back as the young Ellellou
studying at a small Wisconsin college
and as President Ellellou, trying to fight
off American influence.
As Updike take? us through his main
character’s present life and through his
four years of college in the states, you
don’t ask “what does this white
American know about being black or
African?” Instead, while Updike
switches back and forth between third
person omniscient and first person
narrator, we see Elleljou from inside
and out, not as an African leader, but as
an American.
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“It was just great tonight,” Brown said to the
choir after the opening performance. “Now you
know what it is to be born again. I can’t tell you
how proud I am of you and what you’ve done.”
The Penn State Choir began their association
with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1969. William
Steinberg, then conductor of the orchestra,
auditioned and selected the choir to sing the
Bruchner “Te Deum.”
To date, the choir and symphony together have
performed 28 concerts, including the first choral
concerts conducted by Previn when he came to
Pittsburgh. He explained why Penn State is
asked back to Pittsburgh year after year.
“First of all, the choir is just plain very'good,”
Previn said.
Billionaire drama
The secluded life of Howard Hughes inspired playwright Sam Shepherd to write
“Seduced,” which opened in New York City earlier this month. Rip Torn plays
the Hughes-based character.
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“Number two, it’s enthusiastic which I like,
They enjoy singing.”
In England, where Previn is principal con
ductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, there
is a long, solid tradition of amateur choruses.
“I’m totally used to the enthusiasm that an
amateur chorus brings to a performance and I
mean amateur in the French sense, not in the
pejorative," Previn said. “I would rather have
an enthusiastic amateur chours than a really
hardened professional chorus.”
“I think that the (Penn State) chorus is, of
university choruses, very high on the list,” he
said.
A Pittsburgh violinist said, “We’re so glad
when the choir is here. They really excite us."
Previn said the biggest problem he has with
UPI wlraphoto
Why a 'Rocky'fan keeps
returning for more horror
By PAM MEDVE
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
As a' kinky novelty, my friends and I
dressed last Halloween weekend and
went to see “Rocky Horror Picture
Show.” We stood in line, wondering
about the strange songs that some of the
most strangely-dressed people were
singing.
Obviously, most in the crowd were not
Rocky virgins, as we were. They sang
and danced, throwing in quoted com
ments as if they had been in the movie
themselves. After waiting an hour and a
half outside, the line at last began to
move. Inside the theater, I knew
something excitingly different was
beginning when a pair of sensuous lips
slowly reddened the screen. The
audience became delirious.
I soon felt myself back in the days of
vaudeville. People yelled comments in
reply to the movie dialogue. They sang
the songs loudly. I sat awed by several of
the more erotic comments, yet
fascinated by the bizzarness of it all.
Doing the Time Warp in the aisles,
feeling a skidding thrill as I watched
Frank N. Furter gavotte in his stockings
and suspender belt, all eyes absorbing
the color, professional polish, and ac
tivity ... it could have been just another
strange movie like “Young Franken
stein” or “Monty Python’s Holy Grail.”
Yet, “Rocky Horror” had an extra. It
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the choir certainly is not musical, but one of
logistics. "It’s the fact that they aren’t with the
symphony and can’t be here 52 weeks of the
year,” he said.
The choir travelled to Carnegie Hall in New
York in 1973 to perform Beethoven’s "Ninth
Symphony” with Steinberg and the Pittsburgh
Orchestra. Since then, however, their ap
pearances together have been limited to Heinz
Hall and the University’s Eisenhower
Auditorium.
Hinting at plans for possible future concerts,
Previn told the choir, “I wish we could go to New
York and do something. It would give me great
pleasure to show you off in New York. You really
sing most wonderfully.”
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was elastic, tlexible. I could almost see
the audience reflected on the screen.
That was the magic being taken in
under the spell. If I had tried to hold
myself apart, the movie would have lost
all significance.
Particularly, the movie was absorbing
because everyone has some of Brad and
Janet and also Frank N. Furtef in them.
Who doesn't want to give themselves
over to “ultimate pleasure” like Frank
N. Furter? Yet, most people are still at
least vaguely conscious of the traditional
social standards and morals as Brad and
Janet were.
The movie definitely casts a spell, as is
demonstrated by the loyal devotion of
some of its fans.,(“How many times
have you seen ‘Rocky Horror’?”
“Twenty-nine,” someone answers.) As
for me, the words of the “Time Warp”
kept blasting in my head when I was
taking my finals.
Everytime I think of “Rocky Horror”,
I’ll remember the excitement I felt. I’ll
remember when I saw Frank N. Fur-
ter’s outrageous shoes in the elevator
before he came on the screen, listening
and later hearing myself scream dirty
comments, playing the soundtrack
countless times, reliving that fantasy so
absorbing that anyone could happily lose
himself in it. It was great to be weird
for a little while, at least. , {
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