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(10/13/04 4:53am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- For the first time in the event's history, the FINA World Swimming Championships were held on American soil, boasting a lineup of the world's top swimmers, many fresh off Olympic performances. \nAfter five days of grueling competition at Conseco Fieldhouse, the Americans and Australians showed they were still on top of the swimming world. \nThe United States set a Short Course World Championship record of 21 golds, the most for any country during a Short Course World Championship, surpassing the previous record of 12 set by Australia in 1995. The United States won a total of 40 medals during the championships, breaking the record set by Australia in 1999.\nAmerican swimmers also set several individual and team world records. Ian Crocker, who won four gold medals, set a world record in the men's 50-meter butterfly (22.71 seconds) and Aaron Peirsol, winner of 3 golds, set a new world record in the men's 200-meter backstroke (1 minute, 50.52 seconds). \n"Going into this, I had a pretty good inclination that I could do something like that," Peirsol said. "It's so easy when the crowd is behind you." \nIn the final event of the entire competition, the 4x100 relay team composed of Peirsol (backstroke), Brendan Hansen (breast), Crocker (butterfly) and Jason Lezak (free), earned a time of 3:25.09, breaking the world record of 3:25.28 set by swimmers from University of Texas earlier this year. \nHansen won four gold medals, becoming the first male ever to sweep all three breaststroke events (50m, 100m and 200m) at a Short Course Championship. \nAmerican Kaitlin Sandeno stunned the crowds by winning three golds in the first night alone (200m butterfly, 400m individual medley and the 4x200m freestyle). Sadeno would add the 400m freestyle Saturday to give herself four gold medals for the championships.\nAmerican Jenny Thompson, who swam competitively for 17 years, ended her career winning two golds, a silver and a bronze. Thompson finished her career with 84 medals in international competition, the most in the sport's history. \n"To me, it's more than the material things," Thompson said. "When they said tonight that I was an 'amazing person,' that means more to me than anything, more than medals ... I've really enjoyed representing my country, and I've tried to do it with the utmost dignity and integrity. I'll miss being that type of ambassador."\nMichael Phelps, who withdrew from competition because of back spasms, mustered out one gold for the United States in the 200m freestyle Thursday before returning home.\nThe United States was not the only country in this competition garnering top honors, with Australia displaying its swimming prowess as a formidable force.\nAustralian Brooke Hanson set a FINA World Championship record by winning her sixth gold medal of the meet with a win in the 200-meter breaststroke. Hanson won golds in the 50m breaststroke, 100m individual medley, 4x100m medley relay, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. The previous record of gold medals at a World Championship was five set by Le Jingyi of China in 1993 and American Neil Walker in 2000. \nIn setting the record, Hanson became only the fifth swimmer in history to win as many as six golds at a World Championship or Olympics. Former IU swimmer Mark Spitz won seven golds in 1972, while Kristin Otto of East Germany won six in 1988. \n"I just went out there and wanted to show the world that I want to be counted for," Hanson said. "I wanted to create history tonight. What I've achieved this week is amazing. It hasn't sunk in yet, and I don't think it's going to."\n-- Contact staff writer Kris Sanchack at ksanchac@indiana.edu.
(08/05/02 1:52am)
IU point guard Tom Coverdale was named to the 2002 Big Ten Men's Basketball Foreign Tour Team after leading the Hoosiers to the NCAA Championship game. The 6-2 senior ranked second on the tour team with a season average of 11.9 points per game and was third in the Big Ten Conference in assists (4.81 apg) and seventh in steals (1.54 spg). \nMany teams this season felt the sting of Coverdale's strong play.\n"He certainly contributed to our misery in Bloomington," Illinois coach Bill Self said.\nCoverdale was asked over dinner by Mike Davis if he wanted to go to Europe and agreed.\n"It's another opportunity basketball's given me to see the world and travel. I am looking forward to it," a grateful Coverdale said. "There will also be some free time for sightseeing."\nDuring the NCAA Tournament Coverdale sprained his ankle, but he said this is no longer a big issue.\n"My foot is pain-free." Coverdale said. "I'm playing on it, and it's getting stronger."\nSelf will be leading the team in the international tour, which consists of five games played between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands Aug. 8-18. Self said is eager to work with Coverdale.\n"I wanted to work with either Newton or Coverdale," Self said. "Coverdale is a true point guard, does his team a service, and he's a competitor. He has great leadership ability, and is the best natural leader on the (Big Ten) team."\nThe Big Ten coaches corporately decided last year that the coach from year to year would go from youngest to oldest. IU's Mike Davis coached last year. This year, Self, the second youngest in seniority, volunteered to go to Europe. Illinois, because Self is the coach, will be allowed to take two players. \nThe other nine Big Ten schools are contributing a player each as well, creating a 12-person roster.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
For over 40 years the Beaux Arts Trio has provided audiences with precise, exciting and critically acclaimed performances and recordings of chamber music for piano, violin and cello. The founding pianist of the trio, Menahem Pressler, is accompanied by violinist Daniel Hope and cellist Antonio Meneses. Hailing from Britain, Hope was voted Young Artist of the Year 1999 by Germany's two leading music magazines and Classical Performer (of the year) 2001 by London's Evening Standard newspaper. Meneses has performed with top orchestras all over the world, and has won first prize in several international competitions, not the least of which was the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.\nThese musical heavy-weights will be performing two staples in the trio repertoire Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the IU Musical Arts Center: Rachmaninoff's Trio Elegiaque in D Minor, Op. 9; and Beethoven's famous "Archduke" Trio in B flat Major, Op. 97.\nRussian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) composed the Trio Elegiaque in 1894. The depth of emotion this work contains is astonishing, especially in light of the fact that Rachmaninoff was only 20 years old at the time of its composition. Rachmaninoff wrote the trio "in memory of a great artist," the late Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff's musical mentor and idol, according to reviewer Robert L. Jones and a Rachmaninoff Web site. \nThe Trio Elegiaque is a massive work, containing three movements and lasting over 45 minutes. The Beaux Arts Trio has lived with this work since its successful recording in 1985, and its demands on the pianist, typical of much of Rachmaninoff's music, are fearsome. The first movement alone is nearly 20 minutes in length, and demonstrates Rachmaninoff's uncanny ability to manipulate and treat motivic material with dexterity and poise. Rachmaninoff manages to take a simple descending chromatic-line motive, introduced in the very first measure of the piece in the piano part, and utilize it to macrolevel proportions, both in melodic and harmonic schemes. The importance of D flat major as a key and pedal point in this piece, a half-step lower than the opening tonic, reinforces this chromatic motive.\nThe second movement, a variations form, would prefigure some of the ingenuity that would go into his later works such as the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. Rachmaninoff's treatment of the violin and cello lines is equally noteworthy, with extended passages in parallel pizzicato (plucked strings) motion. The Andante eighth variation, with a turn figure followed by an ensuing D minor harmony, would be the exact opening of the First Symphony, written only a few years later, in the same key.\n"Rachmaninoff is underrated as a composer; his imagination and creativity, especially in the variations movement, is beautiful," Pressler said. \nThe third movement opens with a pianistic flourish lasting 34 bars before the violin and cello even enter. This movement contains a plethora of rhythmic agitation and excitement, which gives the piece a strong teleological thrust. A cadenza near the end of the movement in the piano part ushers in a repetition of the opening of the first movement, creating a cyclical work with large-scale cohesion. The work concludes in the low registers of both the piano and the cello, extremely softly, creating a sense of dark finality.\nComposed in 1811 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), the four-movement "Archduke" Trio, Op. 97 in B flat major, is named after its dedicatee, Archduke Rudolph of Vienna, brother of the Emperor Franz, John Sichel of the Arbor Chamber Music Society said. The Beaux Arts Trio has performed this piece since its founding. Its first performance (which Pressler recalled immediately with great detail) was on July 13, 1955 at Tanglewood Music Center in Boston, making it almost 47 years to the day that Pressler has lived with and performed this work. \n"(The piece is) one of the great pieces in all of music literature, especially with its depth and variety of emotions," Pressler said. \nAnd indeed, the piece ranges in emotion from somber to festive, from noble to joyous. And beyond the range of emotional content, typical of Beethoven, this piece contains a variety of tonal surprises right from the opening sonata-form movement. The second theme in a sonata form would usually be in the key of the dominant, F major, but Beethoven takes the work on another tonal path, and the second theme commences in G major, a distantly related key. \nThe remainder of this movement progresses in typical sonata form, with a chromatic and motivically-derived development, and a recapitulation with both themes in the home key of B flat major, followed by a brief coda. Another noticeable characteristic includes, like in the Rachmaninoff, extended pizzicato sections in the strings parts. This pizzicato texture will pervade in large parts of the trio as a whole.\nThe second-movement Scherzo begins in the home key of B flat major. In this trio, the traditionally slow second movement and the lively third movement are reversed, where now the lively movement precedes the slower one. This Scherzo contains a great outpouring of imitation, inversion and canonic treatment of themes and motives. However, the key migrates in a short amount of time, and suddenly the piece moves to D flat major, a minor third above, only then to move to another key a minor third higher, E major. This mirrors the key motion in the first movement, where the piece went to the second theme a minor third below the home key, from B flat major to G major. Following the E major section, a long dominant pedal point ensues, setting up the return of B flat major and the opening material of the movement.\nAndante commences the third movement in D major, (now a major third above the home key) and, as typical in variation form, remains in that key and develops in rhythmic and textural complexity before returning near the movement's end in the opening simplified form. During the return of the opening material, a brief tonal center in E major occurs, reminding the listener of that key from the previous movement. In addition, emphasized chords during the variations on a G major harmony remind one of the second theme key area of the first movement. The end of this movement dovetails into the final Allegro movement, creating a sense of continuity and dramatic impetus.\nThe last movement once again starts in B flat major and has a playful and frivolous affect. It remains in the key of B flat major for quite some time, but, in a contrasting Presto far within the movement, the distant key of A major is explored. This key area, however, is suddenly interrupted, and the piece moves quickly back to B flat major. A massive coda reinforces the key of B flat major and brings the piece to a joyful, playful and powerful conclusion.\nTomorrow evening the world-renowned Beaux Arts Trio will perform two trios by Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. The cost is only $14 for general admission and $8 for IUB students.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Standing ovations from a nearly full house at the Musical Arts Center greeted the Beaux Arts Trio Tuesday night. Menahem Pressler, pianist, Daniel Hope, violinist, and Antonio Meneses, cellist, bowed with pride after completing a commanding and exciting performance.\nThat's right, not one standing ovation, two.\nFollowing the performance of the Rachmaninoff Trio Elegiaque, Op. 9 and the Beethoven "Archduke" Trio, Op. 97, the audience gave a prolonged standing ovation, at which point the Beaux Arts Trio came back out on stage and encored the Scherzo movement of Dimitri Shostakovich's Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 67, which itself was followed by another standing ovation.\nAnd the ovations were well deserved.\nDuring the Rachmaninoff Trio, Beaux Arts demonstrated good ensemble, playing tightly together, with the tone between the string players matching nicely. The balance between the players was excellent. The piano, the foremost instrument in the work, never overpowered the strings. \nThe players decided to take a more introspective view of the work, versus a more emotionally extroverted approach. There was beautiful coloring in the 2nd movement variations, especially in the faster sections, where a light, whimsical nature peeked beautifully through the "all-encompassing sadness" (in Pressler's words) that typifies the piece. The pacing and dynamics in the score were also carefully adhered to.\nFor this listener's taste, I would have preferred a little more "Russian angst" and a lot more bravura, especially in the more concerto-like passages in the piano part, where the pianist can "steal the show" in places. In the more dramatic sections, I would have also desired a bit more warmth and depth of tone from the string players. Sometimes in the higher parts in the violin, the intonation was not quite on, and occasionally, but excusably, there were a few wrong notes in the piano, and sometimes a little too much pedal. But these are picky details, and should not detract from the fact that the performance of the Rachmaninoff Trio overall was quite strong.\nThe Beaux Arts Trio, however, I felt was really at home in its performance of the "Archduke" Trio of Beethoven, Op. 97. The performance of the 1st movement was strong, well-played and articulate. The trills and mordents in this movement demonstrated a real facility and exactitude of attention from the players. The 2nd movement Scherzo was also beautifully played, and there was a nice capture of the light feel, containing delightful colors and contrasts.\nBut the 3rd movement -- wow -- It was nearly tear-jerking. There was a hymn-like warmth and beauty that was truly breathtaking. You could hear a pin drop in the audience during this beautiful and subtle movement. I felt like I had been transported to a place where beauty and peace abounded freely. Every nuance of shading had been carefully thought out, and the performance of this movement reached the profoundest of musical levels. The players were perfectly together, and there was a beautiful passing off of the melodic material from the violin to the cello, and vice versa. The pianism underlying this movement was, in a word, elegant.\nThe ethereal and dreamlike quality of the 3rd movement ushered immediately into the final 4th movement, and you could hear a gasp of surprise from the audience at the sudden contrast and sharp dynamic change between these movements. \nAnd the group delivered a riveting and poised performance. \nThe clarity of playing, especially in the piano, and the clear tone of the strings created an interpretation that was classical and clean, and at the same time dramatically energized. One could not help but stand up at the end of such a convincing and solid interpretation of one of the great pieces in the chamber music literature.\nIn response to this first standing ovation, the ensemble reappeared on stage and performed the Scherzo of Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Trio, which this reviewer dabbled with in his younger days as a pianist. \n"Shostakovich is sometimes called the Beethoven of the 20th century," violinist Daniel Hope said.\nThe Shostakovich Trio, like Beethoven's, explores a huge range of emotions. This Trio in its Finale movement incorporates a Jewish theme, and the Trio as a whole is a commentary on injustices committed to the Jewish people, with the playful movement containing sorrowful and biting undertones.\n"Shostakovich's music speaks of the universal condition of man, the misery of each individual and his helplessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Undoubtedly, Shostakovich identified with the Jew as the victim of thousands of years of injustice, and now as the victim of Nazi and Stalinist persecution," said Elizabeth Wilson, in her biography on the life of Shostakovich.\nAnd indeed, the Beaux Arts Trio performance of the Scherzo movement contained a biting wit and sarcasm, appropriately capturing the mood and affect of the work. The edgy tone in the strings at times may have been excessive, but consequently the underlying angst was definitely conveyed.\nThe concert concluded with the second well-deserved standing ovation.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Imagine this: The setting is the difficult Bethpage Black golf course during the U.S. Open. In the first round of play, a player posts six birdies -- more than any other player in the field. His good play continues through the second round, he makes the cut, and this player finds himself paired with Greg "The Shark" Norman to begin Saturday's round. The player continues to shoot well, and he finishes tied with "The Shark" at the end of the day. By the end of the 72nd hole on Sunday, the player finishes ahead of such notable players as Norman, John Daly -- a PGA champion, Jesper Parnevik and tied with Jose-Maria Olazabal -- a two-time Masters champ.\nThis is the story of 32-year-old Craig Bowden, a Bloomington resident who has undeservedly gone unnoticed. \nCraig Bowden began his golfing play at the age of 5. His father got him started at the local Cascades golf course. He enjoyed playing several sports, including baseball, tennis and golf, but by the age of 13 he decided to focus mainly on tennis and golf. He played two years of competitive tennis and four years of competitive golf at the high school level, and he spent a good deal of time playing golf out of Otis Park in Bedford. \nIn college, he spent one semester playing at the University of Indianapolis and then played at Vincennes University once he transferred. In 1989, he worked at Bloomington Country Club and entered and won a few local tournaments. Then in February 1990, he decided to try his hand on the bigger tour. But this could only have been possible with the help of some willing sponsors, including Jim Hammond and David Elliot, to whom Craig and his wife said they are eternally grateful. \nBoth Craig and Bobbi Bowden (his wife, not the Florida State coach) hail from Bedford, and they both enjoy living in Bloomington at Eagle Pointe with their two dogs, Olivia and Lamb Chop. They met on a blind date six years ago, and at that time, Bobbi didn't care much for golf. \nBut her role in Craig's life changed the way she viewed the game. \n"I really feel I am helping to keep him calm," Bobbi said. "He's gotten better about coming back after a bad round, and I won't let him beat himself up after a tough day on the course. We sometimes go out to dinner, or go to a movie, just to get his mind off golf and keep his outlook positive. After all, Craig is doing what he loves to do."\nCraig and Bobbi's immediate families are both rooted here, and as they are contemplating beginning a family of their own, they said they would like to live closer to their relatives. Bobbi herself is an IU alumna, having received degrees as a B.A. in Criminal Justice and an A.S. in Optometric Technology. \n"I love this area, and the people are very real here," Bobbi said. "Sometimes when I am alone and Craig is touring I just love driving around campus, enjoying the scenery and taking pictures."\nIn addition, both are huge IU basketball fans.\n"We took the RV down to Atlanta to see the the final game," Craig said.\nSpeaking of the RV, that is the way that Craig, Bobbi and their two dogs traveled to Bethpage and the U.S. Open. For one, it supposedly helps keeps expenses to a minimum, and since it is familiar to the family, it provides a comfortable and regular surrounding in which to live and sleep. This is pretty important, especially when considering that Craig is playing in 35-40 tournaments a year.\nThat many tournaments can be pretty tiring, and Craig has been in seven straight tournaments over as many weekends.\nEven though his schedule might be tiring, Craig said he slept pretty well the week of the Open.\n"I didn't lose a wink of sleep," he said. "Even when I knew I was playing with Norman on Saturday."\nBut he did admit that the first hole on Saturday was a little daunting.\n"Playing with Norman on Saturday, especially on the first hole, was intimidating," Craig said. "Greg smashed his first tee shot down the middle, but I followed the tee shot, and hit one right next to his, and then I was fine."\nAnd the loud and boisterous crowds, which received notable press during the week of the Open, and were occasionally way out of line, actually helped Craig's game.\n"It was especially fun on Saturday because when the crowds were shouting for "Greg," I thought they were shouting "Craig," and I acknowledged them," Bowden said.\nBut it wasn't easy for Craig to get to where he is right now.\n"To have success on the tour, you have to be patient, and pay your dues," Craig said.\nAnd indeed, the Bowdens did and do have to pay their dues. To break even, the Bowdens have to make about $50,000 off the tour. They would normally have to make around $85,000 a year to play, but corporate sponsorships from Simon's and Natural Golf have helped to somewhat defray the costs.\nCraig will be playing later this month in the B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y., having received a sponsor's exemption.\nAnd the sponsors have chosen a good man to bet on.\n"His strength is that he hits the ball so consistently straight," said Jon Hanft, a salesman at Tee-to-Green pro-shop.\nSecond in driving accuracy overall at the U.S. Open, a record six birdies in the field during the first round, a strong finish in Knoxville a week later, ending at eight-under par and tied for 16th -- that's a pretty safe bet. \nCraig is one of the only professional golfers playing on tour from Indiana right now, and from the same place where he learned and developed his golf game, he is eager to have some local support for his career.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
World-renowned Swedish baritone Håkon Hagegård is teaching masterclasses at IU, and will be performing Schubert's song cycle Die Winterreise this Friday at the IU School of Music.\nHagegård was born in Karlstad, Sweden, November 25, 1945. He studied in Stockholm, giving his first recital in 1965, and his opera debut at the Royal Opera in 1968 as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. The flexibility of his warm, lyrical voice has also allowed him the opportunity to do larger roles like Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca and the title role of Verdi's Rigoletto with equal command. His voice is extremely flexible and he has over 85 albums to his name, ranging in chronology from Caccini to Corigliano in genres including lieder, operas, oratorios, cantatas, Requiems and Masses.\nAs a masterclass teacher here at IU, Hagegård has been emphasizing the dramatic and poetic to great success.\n"He is excellent," IU voice professor Patricia Stiles said. "His portrayals of songs are exciting, and it allows the perspective of the singer to change."\nThe very different perspective can challenge singers into a direct if not uncomfortable means of communication in their singing.\n"It changes the way you think of performing," graduate student soprano Margaret Schwein said. "I was singing towards the piano, which is something normally unheard of."\nWhen one considers a change to their approach in performance, it can cause a re-evaluation on many levels of artistry.\n"He challenges the singer to think outside themselves as a communicator, breaking down the ideas of technique and performance practice," graduate student, soprano Erin Kelley said. "It's a sort of reshuffling of your deck of cards."\nBut Hagegård not only believes in enhancing the perspective of the singer, but the audience too.\n"Doing the music is to lift the audience to a higher level of thinking," Hagegård said.\nIndeed, intelligence is a key ingredient to Hagegård's formula for effective singing.\n"He's an intelligent singer," doctorate student, baritone Royce Blackburn said. "It's obvious that his concern and main goal has been to get students to understand the piece theatrically."\nHagegård's approach to Schubert's Die Winterreise this Friday night is sure to contain elements of theatricality. Hagegård has been performing Die Winterreise since 1970, but it may be a little different this time around.\n"I will do it semi-staged here," Hagegård said. "Now a lot of singers are staging recitals. Staging adds more colors, variety and possibilities. I also feel privileged to perform a work like this, as fewer and fewer singers are getting to the central works in the repertoire."\nDie Winterreise is a cycle of 24 songs to poetry by Wilhelm Müller. Schubert became familiar with the poems from a contemporary circulating almanac. The coloration and painting Schubert uses in the vocal and piano parts are in many ways revolutionary. One example would be the sixteenth-note triplets against solid quarter notes in the bass in the fourth song, representing the falling snow and the unending footsteps of the traveler.\nThe cycle ends despairingly, as the traveler meets an organ grinder, and by broken melodic phrases and neurotic observations decides to go with this lone musician to a desolate life. The cycle has a constant motion which keeps the poetic and dramatic flow steady. And Hagegård has every intent of preserving this motion, in an athletic way.\n"I am going to perform the work with no intermission," Hagegård said. "Schubert wrote the work as one large conception not to be interrupted."\nHelping him convey this seamless conception will be pianist Warren Jones.\nHagegård has been working with Jones for about 18 years. Originally, Hagegård had been working with Martin Katz, but on one occasion when Katz was unavailable to play, Katz suggested one of his brilliant students. Consequently, Jones came from the U.S. to Sweden, and Hagegård and Jones built an enormous repertoire together, and developed a strong chemistry where now ideas between the singer and pianist can be communicated without words.\n"He's very fast, and reaches the center and crux of a piece quickly," Hagegård said. "We recorded the complete Grieg songs in six days, which is almost impossible to do, unless you have an accompanist who absorbs musical material and understands it rapidly."\nNext week, Hagegård will be performing Die Sieben Frühe Lieder of Alban Berg. Next year he will be the first male singer to perform Mahler's Second Symphony, with the London Philharmonic. \n"The Urlicht movement of the Mahler Symphony was originally written for a male voice before it was included in the symphony," Hagegård said. "And the final movement works as a duet between soprano and baritone."\nHåkon Hagegård will be teaching one more masterclass at Sweeney Hall on Thursday, July 18 at 10:30 a.m. free of charge. The performance of Die Winterreise will take place on Friday, July 19 at 8 p.m. in Auer Hall, where the tickets cost $12, $7 for IUB students.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
After a prolonged silence, a rapturous standing ovation greeted Håkon Hagegård and Warren Jones at the conclusion of a concert where the collaboration between singer and pianist attained the highest limits of artistic achievement. In a sold-out Auer Hall on Friday evening, these two musical giants demonstrated firsthand how magnificent a song composer Franz Schubert truly was, and how emotionally powerful Schubert's music can be.\nHagegård's singing of Schubert's Die Winterreise was, in a word, a masterpiece. Hagegård's voice showed incredible flexibility, including a wide dynamic range, and a wonderful ability to control the kind and amount of vibrato placed on each note. When singing in the high registers, Hagegård sometimes perilously dared to thread and control the quality and volume of tone, a technical and virtuosic feat which when used enhanced a careful portrayal of the text. Every word sung was filled with nuance and subtlety, with the constantly changing character and mood of the cycle coming off perfectly. The hand and body gestures effectively communicated the emotions of the cycle without becoming distracting. \nHis choice to have no intermission (a risky prospect for most singers for fear of losing their voice) created no difficulty for Hagegård and allowed the music to have its intended continuous dramatic thrust without interruption.\nHagegård's counterpart on the piano, Jones, was equally impressive. Jones showed a complete musical and technical mastery at the keyboard. Jones' sensitivity to Hagegård, as well as his painstaking coloration in the voicings of chords, were spectacular. Even in the movements that had dense or busy figuration, the melody or primary line in the piano sang clearly and beautifully, with a purity of sound that was truly breathtaking. The technical command Jones displayed was brilliant. Jones pulled off the most difficult movements of the cycle with what seemed to be unbelievable ease. The playing was nothing short of first rank, and practically note-perfect.\nThe audience agreed. Almost ten seconds elapsed between the end of the work and when the first audience member clapped. Hagegård and Jones had so beautifully crystallized the despairing final mood of the cycle that no one wanted to clap, for to do so would have disturbed the mood and atmosphere these two artisans had so carefully sculpted. When the audience finally did applaud, it was tumultuous and appreciative, and the musicians had to come on and off stage several times to acknowledge the satisfied and excited crowd. This performance achieved the heights of profundity and artistry, and in the words of highly respected IU music professor Dr. Robert Hatten, "it was perfect"
(07/18/02 5:46am)
This week the 5th-grade Bloomington Hoosier Hoops team will be going to Cocoa Beach, Fla., to defend their national title, July 21-27. \nThe team is seeded 2nd in the tournament, but only because of the point accumulation system which is in place and not because of a win-loss record. \nIn their age division, the 5th-grade team is 75-0, and it has won six 6th- grade tournaments and a total of 130 games since October, including defeating the State Champion 6th-grade team. \nThe team will be playing in the tournament -- which is similar to the NCAA bracket system -- against a total of 96 teams.\n"I wish there was something like this when I was younger," said Dan Van Trese, father of one of the 5th-grade players. \nA majority of the team has been under the tutelage of head coach Isaac "Spud" Washington since 2nd grade, and it has had four years to work together and gel as a unit. Washington originally hails from Berkeley, Calif., and has now been coaching basketball for almost 11 years. Last year, his 4th-grade team won the National Championship in Orlando.\n"Our 7th-seeded team had to win nine games in a 93-team tournament bracket," Washington said.\nAnd a dramatic series of victories this was for a team who went into the championship last year relatively unknown.\n"I wanted to cry when they won the National Championship last year," assistant coach Clarence Stephens said. "No one knew who these kids were. They did an excellent job, and when the whole gym was shouting 'Hoosiers,' it was such a great feeling."\nSelf-proclaimed "Phil Jackson of the team" Melvin Boatner said he also enjoyed the tournament experience.\n"I was more proud of them accomplishing what they did then what I did at any age," said Melvin Boatner. \nHe played in an NBA summer league during his career.\n"We won the Championship game by 1 point, 42-41," fifth-grader Julian Boatner said. "We were awarded a crystal bowl, and we all received gold medals and jackets."\nAnd team members said the size of the crowds added an extra dimension of pressure and competition to the games.\n"It was pretty nerve-racking," said 12-year-old fellow teammate and NBA hopeful Matthew Bower. "These were the biggest crowds I ever played for." \n On top of all the pressure, it takes hard work, effort and poise to win a National Championship at any age level.\n "Those kids work really hard," Melvin Boatner said. "Their work ethic has helped them become young adults -- they follow instructions well as a group and respond better than most adults. If I could hand pick the 11 kids we have for this team, it would be the ones we have."\n The now 5th-grade team is looking to defend their national title.\n Two of the top 10 players in the country are on the team. Jacob Mulinix (forward/center) and Rolandon Finch (forward) both average 18-19 points and 10-12 rebounds per game. The whole team contributes offensively for a total of about 80 average points per game. \n The other players on the team include guards Julian Boatner, Ricky Washington, D.J. Stephens, Marcus Etnier and Jordan Luallen. Bower, David Blackwell and Garrett Mack are the forwards, and Stephen Van Trese, the team's newest member, is the other forward/center.\n"Nobody on this team has an attitude problem, and they play really well as a group," Melvin Boatner said.\nClarence Stephens agrees that the team has progressed extremely well together.\n"I've watched them grow into good achievers in what they have worked hard for," Stephens said. \n"We push 'em to the max, so when it comes to that one- or two-point game, they can go the distance. They have the hearts of champions."\nAnd that championship mentality pays off in other parts of these kids' lives.\n"Stephen was always at the top," said Dan Van Trese of his son. "He was always the top athlete in his age group and a straight-A student."\nAnother benefit of working with a team includes an improvement in social interaction.\n"I've become good friends with a lot of my teammates," Blackwell said.\nIn addition, most of these kids are from the Bloomington area. One team member is from Indianapolis, two of the players are from Center Grove, one is from New Albany and the other seven are all from Bloomington.\nSome of the team will be flying and some driving to Cocoa Beach. Through fundraisers and sponsorships, the team was able to pay for hotel expenses, but could not raise enough for travel. \n"We would like to have a little more support financially from the Bloomington area," Washington said. "It costs us about $17,000 for travel and lodging."\nFundraisers for the team include car washes, running tournaments and sending letters out to local businesses for corporate donations. The team was proud to have received a sponsorship from Nike for next year.\nThe team said they are thankful for support this year from the Bloomington Sportsplex, who donated their facility for practice, and financial sponsors Union Planters Bank, Visteon, Southern Indiana Pediatrics and TerMar Builders.