Don Juan Play

A well-thumbed copy of a girlie magazine lies folded open at the top of a trash container outside the Mark Taper Forum's Taper, Too space in Cahuenga Pass--it isn't ignored. Someone points to it and asks director Travis Preston, "Is that yours?" Preston's habitual grin crinkles his face. "No," he answers firmly.

A well-thumbed copy of a girlie magazine lies folded open at the top of a trash container outside the Mark Taper Forum's Taper, Too space in Cahuenga Pass--it isn't ignored. Someone points to it and asks director Travis Preston, "Is that yours?" Preston's habitual grin crinkles his face. "No," he answers firmly.

T here is some choice, but not much, in what violinists are asked to play on their audition tapes and at the ensuing live audition for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In both cases, applicants get to play a portion--either all or part of the first movement--from any of the following concerti: Mendelssohn Beethoven Brahms Prokofiev No. 2 Bartok No. 2 Sibelius Tchaikovsky The rest of the format is set in stone. Each violinist must play the following music : ON TAPE: Brahms' Symphony No. 4, second movement: Play from measure 88 to 102 Schumann's Symphony No. 2, Scherzo: Play from the beginning to measure 50 Strauss' "Don Juan," play from the beginning to the 14th measure after letter C LIVE: The first and second movements of Mozart's Concerto No. 3 in G major, No. 4 in D major, or No. 5 in A major.

A rooster crows and a donkey brays as dawn breaks in the ancient village of Copala. In the pale light of morning a handful of peasants shuffle through the tiny plaza that faces the church of Copala and the little five-room Hotel Posada San Jose whose proprietors, Jesus and Chalvina Morales, listen as the donkey at their door brays once more. Visitors to Copala gather at Daniel's, a restaurant at the entrance of town with a musician named Don Juan. Or else in the cantina of the Morales' hotel.