Monday, December 6, 2004

by Andrew Quinton
Gazette Reporter

On Saturday night, Lang Concert Hall was removed from suburban Philadelphia and transported to 19th-century Vienna. Under the direction of John Alston, the Swarthmore College Orchestra and Chorus came together to present a magical performance of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. The concert left its spectators in awe of the talents of the composer and the performers.

A concerto for piano, violin, and cello, with the rest of the orchestra playing in support, came before the main event. Colin Palmer ’06 played piano, Serena Le ’07 handled the violin with grace and skill, and Oliver Hsu ’03 came back to Swarthmore to play cello. Both of the string players performed without music. The concerto got off to a fast start with several timpani rolls from Mark Skaden ’08 and traversed all sorts of musical styles in its 35 minute duration. Palmer’s fast fingers were on display more than once and Le and Hsu showed a remarkable feel for their instruments and the piece as the lead line often passed seamlessly between their two instruments. After the performance, Alston presented the three main instrumentalists with flowers and the crowd’s enthusiastic clapping forced two encores.

The piano was then moved off to the side and preparations were made for main performance. Alston introduced the piece by asking the crowd to place themselves inside the concert hall in Vienna where the symphony was performed for the first time. He then took the crowd through the symphony, matching each section with its representation in Beethoven’s worldview. Before the 9th, symphonies tended to be dominated by the strings, with the horns only used to provide harmony. Alston described how Beethoven expressed his dreams of a world where commoners (such as musicians) would exist on the same level as kings and the upper class. The horn section attempts to take over the lead on several occasions only to be rebuffed by the strings until finally, in the 4th movement, the famous “Ode to Joy” theme comes first from the horns and is then adopted by the strings. The chorus, silent
throughout the first three movements, comes in now and makes the finale even greater. The fourth movement symbolizes the wonderful possibility of all people living together in harmony, and Alston asked the crowd to feed off of the energy of the music and do one thing to better somebody else’s life in the near future.

All of this would have meant little had the orchestra not brought life to Alston’s words, but they proved their conductor right and more, delivering a fine performance. Through the “grumpiness” (as Alston described it) of the first movement, the wildness of the second movement, which featured Skaden prominently, the beauty of the third movement, and the majesty of the fourth, the orchestra played with impressive technical accuracy and moving emotion. The chorus, led by soprano Elisabeth Stevens, mezzo-soprano Phyllis Tritto, tenor Scott McCoy and baritone Todd Thomas, delivered the poetry of Friedrich von Schiller in its original German to great effect.

In Friday’s Gazette it was incorrectly reported that the van totaled while serving as an airport shuttle during Thanksgiving Break was the same van that was left in Washington, D.C. earlier in the semester. The totaled van was van 20, while the van left in D.C. was van 87.

*****

*Egypt and Israel traded prisoners on Sunday, in what many believe to be a sign of increasing relations between the two countries. Israel handed over six Egyptian students accused of sneaking into Israel’s southern border, while Egypt released an Israeli believed to have been spying in Egypt. Even despite a 1979 peace treaty, relations between the two countries had long been strained, especially since the Palestinian uprising began four years ago. In speaking of the prisoner exchange, Israeli president Ariel Sharon was hopeful about future Israel-Egyptian relations, saying he believed the two men could “reach great achieveemnts for future generations.”

*17 Iraqis working for American military contractors were killed on Sunday. The unarmed workers were riding on a bus through Tikrit when the bus was surrounded by militants. The militants then proceeded to gun the Iraqis down. The attack on the bus came as part of a wave of violence over the weekend that saw 80 Iraqis dead. The attack signifies the increasing willigness of the militants to resort to extreme violence in order to stop, or at least delay, the national elections scheduled for January 30th.

*As part of a surge of extraditions to the United States, the Colombian authorities sent Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, to Miami on Sunday. Orejuela is believed to be the biggest cocaine magnet to ever be extradited. But Orejuela is only one of 28 Colombians sent to the United States for trial since November 1st. Under the government of Alvare Uribe, Colombia has sent more criminals accused of drug trafficking to the United States than any previous administration. About half of the cocaine on America’s streets comes from Colombia, and the Bush administration has pushed extradition of traffickers as a way to slow the drug trade. As David Kelley, the United States attorney for the Southern District remarked, “Colombia is an important, if not the most important, partner in our globalized law enforcement efforts. They have really walked with us hand in hand to help get a chokehold on the
jugular vein of the cocaine imported into the United States.”

*****

Robin Wagner-Pacifici lecture: “The Art of Surrender”
Scheuer Room, 4:00 p.m.

Dance Composition I students present new work
Troy Dance Lab, 5:00 p.m.

Swarthmore College Bowl
Kohlberg 202, 7:00 p.m.

SATO meeting
Kohlberg 228, 8:00 p.m.

Earthlust meeting
Kohlberg 116, 9:00 p.m.

Swing Dance Club class
Upper Tarble, 9:00 p.m.

Feminist Majority meeting
Kohlberg 226, 10:00 p.m.

SWIL movie: “Big Fish”
Science Center 101, 10:00 p.m.

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SPORTS UPDATE

by Alex Glick
Sports Editor

The women’s basketball team was dominant in the first two games of the Seven Sisters Tournament this past weekend, defeating St. Joseph’s (CT) 65-39 and Vassar 70-48. After earning their victories on Friday and Saturday, the Garnet fell to Mt. Holyoke 50-44 in the finals. A respectable number of Swarthmore fans traveled to Bryn Mawr to watch their team earn second place in the tournament.

St. Joes took a 10-2 lead early on and led 17-7 at 8:08 into the half. Swarthmore seemed to come alive with two three pointers, courtesy of Jess Fuhr ’07 and Debbie Farrelly ’06; these buckets cut the Blue Jay’s lead to 17-13. The referees gave the Garnet bench a technical foul with 7:52 left in the half at a point when both teams were giving it their all.

Swarthmore’s defense was superb in the half, forcing St. Joes into taking bad shots several times as the shot clock was beginning to run out. Swarthmore tied up the game at 26 at 4:38, but the Blue Jays earned a two point basket of their own to take the lead. Radiance Walters ’06 and Ali Wolff ’05 were fouled with less than 16 seconds remaining on the clock and each sunk one of two to tie the score at 28 at the end of the half.

The second half of the game was all Swarthmore. The Garnet went on a 20-2 run in the first nine and a half minutes. Swarthmore continued to amaze the crowd throughout the half with stunning defense and sharp passing and shots. The Blue Jays were held to 11 points in the half to the Garnet’s 37.

Wolff, Walters, and Laura Popovics ’08 led the offense with 13 points apiece. Popovics continued to impress the fans with her layups and three-pointers and the ability to make all of her shots look smooth. Farrelly went three for four from beyond the arc to add nine points. Walters led the team with eleven rebounds.

Swarthmore faced Vassar in the semifinals on Saturday. The Garnet continued to play strong in this game and led Vassar 31-28 at the half. The second half began in a similar way to the game against St. Joe’s, with the Garnet going on a 27-10 run to start things off. Swarthmore hit over 49 percent of their field goals in the game; Kristen Lee ’05 led the scoring with 15. Walters and Karen Berk ’08 also reached double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively. Cara Tigue ’06 chipped in a team-high seven rebounds.

Swarthmore was unable to pull off a victory in the finals, however, against Mt. Holyoke. Walters scored eleven points, while Jen Stevenson ’06 added ten of her own. Walters and Lee were named to the All-Tournament Team, and Stevenson was named Defensive Player of the Tournament.

The Garnet’s record now stands at 4-3 overall. They will return to conference action on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to host Johns Hopkins.

*****

Sarah Hobbs ’06 broke the school record in the 3,000 meter run this weekend at Haverford, finishing in 10:17, which was far ahead of the old record (10:39.39). Carrie Ritter finished in 10:39.7, good for the fourth best school time ever.

*****

The women’s swim team earned a sixth place finish this weekend at the Franklin & Marshall Inviational. Jennie Lewis ’08 earned a second, third, and fifth place finish in individual events. Lewis, Franny Zhang ’08, Whitney Nekoba ’08, and Sarah Cotcamp ’07 placed second in the 400 freestyle relay. Lewis, Cotcamp, Nekoba, and Melanie Johncilla ’05 teamed for a third place finish. Lewis, Zhang, Christie Tomm ’05, and Michele Hom ’07 earned fourth place in the 400 medley relay.

*****

Swarthmore placed 8th out of 11 with 482 points in the men’s section of the Franklin and Marshall Invitational. The squad was led by the 2nd place 200 medley relay team of Anders Taylor ’07, Andrew Koczo ’07, Mike Auberbach ’05, and Jason Horwitz ’07. Andrew Frampton ’08 added a third place finish in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 17:02.

*****

Matt Gustafson ’05 led all scorers with 20 points and Ian McCormick ’08 added a career-high 14 points, but the men’s basketball team still fell to the Ursinus Bears, 82-68, on Saturday night at Ursinus. The Bears took control of the game early, building an early 10-2 lead and never letting the Garnet pull even. Dillon McGrew ’07 and Matt Kurman ’08 added 12 points each for the Garnet and Gustafson led the squad with 9 rebounds. The team will look to improve on their 1-5 overall record (0-1 in Centennial Conference play) on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. vs. Johns Hopkins at Tarble Gymnasium.

*****

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Women’s Basketball hosts Johns Hopkins, 7:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Necessity has no law.”
–William Langland

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