Books › Musical Courier 1907-12-04: Vol 55 Iss 23, 1907 › scan 24
Scan 24
Musical Courier 1907-12-04: Vol 55 Iss 23, 1907
24 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 25. See the scan on archive.org.
1LEIPSIC, November 13, 1907.
3The sixth Gewandhaus program was without a soloist, but proved not to be in need of one. The Handel D minor concerto grosso, No. 10, for string orchestra; the Brahms E minor symphony, No. 4, and the Beethoven fifth symphony were played. The Handel music sounded elementary enough and not over inspired, though Nikisch was able, by careful interpretation, to shorten up the gaps that time and competition had made in it.
5There was another object lesson here for those who think the Brahms symphonies dry, with all due respect to my colleagues on THE MUSICAL COURIER. The fifth Beethoven symphony belongs anywhere but in the dry class, yet under Nikisch's magnificent reading of this Brahms and this Beethoven one would have been under embarrassing difficulty to say truthfully that the Beethoven was more satisfying or more pleasure giving. This brings us back to a recently quoted enthusiasm of the late Joseph Joachim, who did not put the Brahms inspiration behind that of Beethoven. In this place one begs to restate the belief once expressed in this column last year, that whenever the Brahms symphonies seem to show effects of too high evaporation, the condition is due to the conductor. There must be a veritable epidemic of dry-as-dust conductors around New York to leave so bad an impression on the chief as well as the associate editors of this paper. Once more it is respectfully urged that New Yorkers kindly note the address of Arthur Nikisch, Leipsic, Saxony.
7When Nikisch conducted the Brahms C minor and the Tschaikowsky pathetic symphonies in one Gewandhaus concert last season he was recalled six or eight times at the public rehearsal upon completion of the first movement of the Brahms. The storm broke with renewed fury as the other movements were over, and there was enthusiasm such as the old house had seldom witnessed. That evening your correspondent saw Nikisch at the Kaufhaus, where he had accompanied at a song recital. Nikisch was asked what defense should be made against the claim that the Brahms works were dry. Nikisch replied, in a minute of finely animated discourse, that he should hardly find it his task to speak in behalf of these symphonies when his work in continually promoting them by performance was considered. But he did indicate that in Europe there had been a great deal heard of a claim that Brahms had not "orchestrated" his symphonies well. Nikisch could not allow any justice in such criticism, since he believed that the orchestration exemplified in the symphonies was entirely in keeping with the character of the Brahms inspiration and the Brahms musical conception.
9The second chamber concert at the Gewandhaus was played by the St. Petersburg Quartet, which is under the protectorate of the Duke of Mecklenberg-Strelitz. The evening was given to the Schumann A major, op. 41; the Max Schillings E minor (for the first time here), and the Tschaikowsky F major, op. 22. The Schillings work proved to be well made in every part, but notwithstanding good playing, one could not decide that it was all inspired. The St. Petersburg Quartet would be a good one but for the unsatisfactory results by the cello. That work was annoying, either through bad bowing or a very imperfect instrument. The tone was never firm, but reminded one of a voice not yet properly intensified.
11Glenn Hall's recital brought four songs by Brahms, three by Liszt, two by Tschaikowsky, four by Hugo Wolf, two by Richard Strauss, and two by Erich Wolff. As in his recital here last year, he was fortunate enough to have the accompaniment of Arthur Nikisch. The recital showed the artist to have profited unusually by the fifteen months abroad. The decided talent which Hall then showed for the broad, dark moods of the German literature, as exemplified in Brahms, Liszt and Hugo Wolf, has been coming quickly to its own. The present results must earn admiration as a very fine type of song interpretation. The voice itself has gained in a better intensity of the upper tones and a freer, firmer vocalism in the other registers. A very fine audience was present, and at the close a number of songs were given in response to calls.
13The second chamber concert by the Hilf Quartet had the Haydn E flat, No. 71; the A major, op. 17, by Stephen Krehl, and the Beethoven C sharp minor, op. 131. The artists were well disposed and played with better tonal finish than upon any previous occasion. There was large interest attached to the Krehl quartet, since the composer's clarinet quintet given last season in the Gewandhaus proved so strong and beautiful a work. This quartet may not have so much latent energy as the quintet, but it is most enjoyable music. Krehl thus goes on sustaining the impression of a modern who can still write attractive and beautiful music without resorting to any sensational or unwholesome means.
15A memorial concert for the late Alfred Reisenauer was given in Chamber Music Hall, Central Theater, November 3, when the soprano, Anna Hartung; tenor, Emil Pinks; pianists, Arthur Reinhold and Anatol von Roessel, were further assisted by the present Gewandhaus Quartet. There were the Reisenauer songs, "Aus meinen Toten," "Ständchen eines Mauren," "Der wunde Ritter," "In der Mondnacht" and "Hütet Euch"; also two of the travel pictures from Switzerland, for four hands, piano. The program began with a movement from the Tschaikowsky A minor piano trio, op. 50, and closed with the variations on "Death and the Maiden," from the Schubert D minor quartet. The audience came by invitation of the Ernst Eulenburg Bureau, which had had Reisenauer's local management for some seasons.
17The third Philharmonic concert had the Tschaikowsky "Pathetic" symphony, and for the first time here, Hans Pfitzner's overture to the Christmas tale, "Das Christ Elflein." Emil Sauer played the Schumann concerto and pieces by Mendelssohn, Grieg and Liszt. The Pfitzner overture is a joyous and well written piece, not aimed to be heavy, but conveying the impression that the composer was writing as a result of the real musical mood.
19The contralto, Estelle Brown, of Omaha, has spent some months in Leipsic as the guest of her former teacher, Jennie Osborne Hannah. She has gone to London for a week and will sail from Plymouth November 18, on the President Lincoln. Miss Brown brought her pupil, Miss Hamling, to remain under Mrs. Hannah's instruction for a season or two. Miss Brown will soon resume her teaching in Omaha, in which field she has acquired a large following.
21Arthur Friedheim's appearance in recital here after an absence of a decade did not improve his standing. The Liszt ballade, the Beethoven "Moonlight" sonata, two Mendelssohn songs without words, Chopin preludes, etudes, and the A major polonaise, the Liszt "Mephisto" waltz, and the six Paganini-Liszt caprices, were played. Except for some very enjoyable moments in the Liszt ballade, the "Mephisto" waltz and the Paganini caprices, his recital would have been extremely unfortunate. The Liszt numbers seemed to lie much better to his nature and his technic.
23The Leipsic pianist, Telemaque Lombrino, gave a Chopin evening, with the G minor ballade, a prelude, the two sonatas and a group of mazurkas and etudes. This artist is already well established, with a large student following as well as concert demand throughout Germany and Southern Europe. He is a most accomplished, most gifted artist, in command of a great technic and great repertory. The Leipsic critics, with one or two exceptions, showed an un-
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