The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 35

Wed, Mar. 8. 1978 t.F. tXA3ZR-fl 35 Keystone's mixed bag of jazz bassists Tholegond of Arrau continuoo ing mark of the recital was evident: Arrau's flexibility of tempo. He played the movement like a Romantic etude, smoothly and effortlessly, with none of the clunklness that sometimes passes for Beethovenian style.

There Is a tendency to forget how planlstic Beethoven's piano writing but Arrau made a forceful reminder. The logic of this approach was apparent in the beautiful variation finale. Arrau saw the series as progressive and built the performance to emphasize the last variation, before the reprise of the theme. Again in the Liszt, he built gradually, revealing the structure of the piece In the way be related its themes. The performance did not nave the By Mlckael Wslsk The adjective "legendary commonly encountered In press agentry, has been used to describe Claudlo i I lA I By Philip Elwood Keystone Korner, plowing through a spring schedule of remarkably bright and pertinent bookings, is this week Involved In Jazz bassists two of them, and their ensembles.

Miroslav Vltous, an Hungarian Jazz refugee who quickly made his North American reputation (and ultimately helped form "Weather has a trio going these nights. He and his share the Keystone stage with Japanese bassist Feruo Nakamura and his Rising Sun ensemble. Although both bass-leaders are young and of the potentially fuslon-Jaa generation, neither opts for that route although both occasionally tread onto musical thin-ice. Nakamura's band is particularly strong in the woodwinds (played beautifully by Bob Mlntzer) and keyboards, handled by Mark Gray. And because of his well-balanced ensemble sound, Nakamura does not force his bass lines they flow along, seldom taking even a solo, and are but one of the many warm tones In his band.

I was much taken by Nakamura's group. Gray Is a spectacularly Impressive soloist (on both acoustic and electric keyboards) and Mlntzer is a particularly fine tenor saxlst. Working with materia) that moved through blues, Jazz, occasional rock and complex electronic figures, the Rising Sun presented consistently fine sounds; and they were exciting, warm sounds for the most part, without the brittle and mechanical tones that Identify much "modern" music. The Vltous trio, with the leader on string bass (Nakamura, earlier, sometimes switched to electric bass) was louder, less sophisticated MIROSLAV VTTOUS Involved In tschnlqut and tricks and contributory bassist than Nakamura. but the way the two presented their Keystone sets Nakamura certainly came out the more inventive and compatible artist The Rising Sun projected a radiant musical Image, a progressive, advanced sound; Vitous was so involved in technique and tricks that his group seemed, sometimes at least, to have broken too far away from any and every older Jazz form.

Their sound became more a study In rapid unison performance than in Jazz, or blues, or any other less frantic forms. Keystone Korner still has scheduling problems everything ran at least 40 minutes late, and the promised two alternat ing sets by Vitous and Nakamura and their bands never materialized. The show runs through Sunday. FERUO NAKAMURA Band prsssntsd fine sounds and leaning far more on the patterns of computer-Jazz, a la Cobham, McLaughlin, Corea, etc. Drummer Don Olias was much too loud and busy, drowning out not only pianist Kenny Klrklaus but also leader Vltous.

I've never understood why, In a small club, there needed to be arena-size amplification; Vltous plays acoustic bass (bowing almost all the time) and Klrklaus at the keyboards can go in any acoustic-amplification direction. By allowing Olias all the sound he wants both Vltous and Keystone Korner are denying the customers the chance to hear a balanced presentation. Also the amplified disortion tends to drive the audience to the exits. Vitous is probably a more impressive il" 3' fJo Amu, as It would be to describe any 74-year-old pianist of such musical stature. Yet there Is nothing eccentric or arcane about Arrau.

He Is not excessively flamboyant, nor is he a recluse, nor does be have any peculiar performing habits; there Is nothing, In abort, that Is the usual stuff of legend. Unless, of course, one is talking about his playing. Arrau has been one of ptanism's verities for years, a performer of magnificent, but not showy, technique and sturdy, yet refined, musicianship. Not only does every note sound when Arrau plays, every note sounds with a purpose. The best evidence of his artistry is that his playing, so carefully thought out, still avoids the trap of over-calculation and projects freshness and spontaneity.

These qualities were on display last night at the recital In Zellerbach Auditorium on the University of California at Berkeley campus, and in a program that would have taxed the vigor of a youth; Beethoven's Major Sonata, Op. 100, Liszt's Minor Sonata and Brahms' Minor Sonata, Op. 5. Few pianists have the temerity to play the Liszt Minor and the Brahms Minor back-to back; fewer still are able to bring It off so successfully. For one thing, each sonata requires a different kind of piano technique: Delicate passagework and bristling octave runs in the Liszt, chordal voicing in the Brahms.

They are quite different musically, too, beginning with their structure. The Liszt is in one continuous movement, with contrasting sections. The Brahms Is in five movements, related thematically and harmonically. The Liszt is a work of the composer's maturity, and a landmark In the evolution of musical form In the 19th century. The Brahms is a work of the composer's youth, employing, with modification, traditional form, as Brahms was to do all his life.

And let us not forget the Beethoven sonata. Both the Liszt and the Brahms sonatas, in their different ways, are children of the Beethoven. 1 Without the last five Beethoven the Brahms 'and the Liszt, are unthinkable (and Liszt, significantly, was one of the first pianists who could and did play the late Beethoven sonatas, making a specialty of the "Ham-merklavier," Op. 106). From the first movement of the Beethoven, the principal distinguish NOMINATED FOR ErnmmmiDi ACADEMY AWARDS lMhidii BEST PICTURE SrSTACiHIMi laawreae A TRUE LOVE BIST INMCTOR tire' ZlawauM For everyone who believes in happy endings ffifflu OQEsmsra Gflufil? ST KSUNHAVIAeaylahaa) AaVief SsllBTIst HST SUTORTINC.

ALTOS ItaeaaVahMsk ST SI mWTlNC MTOS MaiiaailtM SiWD BIST StTOWTINOMTKISS MaWS9lfas RsSsfsttSP SIVT(KJNA1 MORI: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER -ffi- CLAUDIOARRAU At 74, kgsndsry artistry single-minded intensity. of Vladimir Horowitz's recent Opera House reading, but it was Just as successful, and that the Minor can admit of two so different interpretations is a measure of its worth. The Brahms was masterful. Arrau has never sought the heights of Romantic ecstasy in the slow movement that others strive for, preferring a more understated, lyrical style. But his command of the lengthy piece's musical argument is awesome, and it is bard to imagine the finale played more convincingly.

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