music
Bowling
Green
choir
to
perform
Friday;
1966
graduate
to
present
recital
Tuesday
Photo from Bowling Green State University
The Bowling Green State University A Cappella Choir
The 44-member Bowling Green State University A Cappella Choir
will arrive in Eugene for one performance only this Friday at 8 p.m. at
the First Methodist Church, at the corner of 14th Avenue and Olive
Street.
The performance is part of the choir’s 46-day tour of 23 states and
two Canadian provinces this summer.
The concert is scheduled to be about an hour and a half long, and is
billed as “a combination of sacred and secular music.” Admission to
the concert is free, although a $1 donation is being asked to help cover
the group’s travel expenses.
The choir recently appeared with the Toledo Symphony in the
Berlioz Requiem, the Mahler Fifth Symphony, and the Beethoven
Choral Fantasia.
Richard Mathey, director of the choir, has appeared throughout
the eastern states as a choral clinician, adjudicator, and solo per
former. He made his New York debut at Lincoln Center in February,
1971.
A 1966 doctoral graduate of the University who has played more
than 150 recitals throughout the United States will perform in concert
next Tuesday, July 10, at the Music School Recital Hall.
Victor Hill, currently an associate professor of mathematics at
Williamstown, Massachusetts, will begin his concert at 8 p.m. The
concert, which will last about an hour, will feature the works of Johann
Jakob Froberger, Jacques Duphly, Johann Sebastian Bach and
Franciois Couperin.
Admission to the concert, which is sponsored by the University’s
School of Music, is free.
Hill graduated from Carnegie Tech where he added a four-year
program of music theory and composition to his major in math. He did
graduate work at the University of Wisconsin on Woodrow Wilson and
William Danforth fellowships.
In 1966. Hill received his doctoral degree in mathematics from the
University.
In addition to being an associate professor of mathematics at
Williamstown. he is also director and harpsichordist of the annual
series of Griffin Hal! '-oncerts there. He has taught music at Carnegie
Tech, the University, and Williams College.
Photo from Music School
Victor Hill
albums
"Made in Japan’’
Deep Purple
2WS 2701
Copyright 1973
Deep Purple’s latest album, a two-record set on the
Warner Bros, label, was recorded live last August
during concerts in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. While Deep
Purple is well-known as a more than capable source of
rock music, the album is generally trite, excessive, and
five years too late.
The album is a calculated orgy of noises. Stock solos
abound (apparently a concert necessity). There’s a
drum solo, an organ solo, several guitar solos, and even
a scream solo by vocalist Ian GiHan (remember him as
the shrieking messiah on “J.C. Superstar?”). And yet,
with all these solos, it’s pretty much a bore.
The sad part is that Deep Purple is obviously
capable of better things. This is clear on “Strange Kind
of Woman’’ and “Lazy,” when the lead guitar finally
musters up the guts to take the fuzz and distortion out of
his Fender. We’re suddenly aware that — by God, he can
play that thing.
The group’s preoccupation with heaviness and
electronic introspection on “Made in Japan” is
reminiscent of the kind of crap that Grand Funk pawns
on the public, dull, monotonous and entirely too easy to
do. Electric mind-boggling, for its own sake, should have
died along with the psychedelic 60s and Blue Cheer.
Don’t forget that back in ’65 the Yardbirds were doing
the same kind of thing, and doing it well.
Two other cuts on the album are adequate, if not
classics. They are “Highway Star” and “Smoke on the
Water”; both are intense and driving rock. Un
fortunately, as with so many live recordings, the words
to the songs get buried under the sound of bass and
cymbals.
The final cut, “Space Truckin’,” epitomizes the
album’s problems, and it takes up all of side four. This
sonic free-for-all pounds from start to finish in a
pretentious blur of drums, guitar and groaning bass.
What holes there are in the sound are stuffed with
Hammond organ, heavy and quivering with reverb.
We deserve more from Deep Purple. They are
skillful, experienced and normally very listenable. Mr.
Gillan is no slouch on vocals and the band is tight.
And of course, there is always the chance that “Made in
Japan” is just what turns you on. Here’s a simple way to
find out: Would you pay money to see Edgar Winter or
Grand Funk Railroad? If so, by all means, buy the
album.
Mikel Kelly