Scan 7
Musical Courier 1905-03-08: Vol 50 Iss 1302, 1905
20 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 8. See the scan on archive.org.
1HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, February 22, 1905
3S I pointed out in my last letter, it was the greatest pity that Victor Maurel should have selected Thursday afternoon last for the first of the two vocal recitals that he is giving in London. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were principally given up to small recitals which we could have missed without feelings of serious remorse; but on Thursday afternoon the London Symphony Orchestra gave its fifth concert, with Colonne as conductor and César Franck's symphony in the program. One is always sorry to miss any part of a Maurel recital, for he is certainly the greatest baritone of the day. His voice is still beautiful, while as a master of style he has not his equal. He included a number of old friends in his program on Thursday. Massenet's "Marquise," Tosti's "Ninon," Caracciolo's "Matinata," Verdi's "Quand' ero Paggio," and Paladilhe's "Mandolinata" are songs that he has sung here times without number, and it is to be hoped that he will sing them often in the future, for there is no one to compare with him in these or in anything that he attempts. As he is giving a second recital on Wednesday next, which will not, so far as I can see, clash with anything else, it will be possible to do fuller justice to the singing of this great artist then. A word of special praise, however, is due to Margaret Huston, a young mezzo soprano, with a charming voice, who appeared at Thursday's recital. I believe that she is a pupil from the Maurel Academy in Paris, and, if this is the case, it would appear that Maurel is able to impart some of his own perfect style to his pupils. Delbruck's "Un doux Lien" and Bemberg's "Neige" were certainly most charmingly sung. Abbas, the young violoncellist, contributed a couple of solos to the program.
5The London Symphony Orchestra's concert was scarcely the most attractive of the series that this splendid band has given during the last few months. In spite of his great reputation, Colonne is a rather disappointing conductor. He has none of the wonderful personal magnetism that characterizes men like Steinbach, Nikisch or Weingartner, and his readings are never calculated to arouse his audience to any great pitch of enthusiasm. Like many French musicians, he has plenty of brilliance and show, but the deeper qualities are not there. His reading of the symphony was clear cut and brilliant enough, but it was rather hard and cold, and we have heard others here that have brought out the beauties of this great work more perfectly. His style was better suited in Berlioz's "Carnaval Romain" and the familiar selections from the same composer's "Faust." The only other notable feature of the concert was the production of a new caprice for violin and orchestra, by Dr. Saint-Saëns, called "Andalous," which was played by Johannes Wolff. Like all its composer's music, it is very well written and effective enough in its way. But if we were told that we should never hear it again we should not be plunged into the depths of despair.
7There are probably no pianists so variable as those who also follow the calling of composer. They afford us a standing example of the impossibility of doing two things really well at the same time, for when the fever of composition is upon them they are apt to neglect their instruments and when they are seized with a fit of practicing they have to give up composing. Ernst von Dohnanyi is a case in point. When he was last in England he had, I believe, been wooing the muse for several months with some assiduity, and the result was that his playing was distinctly disappointing. Lately, however, he has improved again, and he played better at his recital at the Aeolian Hall on Friday afternoon than he has played for years. When he is at his best, Dohnanyi is certainly one of the finest artists alive. His reading of Brahms' sonata in F minor, with which he headed his program on Friday, was quite the reverse of Teutonic, and, to my mind, it was none the worse for that. The average German is apt to make the music not a little stolid and austere. But Dohnanyi sees it through Hungarian spectacles, and, as he plays it, it is full of warmth and life. Beethoven's andante in F, too, suits him to perfection, and we do not often hear the little piece played with such real tenderness and charm. As a composer, he was represented by his own variations and fugue on a theme by "E. G.," which, unlike only too many variations, have beauty as well as ingenuity to commend them.
9The modesty of these violinists really knows no bounds. The latest of them, a Hungarian gypsy named Karcay, who gave an orchestral concert at the Queen's Hall on Friday evening, informs us that he is "the best that the Hungarian nation has to offer." Merely Hungary, observe; not the world. He only sets up as a competitor with Joachim, Hegedüs and the many fine players who come from that musical land, and makes no attempt to wrest the laurels from the brows of Fritz Kreisler, Kubelik, Sarasate and others who hail from less favored countries. In point of fact, Karcay is all very well in his way, but he is far from being a great artist. He devoted his program on Friday entirely to Hubay's music, which he plays cleverly enough, but I doubt whether he would make much of a Beethoven, Brahms or Mendelssohn concerto. He has plenty of fire and go, but his playing is coarse and his tone is often rough. He will have to improve a great deal before he can be regarded seriously as a fine violinist. His accompaniments were played by a new orchestra which calls itself the International Symphony Orchestra and is conducted by Gustave Jaeger. It seems to be a fairly efficient body of instrumentalists, but it played so modest a part in the program that is is impossible to say exactly what its capabilities may be. The accompaniments to a few Hubay concertos and an overture by Erkel do not put a very severe strain upon an orchestra's powers.
11Carreño gave a very stiff program at her recital at the Bechstein Hall on Saturday afternoon. Not many men would care to attack Beethoven's "Sonata Appassionata," that by Chopin in B minor, and Schumann's "Études Symphoniques" in quick succession, but the severity of the task did not seem to trouble her in the least and she was almost as fresh at the end as she was at the beginning. For years everyone has said that Carreño's gifts are positively masculine, and there is really no other way of putting it. She has a man's technic and a man's grasp upon the music that she plays. Her performances on Saturday were not merely brilliant—they were thoroughly intellectual and worthy in every way of her reputation.
13Tuesday afternoon Boris Hambourg, the young violoncellist who has made such a sensational success this season, gave his third and last recital at the Bechstein Hall, playing, among other things, Beethoven's sonata in A, in which he was joined by Charlton Keith, and D'Erlanger's "Andante Symphonique." The hall was crowded and the enthusiasm immense. There is no doubt Mr. Hambourg has a brilliant future before him.
15In the evening Madame Koenig gave a piano recital at the Aeolian Hall, at which she played, for reasons best known to herself, a number of transcriptions of scenes from the "Ring."
17Wednesday afternoon Gladys Naylor-Carne gave a piano and violin recital at the Bechstein Hall, playing both instruments herself. In the evening S. Webster gave a vocal recital at the same hall, while in the afternoon a vocal concert was also given by Mme. O. M. Hildebrandt at the Steinway Hall.
19Thursday evening the Royal Choral Society gave a performance of Berlioz's "Faust" at the Albert Hall, which
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