Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 154

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1969 4 Section 5 York Philharmonic Scriabin's Case Has 0 Another Day in Court Opens Concert season vl oeiore JNew Values By Peter Gorner I By Thomas Willis I HAVE BEEN staring for almost half an hour now at a partial list of Allied Arts Corporation's 1969-70 concert bookings, in hopes of finding something of unusual interest to write about. Editors, after all, like headlines with a little punch and dislike lists of would-be attractions and their projected appearance time. They also like to read material which has not previously appeared in print and most of this list already has been included in concert programs and mailing pieces circulated by the corporation. Several of the events, in fact, have been the subject of paid advertisements in this very section. FAUBION Bowers' biography of Alexander Scria-bin makes fascinating reading even if you have never heard of Alexander Scriabin.

This may be said about few musicological studies, even considering how greatly the subject's unbelievable personality helps his biographer. Scriabin also was the first composer who may be rightly called a hippie, and this makes him especially meaningful today. Since his death in 1915 at the age of 43, Scriabin's perpetual flame has been attended to mainly by Russian musicians, including Horowitz and Richter, altho many composers, Gunther Schuller and Olivier Messiaen among them, continue to admit their debt. ll Mll.lnm.M.UBW.IMUMI I I. Ill lHI i A ''V 'V xiiiat: Ji-U Li Ravinia Sets New Record DESPITE bad weather during the first weeks of its season, a new attendance record was set at the Ravinia festival.

A total of 258,969 persons attended the eight-week music and ballet season, 845. more than the previous summer. The biggest draw proved to be the Iron Butterfly who, on a quite hot and humid July 9, attracted 18,456 admirers. Ne'-' came the Vanilla Fudge's Aug. 8 performance which lured 11,006 to the north shore.

The Butterfield Blues hand also was in the running with a posted attendance of 10,253 on June 27. Ramsey Lewis and Ella Fitz-1 gerald drew 9,789 and 9,408 respectively, the Mothers of Invention, 8,885, and B. B. King, 7,434. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's Viennese night once again won in the vocal major league with an audience of 5,983.

Joan Sutherland's July 17 concert followed with 4,561, and Gilbert and Sullivan night drew 4,515. Ravinia's first attempt at opera-in-concert attracted 7,694 to the two performances of "Madama Butterfly," and 9,543 to the "Aida" pair. The single performance of Bar-tok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" met unfair competition from the moon landing, and only 873 persons left their television sets. The biggest-selling orchestra concert involved the visiting London Symphony, with Vladimir Ashkenazy as soloist, when 5,682 came out into a foggy July 22 night. The previous night's concert lured 3,504.

Istvan Kertesz' July 24 concert with the Chicago Symphony, and Itzhak Perlman as soloist, attr 5,002. The Pavilion recital by Ashkenazy and Perlman ran away with the honors in that category with an audience of 4,895 persons. What is news on this The stranee beat, anyway? first item on the Allied Arts Alexander Scriabin's favorite photograph of himself, one he often gave to admirers. Taken in Paris in 1905 prior to a concert tour that year. list is Saturday's New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Seiji Ozawa with Andre Watts as pianist.

But almost everyone likely to buy a ticket probably knows by now that the concert is hands which stained the Russian mind. The Slavophiles of the 1830s, who tried to make the best of It, are replaced by Euraianists and the hyper-neurotic Glinka, who decided that there was such a thing as Russian music. His preachings are put into practice by the organization men from St. Petersburg, the Moguchaya Kuchka "Powerful or as we know them, the Mighty Five, who were anti-academic, anti-foreign, and rabidly anti-Semitic. We meet "the Implacable Jew-hater," Balakirev, the stodgy manic-depressive Rim-sky-Korsakoff, Mussorgsky the misogynist and alcoholic, the vitriolic critic Cui, and the self-proclaimed "week-end composer," Borodin.

Their adversary is the Jew Anton Rubinstein who founds the Moscow Conservatory and thus paves the way for Hei-fetz, Horowitz, Piatigorsky, etc. We examine Glazunoff, hexed by alcoholism and a peculiar fondness for female students. Even the titanic Rachmanioff is plagued by despondency and alcoholism, and finally seeks help from a hypnotist. But the unfettered force of Scriabin threads thru them all. As a boy, he was fragile and reared by doting women.

As a man, he was prudish and lady like. He was incapable of a coarse word, yet his music was openly erotic. His homosexual affairs were countered by his two wives tone common-law and children, and he openly defended his "two sides" saying they provided the basis for his art. Homosexuality, altho condemned publicly in Russia, was rampant behind closed doors. Everybody knew that Tschaikowsky was the country's most famous Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Music impresses, his insights illuminate.

He decides that the question of Scriabin's insanity really doesn't matter. The piano music stands, and stands gloriously. The symphonic extravaganzas may well be in vogue. Perhaps the tortured concern of Scriabin's Aunt Lyu-bov explains him. It certainly reflects a very common current complaint: "He is a martyr.

He will never find peace or happiness. He is always agitated and his face is marked with suffering. He has no reason to be sad. Neither God nor man has injured him. Everyone is warm to him.

But his soul is searching for something intangible. Nothing contents him." Perhaps Scriabin can be understood today. homosexual. In this country, the story was and is different; so when Scriabin appeared in Chicago in 1907, the Inter-Ocean's critic, Glenn Dillard Gunn, could ignore the wild audience enthusiasm and snicker, "Virility is the last attribute that Mr. Scriabin's art suggests, and various rather effeminate mannerisms in playing emphasize this fatal weakness." Bowers logically traces Scriabin's soul-searching from its simple Dostoievskian "walking round yourself and watching" to its ultimate proclamation of the composer's divine right and his need to achieve thru his music the highest ecstasy.

Bowers unfolds the tale with compassion and grace. His research encompasses everything previously published, plus theses, letters, and even liner notes on record jackets. His scholarship As the musical public continues to dislike what it hears coming from contemporary minds, and keeps seeking treasures in attics, Scriabin has been making the news. This season, Seiji Ozawa and the New York Philharmonic will present "Prometheus," the combination symphonic poem, piano concerto, and wordless cantata, utilizing the famed keyboard of color to bring a light show to Philharmonic hall. Scriabin's Second Symphony has received its first recording by Georg Semkow and the London Philharmon: ic, his Third Symphony "The Divine Poem" has been issued on Melodiya-Angel with Evgeny Svetlanov conducting the U.

S. S. R. Symphony, and records of the piano music have begun reappearing. Alfred Swan's concise and penetrating biography of the composer has been reprinted by Da Capo and now we have Bowers' exhaustive two-volume biography Ko-dansha International Tokyo and Palo Alto, $25.

Bowers is an unabashed Scriabinist, and his commitment makes his book sing. He also tells the truth when prissy chroniclers of Russian music have avoided indelicacies. We follow the motherland thru her identity crisis, first the humiliation at a a But most of Zelzer's energy goes to managing his tightly knit corporation like any other business for a profit. One of the few remaining representatives of the once numerous breed of local talent merchants only the callous would say flesh peddlers he has survived in spite of television, urban sprawl, and the mushrooming recording business. His formula remains the same deliver the right attraction at the right time at the right price.

He is still doing this, altho the list is shrinking. Take Richter, Stern, Segovia, Oistrakh, Schwarzkopf, and Price away and all that is left are newcomers or has-beens. When they all are gone, Mr. Zelzer says he will retire to Kenosha and finish his book. But he hasn't retired.

He is alive and well and working in Chicago. He may be the managerial equivalent of the whooping crane, but he is not yet its dodo bird. In anybody's paper, that's news. -AMUSEMENTS- AMUSEMENTS- given the Zelzer cold shoulder it was because I noted the wide range of main floor ticket prices at a McCormick Place benefit concert. This, he felt, stepped out of line, "I don't tell you about music, you shouldn't tell me how to run my business," was the way he put it.

He could be right, at that. He is, after all, running a profit making institution. His trouser pocket office in the 20 N. Wacker drive building is hardly designed to impress would-be donors. He doesn't even have a press agent, much less a public relations director.

He has no board of money raising directors, either. His opinion of today's institutionalized culture is summed 1 up in a favorite two-edged quotation: "If you're making money you're a monopoly, if you're losing it, you're a foundation." He says very little about his own pet philanthropy, the innovative and highly worthwhile Urban Gate- ways project to bring inner city and suburban children into the world of the professional arts. This program is a practical demonstration of another favorite Zelzer quotation, "Good music isn't as bad as it sounds." The New York Philharmonic concert is a benefit for this group. -AMUSEMENTS- AMUSEMENTS- planned. Those really con-cerned about the music in contradistinction to those who shop only for performers will know that the program holds nothing more ad-; venturous than Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, Tschaikowsky's Fourth Symphony, and I i a 's Overture to "Russian and Ludmilla." But to anyone who has been reporting on local concert life long enough to know the way to Orchestra hall and the Civic Opera house, the lack of adventure in programming is tile "dog bites man" event.

Any editor familiar with the facts knows that audiences are on the whole exceptionally conservative. Any organization, such as Allied Arts, which exists on box office receipts is going to cater to its potential customers. A vocal minority including most reviewers are certain to object to the repetition of the stale Russian potboilers. But these are the lucky few who hear a lot of concerts and are bored easily. A man like Harry Zelzer, Allied Art's pepper-and-salt managing director, can shrug off such comments on the way to the bank.

"The wrecking crew," as he is fond of calling critics, bothers him very little as long as it confines itself to evaluating performances. The only time I was ever NOWthruOCT.il CE 6-8240 EVES. 8:30 (Exc Sun.) MATS. 2 PM. WED.

I SAT. 0 24 shopping day: "A FASCINATING PLAY! 'HADRIAN VII OPENED LOOP'S NEW THEATRE SEASON IN A BURST OF COLOR AND EXCITE. MENT DAZZLING DIALOGUE SPARKLES WITH WIT." teoor(f, Trlbunt -AMU5EMENTJ- -AMUSEMENTS- TRIANGLE THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS FRANKLIN FRIED PRESENTS 1 S3 1 tillilAin. Tickets avdlrib Dec. 27.

iS A 'i -AMUSEMENTS- AMUSUWENTS- mm ftAlYOCTOBEfc 11, 8:30 PM. OPENS OCTOBER 22 AT THE SHUBERT THEATRE mm AUDITORIUM 8.60, 6.60.4.80,3.60 mjiiMto)bt rrevnw ucun-ua. ziai on an regular price, WEEKDAYS SUN. FRI. SAT.

Wed. MAT. $10, $9, $8 $7.50, $8.50, $5.50 ltd THE STRATFORD NATIONAL COMPANY OF CANADA "HUME CRONYN. A FINE HADRIAN VII." Sine, Sun-Vmtt "CRONYN TURNS IN ONE OF THE GREAT CHAR. ACTERIZATIONS OF HIS CAREER." iaonarrf, Trlbunt "CAN DELIGHT AND INTRIGUE ITS AUDIENCES." Chrlitlanm, Dallf Nawa "BRILLIANT HUME CRONYN PLAYED UP THE FLASHING WIT.

RESULT: A GOOD DEAL OF LAUGHTER IN A VERY TOUCHING PLAY!" -Joa end Abrt Andtrien, Ntwi Tickets at Box Offlci 10 A.M.-9 P.M. (Exe. Sun.) and By Mall $9, $7 MEZZ. BOXES $9 $8 $8.50 $4.50, $3.50 $5.50 BALC. ty BOXES" mm Weekday8un.8:30.Sal,6:30S10:30.Wed.Mat.2:OO.THEATREPARTIES: For group of 50 or more, call Mary Merlin at: CE 6-8240.

$1.00 off all regular prices. Box office Is open now. For ticket Information call 641-2250. Seat also available at Ticket Central, Fields, Wards and Crawford Store. Dial "T-l-C-K-E-T-S" for your nearest outlet.

I PRICES ORCHESTRA lit SALCONY UP. IALC. MON. THRU THURS. EVES.

Sa.00 S5.50 1.00 4.50 1.50 FRIDAY SATURDAY EVES. $7.00 St.50 00 1.50 4.00 WED. MATINEES 15.50 SS 00 4.50 4.00 1.00 PV SU If Timi Pleas iend 1st Choice: Day AT, OCTOBER 18, 7:00 8t 10:30 P.M. AUDITORIUM 6.60, 6.60. 4.60.

3.60 Timi -Dale. 2nd Choice: Day. MAKI CHICKS PAVAIll THf ILACKSTONI THIAT1R, 10 IAIIO CHICAGO, AND INCLOSI SILf-ADDRISSIO STAMPID INVELOPI FOR PROMPT DILIVIRY. (Mai (0) uy 1 BOX OFFICE OPENS 10 A.M. TOMORROW Tkk.ti alio; Marina City, Fleldi, Werdt I Crawford Storai.

Dial T-I X-I-T-S. I Address I City I4J-5J87, lor noarait location. Phone -Zip. s- I I 3 TICKETS AVAILABLE AT AUDITORIUM THEATRE BOX OFFICE AND ALL TICKETRON OUTLETS. INCLUDING MONTGOMERY WARD AND MARSHALL FIELD STORES.

To order ticltti by mall land chad or monay ordar to Triangle, 211 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, III. 40611. Eficloio lelf-addreiiod envelope and 50c par order for handling. Ineloit cnec er money order payable to 8hub.fi Theatre, it Watt Monro it.

Inn imnoia. pieai enciote aeii-addreitee etampea envelope. Staber! Theater Mf-22SO SAT. SEPT. 20 at 8:30 P.M.

ORCHESTRA HALL HARRY IILZIR rretenr 1 STIRRING FARE NOTHING LESS THAN BREATH TAKING 2nd EXPLOSIVE YEAR! Uu il iivrAiN SEIJI OZAWA, Conductor ANDRE WATTS, Wono SoloW ttNtFlT-UnUH GATtWAYS tat Office Op.n. 10 A.M. PRICES: $5 00. 17.50, end SU HT TICKETS ALSO AVAILA1LI AT ALL SEARS STORES -LEONARD, 7RII RITA MORENO thz T0NITE 7 P.M. CEOtei I.

MARIENTHAl 1 IW HODUCTIONJ. INC. praianf NEW YORK'S SMASH NIT MUSICAL is af ivc and 411 mi jMng in purls Mall and Phono Order Filled All Seat Reierved THURS. at FRI. SAT.

1 1 1 1 1 SUN. ft 9 P.M. aKtr.um 3 Perfs. Onlys Oct. 27, 28, 29 After Its Sensational Debut at flii Metropolitan Opera Hoosi "A TRIUMPH! One CfTha Few Grest Companies Of The iMn, nr.

S. Hurok and H. Zelzer present I IAfcY M5dl tX THIATII, fOI M. IUIKST mm nia pu am T.inno bmii laMTTfl romip AW MmjAV wwm Dinner Playhousi M. Sept.

8-21 TICKETS ALSO AT WARDI, FIEtB ANB vnAwrunu aiun Until fp. lot Office will open until p.m. Monday thru Saturday for Information celll 34111 Or wrltt IfRlC OriRA 20 N. Wecker Chicago MWt mm brew Of TV Bit Valley 'A Thousand Clowns' HIT MUSICAL mtganballetl undo the direction of JOHN CRANKO I Sept. 23-Ocl.

1i HOWARD DUFP 'M Three Antielt' "Talent, Wit nd Emotion" i TRIBUNI "The Audlenc Host CMICAOO TODAY MJMU a lit Lunch.cn Mllinn Wetlntidyl DODS F. i 8:30 P.M. Chicago Symphony Orchestra ARTHUR FIEDLER, Conductor RALPH VOTAPEK, Piano Soloist WEBER Overturn, Abu HasssnPROKOFIEFF Classical SymphonyPROKOFIEFF Piano Concnrto No. ,3 ENESCO Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1J.

STRAUS3 JR. Thousand and AonfiThree Beatl Tunai Tlckti $2 to 14.80; Box toiti IS. Til. 427-0362. Orchestra Hall 220 South Michigan Ave.

hone orrtxrl SH4-14S4 Chlcaas OulJi ItielP' IUN-TWE1 No fl-S3' Tirktit on at Piavhnuia Po Cliica Alio at 4) TlcNatron Oftcaa inciudine Tickal Cenirel, Monigomafir warn ana Matihall Piald. Dial M-C-K-E-T-S "A Flr-Rai Top-0'awer ProJactlee I Toil end Ingenuity" Repertolro Men. Oct. 27 Euaeno Ontgin Tus. Oct.

23 Tht Taming of tht Shrtw Wed. Oct. 29 Romeo and Juliet TICKETS! $3.00, $4.00, $5.00, $6.00, $7.50, $10.00 Mail Order te Allied Art It M. Wecker CMsee, III. M0t Plme bitl.d.

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