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Musical Courier 1895-12-11: Vol 31 Iss 823, 1895
36 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 7. See the scan on archive.org.
1WILLY BURMESTER scored a brilliant success on his first appearance here since his remarkable triumphs of last winter. This was as soloist of the third Nikisch Philharmonic concert on the 11th, when he played the Raff A minor concerto.
3Last season Burnester created a great sensation by his phenomenal playing of Paganini. To be sure, he interpreted the works of other composers, but it was in the compositions of the Italian that he excelled. In these compositions his tremendous technic and his marked individuality were best displayed. He played Spohr, Tschaikowsky, Mendelssohn and Wieniawski well, but he played Paganini superbly—better than anyone else, and herein lies the secret of his great popular success.
5At the start Burnester gave a big Paganini concert with orchestra; he played nothing but Paganini the entire evening. This was a strikingly novel idea. The critics did not approve of it. The musicians did not approve of it. But the public was profoundly impressed, and the steady crescendo in the box office receipts of Burnester's following concerts showed that he had laid a sure foundation to that quality to which all artists ultimately aspire—drawing power.
7This drawing power is the last thing an actor acquires, and, in fact, very few ever acquire it at all in Berlin. That Burnester has it was proved by the fact that the great Philharmonie was filled to overflowing, both at the public rehearsal and at the concert. Of course, Nikisch has drawing power, too, but he alone, with his best program, could not have drawn 5,000 people.
9This season Burnester comes back to us chiefly as an interpreter of the classics. Later in the season he will play, in a concert of his own, the Beethoven and the Joachim Hungarian concertos. I hope those musicians who called him unmusical last year heard him play the Raff concerto. If so they must certainly have changed their opinion, for his interpretation of the work was eminently musical. The Raff concerto will bear no other kind of an interpretation. It is an interesting and a noble work, but it is not grateful; there is nothing in it for the general public. Moreover, it is very difficult and rather long. It is seldom played of late years.
11The interest of the hearers, especially of the musicians, did not lag for a moment while Burnester was playing, which speaks well for the artist's musicianship. His tone has improved in quality. It is more mellow, riper and more intense. About his technic I wrote in full last winter. He could not show it off in the Raff concerto to the best advantage; for, though the work abounds in difficulties, they are not difficulties of the astounding virtuoso kind. Considering that this was the first time he ever played the concerto in public, and that it was only a couple of months ago that he began to study it, it was certainly a remarkable performance. He was applauded loudly and long. He bowed his acknowledgments six or seven times, but did not grant an encore.
13It must have done the artist's heart good when he stepped out in front of the orchestra to see that vast hall filled to the last seat and to hear the hearty applause of welcome. All high minded people who know the particulars of Burnester's struggles are heartily glad that he has at last succeeded. He is a self-made man. He has had to fight against overwhelming odds, not the least of which is and has always been the persistent opposition of a powerful Berlin clique. He has triumphed by sheer force of merit in spite of all obstacles. His great attainments he owes to his own high ideal and untiring effort. Excepting some musical instruction in a general way, which he received from Hans von Bülow while holding an orchestral position under that master, it is not clear that he owes anything to any teacher.
15Some may say Burnester is ungrateful because he does not admit that he owes anything to the Berlin Royal High School. It could be only a question of interpreting the classics, anyhow, as the institution is very conservative and encourages and fosters nothing but study of the classics. But Burnester's method of playing the classics is totally different from the method of the High School. How then can it be claimed that he learned how to play the classics there? Those who think there is only way of interpreting the classics well, and that that is the way of the High School, should hear Alexander Petschnikoff play Bach. Here is a young man whose manner of playing Bach is as wholly unlike that of anyone connected with the High School as could be imagined. He differs from it in his management of the bow, in his fingering, in his phrasing and, above all, in his conception. He throws tradition and its cast iron method to the winds and gives a highly individual and highly interesting interpretation of the grand old master. I confess that I never heard anyone, without any exception, get so much out of Bach and make him so interesting. Petschnikoff is a Bach genius, besides being a violin genius. I have heard Joachim play a great deal of Bach, and I thought his playing was wonderful. But Petschnikoff's is a revelation.
17The young artist has achieved the success he deserves. At his first concert he played to empty benches. At his second every seat was sold. At his third, not only was every seat taken, but extra ones were improvised; chairs were put in the aisles. His program for this last concert on the 8th was as follows:
19Sérénade Mélancolique……………………………Tschaikowsky
20Grand allegro de concert……………………………Bazsini
21Largo and fugue from the C major sonata for violin alone..Bach
22Berceuse……………………………………………..Faure
23Havanaise…………………………………………..Saint-Saëns
25As I stated in my last letter, the effect of Petschnikoff's playing on his hearers is due chiefly to his enthusiasm and to his remarkable personality. He is a very magnetic player, and if he should ever go to America I predict a brilliant success for him, on the strength of his personal magnetism alone, to say nothing of his other merits. He has a large and pithy tone, capable of the greatest modulation. Now he caresses the strings like the softest zephyr, drawing low, subdued tones, now sweet, now melancholy, carrying his hearers quite away; then comes a sudden, tremendous outburst of passion, whirling you off your seat and taking your breath away. His wild Russian fire is aroused and he thrills you through and through. In listening to this remarkable violinist you forget that he is overcoming great technical difficulties; you forget that such a tone was acquired only by long years of practice; you forget even that he is playing Bach or Tschaikowsky. You have the impression that you are listening simply to the bold flight of his imagination. He gives you a highly colored picture full of the most contrasting hues, and yet the whole harmonizes to perfection. What to him is a natural mode of expression would be grotesque if attempted by others. Just as a born colorist can apply to the canvas the brightest hues with harmonizing effect, and painters less gifted with the sense of color would make a hideous daub of a like attempt.
27Burmester and Petschnikoff! It is a remarkable circumstance that two such extraordinary violinists should play here almost simultaneously. They are now the talk of the town and, of course, comparisons are drawn between the two. Some think the one is the greatest of the young school, some the other. As for me, I think Burnester is the greater artist. His attainments are greater; he has learned more. Petschnikoff has, however, more magnetism, more fire, and not less talent. They are unquestionably the most interesting of the vast number of younger artists before the public to-day, and they are striking illustrations of the power of the violin, and of its superiority as a solo instrument over all others.
29During the week from November 1 to 8 just fourteen violin and 'cello soloists were heard; also four chamber music organizations. It was decidedly a week for strings. As on one evening three and on another four artists appeared in different halls, it was quite impossible for me to hear them all, even had I the desire, which I had not. It was altogether too much fiddling even for the fiddle crank, especially as the quality was not always of the best.
31The first of the number was Tivadar Nachez, or, to give his real name, Theodore Nahitz. He appeared with the Ben Davies Company, at the Philharmonie, on the first. His selections were an adagio in D, op. 44, by Bruch, the Bach G minor sonata for violin alone, Vieuxtemps' Fantasia Appassionata, Wagner's Alumbliatt, and two Hungarian rhapsodies of his own composition. There are some things that are strange to account for in the musical world. To my mind one of these is that Nachez should rank so high among the musicians of London as he is said to rank. He is not a great artist. He has been compared by some with Joachim and by others with Sarasate. I can only say that, in my opinion, such comparisons are ridiculous. That he has unusual talent for the violin I will admit, but he has not made the most of it. In early boyhood he gave evidence of great ability, and great things were predicted for him by such masters as Liszt and Schumann. However, he has not fulfilled those early expectations. His best point is his left hand; he executes enormous difficulties with the greatest ease, and delights especially in double stops of the most complicated kind. Yet I have not heard him play a single passage of this kind in perfect tune. What is the good of playing difficult thirds, octaves, and tenths if they are not in perfect tune? He draws an excellent tone at times in slow movements, which, however, suffers both in quality and volume as soon as his technic comes into play. A more scratchy, indistinct and generally unsatisfactory playing of a fast movement than his of the presto of the Bach sonata I have seldom heard. His stiff wrist was to blame for it chiefly, though he has no conception of Bach anyhow. His best playing was in the Bruch adagio and in the Vieuxtemps piece. From the latter he omitted the largo and saltarello. His own compositions are showy, trashy virtuoso pieces.
33Nachez's conception of a work is not that of a good musician; it is shallow and ineffective, except in works of a light order. When there is a great musical idea to be brought out he is not equal to the task. Now and then his conception is illumined with a beautiful thought, but it comes and goes like a flash of lightning. He has not the mental capacity to grasp and hold a great idea for any length of time. Though his talent shines out brilliantly at times, his shortcomings are so many and of such a serious nature as to make his playing, on the whole, very unsatisfactory.
35If Nachez could play the violin half as well as Ben Davies
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