Octob.er 4, 1968
The N.C. Essay
PENUERECK.i; TasSion According to
St Luke on RCA Victrola Soloists---
Stefania Woytowiez, Soprano
Andrzej Hiolske, Baritone
Bernard Ladysz, Bass
Rudolf Jursen Bartsch, Narrator
Henryk Czyg conducting the Cologne
Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra
With the Tolzer Boychoir.
PHILLIPS: The soloists are the same
as Victrola.
Leszek Herdegen, Narrator
Henryk Czyz conducting the Boy's Cho
rus, mixed chorus and orchestra of
the Cracow Philharraonia.
The Passion According to St.
Luke of Krzysztef Penderecki is pro
bably the most brilliant work for
chorus and orchestra of this century.
It is certainly the most splended
and ingenious religious composition
to appear in at least fifty years.
In an area of music long-suffering
from a dearth of great works, the
Passion, with it's unique and adven
turous character, stands boldly in
the ranks of a truly inspired sacred
work.
Though of a definitely modern
and perhaps controversial texture,
the character of the work supercedes
technique to convey a message with a
reverence and vitality all its own.
The style is modern; Penderecki uti
lizes elements of his musical heri
tage:
Gregorian chant and the time-hon
ored musical motive B-A-C-H (B flat-
A-B-C-Natural) as an obvious acknow
ledgement on the part of the compo
ser to the richness of this past.
These elements, combined with such
effects as choral glissandi, quarter
tones and tone clusters (for the
chorus as well as orchestra) are jo
ined together with the greatest de
gree of skill and good taste to cre
ate a work of astonishing impact and
drama•
The two recordings currently a-
vailable of this work are quite si
milar, inasmuch as soloists and con
ductor are identical on both. There
are differences between the two how
ever, and the listener may make his
own decision in choosing between
them. The recording quality of both
records is amazingly good. Both
were recorded in churches, the Phil
lips Album in St. Catherines Church
in Cracow under the supervision of
the composer, and the Victrola Album
in the Munster Cathedral of Colongne
where the work was premiered in
March of 1966. The Victrola record
ing possesses a clarity and repara
tion of tone of a higher degree than
the Phillips, but this quality may
be more the result of the perfor
mance itself rather that of acous
tics or engineering. The Phillips
exhibits a sombre atmosphere inherent
in the work Itself, which to my ears
seems preferable to the quality of
sound in the Victrola. The tempi,
too, in the Munster recording tend
to be a bit faster and the perfor
mance more animated (at least more
so in a relative sense, judging from
the nature of the work). This again
is a matter of personal taste in in
terpretation.
Whatever individual preference
for iterprative particulars, both
recordings provide excellent perfor
mances of a major new work not to be
left unheard.
xcEDRiN heada:hei
A PRESONALIZED CHART FOR STUDENTS
1. Breakfast at N.C.S.A.
"I accidently spilled ray bowl
of grits on the cafeteria floor,
bursting out a large piece of tile.
2. The Student Bank
,'JJ*m sorry. Banking hours end
at 12;GO noon. You're two seconds
late. Naaaya!
3. Week-end Trips
"They're One -A- Day Vitamin
pills. I swear it! They're vitamin
-pills!!"
4. Local Police
"It's no use. The music's too
loud. 1 can't hear a word you're
saying, officer."
5. Showers In the Dorm
"Don't flush it! Don't flush
it! For God's sake don't
EeeeeeeeeeeYaaaaaauggggghI!!I
PRES IDENTIAL ELECTION"”'"”'^™
(Con't from page 3)
embarrassment. Though Rockefeller
apologized for the mistake, Agnew
suddenly came out for Nixon. It is
no small coincidence, therefore,
that Agnew, who was considered the
darkest "dark horse", got the Vice-
Presidency which added further in
sult to the injury of the Rockefel
ler campaign./
Despite Nixon's questionable
ethics, he represents the conserva
tive American. On the issues, his big
target is the Johnson administration.
To explain Nixon's policies would
take pages because his equivocal
platitudes require much space to ex
plain. In a nut-shell, however,
this is it: "Honorable Peace" in
Vietnam through use of efficient
force;"Law and order" in the streets
no riots and no student disorders
tolerated; Black people helped only
by "good old free enterprise"
through incentive provided by pri
vate ownership of business.
One can only wonder about the
effectiveness of Nixon as President.
C ALE N DA R
Oct. 5 - 7:00 a.m. Student Activi-
(Sat.) ties Trip to Mountains.
Fee - $1.00,
“ 11:45 a.m. Horse back rid
ing every Saturday with
instruction, $2.00. Trans=
portation provided.
Oct. 6 - 1;30 p.m. School Bowling
(Sun.) Party at Major League
Lanes, Thru-way Shopping
Center. Free. Transporta
tion provided.
Oct. 7 - 8:30 p.m., Susan Starr. Ci-
(Mon.) vie Music Association.
(Pianist, tickets availa
ble)
Oct. 8 - 8:15 p.m. NCSA Dance Con-
(Tues.) cert. Belmont, N.C.
Oct. 9 - 11:30 (or 2 p.m.) Student
(Wed.) Music Recital. See arti
cle on this page.
- 12:30 p.m. Movie. " The
Hunter" Room 320. Required
for English 101.
= 8:15 p.m.. Opening Night,
"The Odd Couple" Little
Theatre Production. Hanes
Community Center. Oct. 9-
13. Sunday Matinee, 3:15.
Oct. 10- Santander Lniversity Buc-
(Thurs.) aramanga in an Evening of
Music. ( From Columbia,
South America) Tickets are
available^
Oct. 11“ 8:15 p.m. NCSA Student Or-
(Fri.) chestra Concert, School of
the Arts, Main Hall,
" llsOO a.m. Santander Uni
versity Bucaramanga Mens*
Chorus. Salem College.
Fine Arts Center.
Oct. 12 =5:30 p.m. Bus leaves for
(Sat.) Duke University. Simon "y
Garfunkle. Tickets.
- 6 p.m. = 10 p.m. "School of
the Mind" (NCSA Acid Group
performing at Dixie Clas=
sic Fair.)
STUDENT RECITAL
A student music recital will
be given Wednesday, October 8th in
the auditorium. Performing will be
Ransom Wilson, flute; Glenn Wilson
and Hal Tyson, accompanists. In
cluded on the program will be Sona
ta in d minor, "La Vibray," b y
Michel Blavet and Sonata in A Major
K.V. 12 by Mozart; "Gymel" by Nic-
colo Castiglioni, "Cinq Printanie-
res" by Serge Lancen, and "Suite
Paysanne Hongroise" by Bartok. i
M,
Nixon's election seems imminent, but
there will certainly be a violent,
resounding reaction among millions
of Americans.