1977-10-25

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BAC Brought Best

Martin Best, 20th century troubadour, presented a concert of vocal virtuosity for a small but appreciative crowd last Thursday night in the BAC.

Best, a native of Salisbury, England, was on his fourth tour of the United States. The College of St. Benedict was his only stop in Minnesota.

In the first set of the eve n-ing's program, Best set forth a style of the troubadour which was maintained throughout the entire program. His music was simple and straightfoward, much like his voice.

Best continually displayed a voice that had mastered both phrasing and dynamic possibilities. His voice was exceptionally clear, well projected by a steady vibrato and always accurately articulate in both pitch and words.

The program set forth in Best's performance was a journey through history. It gavo an overview of both thought and musical styles from the 12th century to the present day. The program was divided into five sets.

The first set, 'The Troubadour in Tradition", dealt with a 13th century troubadour's affinity toward the love ballad. It was common at that time to si ng about

courtly love in any shape or form. Best's selections for the set were consistant with this thought.

The Death of Queen Jane was the exceptional selection of the first set. With each succeeding verse, Best's artful control of dynamic phrasing brought the audience more into the narrative. The integration of voice and instrument (lute) within this piece was harmonious and, at times, one could not distinguish the two.

A brief but interesting historical survey was the scenario for the second set, The Historical Troubadour. In song, Best took the audience from the 12th century through thel8th.

At this time, Best presented his only instrumental number of the evening, Galliard, a 16th century dance song. Quite like the instrumental folk music of today, this song was seldom used for dance purposes. Best's rendition of the piece was made beautiful through his gentle yet steady guitar strumming.

A   quite  numerous selection,

The Vicar of Bray,brought contrast to the second set. The tale was of a British subject who changed his religion and poilitics every time the British   Monarchy   changed,   thus,

Community Theatre Successful

Faculty member, Robert Devereaux, appeared in the County Stearns Theatrical Company (CSTC) production of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever" which ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 15.

Working with the County Stearns Theatrical Company, a community theatre in St. Cloud, is not a new experience for Devereaux. As he puts it, "I've been interested since I was five."

"Hay Fever", which deals with the Bliss family and their mishap ways of entertaining, was well attended. ** 'Hay Fever* had the largest crowd in three seasons. When you continue to build audience support, it shows there is a real interest (in theatre)," said Devereaux.

According to Devereaux, the audience isn't the most important part of community  or amateur theatre though.

"Communtiy theatre relies on volunteers. As its title suggests, it is for the community and supported by the community, but without volunteers it would not survive.

"Most of us (those involved in community theatre) have other positions or jobs, and no matter how dedicated, a handful can't do it."

When Tyrone Guthrie chose Minneapolis as the site of the Guthrie Theatre, he did so because the seeds of theatre had

By Caroline Stalboerger

already been sown in Minnesota.

"Some people thought the Guthrie might be bad because it would draw people from the other theatres. That wasn't true. There is more theatre now (in Minnesota) than ever before." said Devereaux.

St. Cloud itself has added two theatres in the. last three years. The Troupe Theatre, for which Devereaux is the chairman of the board of directors, and CSTC. "Together, they add to the culture of St. Cloud," said Devereaux.

"Audiences ar growing; volunteers are growing; there is an audience for theatre in St. Cloud" he continued.

The audience of CSB has before it a delightful season with CSTC, Opening Nov. 3 is "Barefoot in the Park" by Neil Simon. The Tribune said, this play is "breezy, amiably idiotic and irresistibly funny."

The other plays of the season include Anouilh's "Time Remembered", William's "The Night of the Iguana", 'The Drunkard" with score by Barry Manilow, and McNally's "Bad Habits".

The County Stearns Theatrical Company is located in the annex of the Germain Motor Hotel, downtown St. Cloud. Performances are Thurs., Fri., and Sat. evenings at 8p.m.

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proving to be a loyal and true subject of each.

"The Rococo Troubadour" presented five songs of Carl Mikeal Bellman, 18th century guitar composer. The songs were true to the Rococo Style,' elaborate, yet delicate, elegant yet playful. Best introduced them in a philosophical manner saying, "These songs are painted pictures about particular people. They can't get life together even though they are surrounded by the peace and beauty of their native land."

The troubadour tradition is to use music to illustrate words rather than words to illustrate music. Best attempted and carried through this tradition during the fourth set with the poems of Walter de La Mare for which he composed the music. During a post-performance interview, Best described the works as part of a troubadour's "quest for new sorts of experiences."

The concert presentation of these  pieces  was touching and at

cont. on page 6

One piece of "moving"sculpture in the Jon Brian Foster exhibit at the BA C.

Exhibit

Moveable Not Moving

By Caroline Stalboeger

Imagine a group of 15 preschoolers in a gallery featuring movable sculpture. That's what happened on Oct. 13 when the preschoolers from Children's Rainbow House in St. Joseph toured the Brian Jon Foster exhibit in the Ben-edicta Arts Center.

"The   chidren,"  in   the   words of their  teacher,  t4really   enjoyed   it." Adults  visiting  the  exhibit had  reactions that ranged from enthusiastic to "this is boring".

What the children and adults saw was made to be pushed, pulled or spun. The sculpture was made from coffee cans, linoleum, old"" wood, and window blinds. One sculpture titled "General Trills for Marty"  even   included   a   golf  ball.

Foster, a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, has a style that is funky and sometimes humerous. His exhibit at the BAC art gallery opened Oct. 12 and will run   through Nov.  II.

The Brian Foster exhibit is unusual but not terrifically interesting. It's moveable but in itself doesn't move. It invites the viewer to touch it and move it, yet it falls short of involving him.

Touring ensemble, Groupe Vocal de France, u

French Provides

Last week, the University of St. Johns hosted the Group Vocal de France, a choral ensemble of 12 French members directed and conducted by Marcel Cour-aud.

The program was to consist entirely of vocal works by French composers from the late 15th century through the 20th century. Unfortunately, the group was rather "tour weary" having sung four concerts in four days, and needed to somewhat modify their program.

The program was not necessarily hampered: though by the substitutions (mostly German) that took place. What was hampering to the program, however, was the need for the audience to over look the group's "tour weariness" which usually produced a flat sound.

Yet, with this out of the way, the listner could hear the main strength of the Group Vocal de France-that of precise and articulate rhythmic interputation. They were unfaultering in this aspect throughout the performance.

As indicated in the program notes, the group began their concert with three French Chansons. The chanson form originated in the 14th century primarily as an instrumental song. By the 16th century (the time of the compositions presented in the concert), the chanson had expanded to include voices. It was a balled, a drinking song, a street song which was usually very short, quickly paced and strongly rhythmical.

The Groupe Vocal's presentation of Jannequin, Josquin and Passereau's chansons was all of this. The songs were short, little flutters at a fast tempo which were rhythmically precise.

The group's French diction was ex-trordinarily clear and clean throughout // est del et bon, a piece of lightening quick speed.

The three substituted Schubert works included a selection of aria-like quality. Staendchen contained elements of

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