The Music of Cosmos
RCA, ABL1-4003
Those who saw Carl Sagan’s
Cosmos, a thirteen-part series
on PBS last season, won’t need
to be told how well the music
blended into and enhanced the
show’s words and visual
elements. But, unfortunately
due to its frequently sup
plementary nature, the music
used in film and/or television
doesn’t always stand up on its
own merits. Happily, this is not
the case with The Music of Cos
mos.
For those who didn't see the
hour-long broadcasts devoted
to astronomy, space exploration
and the wonders of the un
iverse, the music used consist
ed of selections from works by
such diversified artists as Van
gelis, Dmitri Shostakovich,
Johann Pachelbel, Alan
Hovhaness, Isao Tomita, J.S.
Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Nicolai
Rimsky-Korsakov, Roy Buchan
an, Igor Stravinsky, and even
Bulgarian and Japanese tradi
tional pieces. Seventeen of
these works appear on the al
bum.
7
RED, HOT& COLE
Oregon Repertory Theatre
Directed by David Lunney
Great melodies and so
phisticated lyrics were Cole
Porter’s musical signature,
and time has not dated his
charm at all.
Great music outlives its
composer and the four stars
of Red, Hot & Cole pay affec
tionate tribute to Porter’s
prolific gift for song at
Oregon Repertory Theatre.
Five of Eugene’s top per
formers have put together a
collection of Porter’s best
work. The result is a delight
ful, relaxed evening of pure
Porter sung by people who
really love his music. They
love what they’re doing and
it’s contagious.
Sharon and Neal Wilson,
Priscilla Lauris and Brian
Swingle, accompanied by
Lydia Lord on piano, move
from one song to the next
with the same gracefulness
found in Porter’s lyrics. Each
member of the quartet alter
nately solos, does a duet or
sings ensemble while con
stantly moving across the
arena theatre. The revue
lacks dialogue, an advantage
— by design or accident —
that keeps the show moving.
It’s the music that really
keeps Red, Hot& Cole on the
go. Included are some of
Porter’s most well known
hits, “Let’s Do It,” "Anything
Goes,” "Begin the Beguine"
(beautifully sung by the Wil
sons), “Night and Day,” “I
Love Paris,” “So In Love,”
“Let’s Misbehave,” and “I’ve
Got You Under My Skin" —
among others.
Lauris has a great voice for
musical comedy and she
steals the show in the lively
second act with "Always
True To You In My Fashion.”
She teams up with Swingle
for an hilarious version of the
romantic "So In Love.”
Swingle shows no interest in
her antics and gives the song
the serious attention it de
serves.
Sharon Wilson shines dur
ing her solos, generally more
somber than the rest of the
group. Her versions of “Love
for Sale" and "Why Can’t
You Behave” are haunting.
Her clear, operatic voice is
occasionaly lost in ORT's
arena arrangement. Just lis
ten closely.
The first act is a bit more
subdued than the second,
when the group really lets go.
Swingle and Neal Wilson are
wonderfully funny in the first
half of “Brush Up on Your
Shakespeare." The whole
cast does a “Cole slaw" of
songs that aren’t part of the
featured program and wind
up with foot tapping version
of "Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”
Musical revues are rare at
ORT and director David Lun
ney has done a beautiful job
with this expedition. His em
phasis is right on the music
and the singers. Sets and
lights by David Sherman are
simple and complementary,
again paying attention to
Porter’s gift for lyrics.
Red, Hot & Cole is delight
ful, and ought not to be
missed. The show runs
through May 24 Tickets are
$5, $6, and $7.
— Sally Oljar
(
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It would be pointless to com
ment on each individual
movement as most of them are
by past and present masters
about whom a great deal has
already been written. What is
important is that this album
brings them all together in one
place and gives them other
levels of meaning by juxtapos
ing them in sections created to
serve just that purpose. Such
packaging is inspirational in
that it allows the music to sum
mon up thoughts and ideas
beyond the individual pieces
themselves.
The Music of Cosmos is
divided into six sections:
Space/Time Continuum, Life,
The Harmony of Nature, Ex
ploration, Cataclysm, and Affir
mation. Each section consists
of music which not only empha
sizes its main theme, but also
enhances the other sounds in
the same section.
Take, for instance, the sec
tion entitled Life. It includes four
movements: a traditional
Japanese solo reed flute piece
called “Depicting the Cranes in
their Nest”; Johann Pachelbel’s
"Canon on a Ground in D”; the
Spring movement from Antonio
Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”;
and an electronic version of J.S.
Bach's “The Sea Named
‘Solaris.”
The first piece is a simple,
lonely, evocative solo, very lin
ear; the second is a much more
complex, instrumental^ diver
sified number with a distinctly
circular construction (in the
television series, it was used
when Sagan was talking about
the wonders of the DNA
molecule and its double helix
patterns); the third is a joyous,
rollicking celebration of the
rebirth of nature each Spring (it
was played to accompany a
bicycle ride through the Eu
ropean countryside which
Sagan was using to illustrate
red and blue shifts in light and
the probable impossibility of
achieving the speed of light);
the fourth uses a more spacey,
oddly structured variety of elec
tronic sounds imposed on a
piece originally written for
acoustic instruments.
The different ways of looking
at different aspects of life are
readily apparent in these selec
tions. But on other levels, just
the way they are put together on
the album invite all sorts of
ideas: The section begins with a
basic, primal, simple sound and
becomes more and more com
plex with each movement; it
starts off with a traditional
Japanese piece and ends with a
modern Japanese composition.
The first three cuts are acoustic,
the last cut is an electronic in
terpretation of an acoustic
piece — is this a comment on an
evolutionary trend?
Whether or not any of these
thoughts were consciously put
into the structure of the section
is not the point. What’s impor
tant is that the album is ar
ranged in such a manner that
such speculations, and others,
are invited.
Similar extrapolations may be
made with the other five sec
tions as well.
The Music of Cosmos is music
to ponder by. Its sounds evoke
images and flights of fancy
which take us from the
macrocosm of the universe to
the microcosm of the single cell.
It is the music of different ex
tremes and cultures, it connects
them and gives us a taste of the
virtually infinite varieties of ex
istence here on Earth, as well as
other places.
An unfortunate aspect of this
album is that the individual
pieces are almost always only a
part of a much larger work. The
"flip side" of that point is that
I'm now sufficently inspired to
seek out these composers and
listen to other sounds they’ve
created. To that end, the exten
sive liner notes contain com
plete information on where the
individual cuts came from, even
down to the catalogue numbers.
The album cover itself offers
several of the more striking
photographs and paintings
used in the show as well as
notes on how these specific
pieces of music were chosen
and why.
Much thought and imagina
tion was put into the creation of
this album. Much more may be
had by listening to it.
— Robert Webb
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