CLASSICAL: A sparkling composition and no bull.

Byline: Peter SPAULL

IANY years agoI lived in a town which had a Saturday cattlemarket. Occasionally an animal escaped and rushed through the streets,Pamplona style.

On one occasion a cow even crashed through the doors of the localnewspaper. That's the way tog et your picture on the front page. Doubtless similar escapes occurred during the years of theWoodside Lairage,but I suspect that there was never acow on the roof. The Liverpool Mozart Orchestra puts that to rights tomorrow night, when they play next door to the site of the old lairageat PacificRoad,Birkenhead. But this will be a musicalbeast,Le Boeuf sur le Toit by Darius Milhaud. Milhaud was one of the most prolific of 20th century composers, and, by the time he died in 1974 at theageof 82,he had produced more than 400 compositions. This earned him a bad reputation, with accusations of over-production and uneven quality,and there is some truth in this. Nevertheless, thereareanumber of fine pieces, and tomorrow night's confection is one of them. Milhaudhad spent some time during the Great War in the diplomatic service in Brazil. When he returned to Paris the music of Rio de Janeiro was churning in his head,and a number of works fol-lowed. Le Boeuf was composed as perhaps suitable to accompany acom-edy film by CharlieChaplin. Then Jean Cocteau turned it into an entertainment, and the succession of brilliant rhythms of the samba and tango, coupled with the tunes of Rio made it an excellent sub-ject. Milhaud was a member ofLes Six, the group of composers who produced a number of scandals during the 1920s,and Le Boeuf was no exception. Its almost non-existent plot was centred on the ``Nothing Doing Bar'' in Manhattan, so- called because prohibition had just arrived. Characters included a transvestite woman, adwarf,aboxer,and a bookmaker whoa re drinking illegally, until the arrival of a police-man. Instantly the place is turned into a milk bar,and the policeman decapitated,only to be restored in order to pay thebillat theend.

Sadly,no Ox appears,but,of course,he is on the roof. The 20-minute piece was given on three nights by a group of clowns and dancers, and Cocteau's marketing skills ensured full ho us -es. Even the Shahof Persia paidalarge sum to sit on the front row, where he could see little of the show,but could be seen by theaudi-ence. Milhaud was rather sad about it,because like another member of Les Six,Francis Poulenc, he was thought ofamusicalcomedian.

But that was the danger of being involved with Jean Cocteau. Tomorrow night the perfectly respectable members of theLiverpool Mozart Orchestra will confine themselves to the music,but this glittering and exciting more score does not need the stage action to bring it to life.