Books › Musical Courier 1925-12-17: Vol 91 Iss 25, 1925 › scan 23
Scan 23
Musical Courier 1925-12-17: Vol 91 Iss 25, 1925
76 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1NEW YORK CONCERTS
2(Continued from page 12)
3ness and dignity with which she goes about her task, and evidently she is also a hard worker, for since her last recital at the Town Hall, last season, she has made remarkable strides. Her voice seems to have taken on greater volume and there is a decided growth in general. She opened with the recitative and aria from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart, charmingly done, but her voice showed to greater advantage in the Largo, with cello obbligato, which instantly won the audience's favor. Beethoven's Adelaide and Hummel's Hallelujah completed the first group. The latter, a beautiful number, was especially well sung.
5The second group began with the ever popular Ave Maria, with cello obbligato, in which Miss Meyer brought out all the beauty and reverence of the song with apparent ease. Her voice is a delightfully clear soprano, of resonance and lovely quality, and she sings with intelligence and understanding. Three Brahms songs and Schumann's Der Himmel hat eine Träne Geweint brought this group of songs to a close, after which came the following by Dvorak: Lasst mich allein (exquisitely rendered), Rings ist der Wald so stumm und still, Als die alte Mutter (always a favorite) and Dare des Falken Schwingen. As the program progressed, Miss Meyer continued to hold the interest and favor of her listeners, and, vocally she remained fresh and always certain of what she was undertaking. One looks forward to future appearances of this promising young artist. The remainder of the program included five Wolf songs: Waldmädchen, Gebet, Ehenlied, Verborgenheit, Lied von Winde, and also the following songs by Strauss and Mahler, Morgen, Heimkehr, Allerseelen, Ablosung im Sommer und Hochsommernacht.
7A word of praise must be given to Mr. Persson for his fine and musically accompaniments for the singer; also to Prince Mohmuddin, whose cello obbligatos were excellent.
9Evsei Beloussoff and Ossip Gabrilowitsch
10An evening of pure classicism was enjoyed by Aeolian Hall patrons on December 10 in the form of a sonata recital by Evsei Beloussoff, cellist, with Ossip Gabrilowitsch at the piano. The program consisted of the Beethoven sonata in A major, op. 69; Brahms' sonata in C minor, op. 38, and Saint-Saens' sonata in C minor, op. 32. Evsei Beloussoff revealed himself as an artist of discrimination and ability, with a keen appreciation of color and tone values. His bravura passages were marked by a broad, singing tone and dynamic reading. He also possesses that rarity of rarity, the vibrant sweetness of the true cantabile, unmarred by affectation or over-emphasis. His next recital is being looked forward to with real interest. Ossip Gabrilowitsch shared in the honors of the evening, rendering the piano score with his usual polished technic and subtlety of tone shading. He played with a fine sense of balance to round out a first rate performance.
12Roderick White
13Roderick White, a violinist not unknown to New York, gave a recital at Town Hall on December 10. He played first the Brahms Sonata in F minor and followed it with the d'Ambrosio concerto. This is a work which has many attractive qualities, and might well be heard with orchestra. Then came Bach's prelude and fugue in G minor, which won the warmest applause of the evening.
15For a mixed group he played Legende Naive by Jon- gen, attractive in its simplicity; an andante by Faure; a pretty bit called Chinese Temple by Clerbois—the audience insisted upon a repetition—and the brilliant Scherzo Tarantella by Wieniawski, which he played with brilliance.
17All the familiar points of Mr. White's playing which have established his reputation were again apparent. He has the cardinal virtue that he always plays in tune, no matter how difficult a technical passage he may undertake; and his interpretations are informed with unusual musical intelligence. There was a large audience which did not fail to let the concert giver know of its approval. Harry Kaufman gave valuable support at the piano.
19DECEMBER 11
20Julia Claussen
21Mme. Julia Claussen mezzo-soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, gave a recital at Carnegie Hall on Dec-
23ember 11. Mme. Claussen's art has long been known and valued in New York. On this occasion she was in unusually fine voice. Beginning her program with numbers by Handel and Haydn, sung with a fine regard for stylistic perfection, she went on to a group of two songs by Petersen-Berger in her native Swedish. The second, Jungfrun under Lind, simple and beautiful, earned the particular favor of the audience. There followed a sympathetic rendering of that beautiful song by the late Erich J. Wolff (who died all too young), Alle Dinge haben Sprache. For her aria she chose O Pretres de Baal from Le Prophete, singing it with that thorough command of the great line that has long made her a favorite on the operatic stage. The Brahms group, five lieder, ending with the unfamiliar Wehe, so whilst du much wieder, found such favor with the audience that two encores were demanded. To end with, there was a group of English songs, three by Florabel Blackwell and two by N. Mednikoff, all of them dedicated to Mme. Claussen. Mrs. Blackwell's first song, In a Cathedral, sung from manuscript for the first time anywhere, called for the services of the organ as well as the piano, and would have sounded better had the two instruments been in tune with each other.
25There was a large audience which evidently thoroughly enjoyed Mme. Claussen's singing, and well it might for she has never appeared to better advantage here. The voice, still as fine in quality as it ever has been, was under the most perfect control, and did the singer's will, whether in piano passages or in the loudest forte. Nicolai Mednikoff was at the piano in place of Giuseppe Bamboschek, who was unexpectedly called upon to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera House, owing to the accident of Maestro Serafin. Mme. Claussen gained distinctly by the exchange.
27Frances Nash
28An interestingly arranged program was offered by Frances Nash at her piano recital, December 11 at Aeolian Hall. First she played from the moderns and ultra-moderns, which proved a delightful innovation. Her opening number was the Prelude, Choral and Fugue, by Cesar Franck, which she played with keen appreciation for the values, and her nuances were remarkably well wrought. It was also in the Franck number that Miss Nash had an excellent chance to display her superb technic and those qualities which have made her performances so noteworthy. She has gained her splendid reputation through marked talent and intelligence. Her second group contained suite No. 1 and 2, Bartok; Montanesa, Andaluza, by de Falla; and Violes and Minstrels, Debussy. Her perfect sense of humor made these little pieces very entertaining and she played them exquisitely. She could easily have encored, so insistant was her audience to hear more. Her third group was given over to Brahms and the fourth to the Andante (aria) Bach, arranged by Godowsky, and the Toccata, Saint-Saens, which ended the program. The classic numbers were played with the same individuality that marked her other groups and proved beyond doubt that Miss Nash is one of the most interesting women pianists before our public today.
30Elshuco Trio and Thom Denijs
31The second recital in the Franz Schubert series being given by the Elshuco Trio attracted a large audience, which came in an entirely uncritical mood, enjoyed a thoroughly delightful program, and left reluctantly. The program consisted of six songs from Die Winterreise, and seven from Die Schone Mullerin, sung by Thom Denijs, baritone, and the trio in E flat major, op. 100, played by the Elshuco Trio. Thom Denijs, within the rather narrow exigencies of the lieder, displayed a voice of considerable power but charmingly modulated to the gentle melancholy which seemed the prevailing mood. The songs were of course sung in the original German, but it was to be noticed that a considerable portion of the audience did not have need to resort to the English translations so thoughtfully provided by the management. Special mention is deserved by his rendition of Der Lindenbaum and Letzte Hoffnung in the first group, and Wohin, Der Neugierige, and Thranenreigen in the second group. He is a lieder singer of the true type, unafraid of emotionalism, which was always kept within the bounds of artistic restraint. Aurelio Giorni, at the piano, caught the mood and followed him with sympathy and complete understanding.
33The Elshuco Trio in the concluding number emphasized the impression of marked ability which it has created in previous appearances. The periods were sharply defined, and its phrasing, unison, and modulation left nothing to be desired. The Elshuco Trio consists of William Kroll, violinist; Willem Willeke, cellist, and Aurelio Giorni, pianist.
35DECEMBER 12
36Richard Hale
37One of the most demonstrative audiences of the Aeolian Hall season was on hand to hear the annual recital of Richard Hale, baritone, on December 12. Three groups (Italian, German and Russian) preceded a group of modern songs by Deems Taylor, Louis Gruenberg and the two celebrated negro lyricists, Burleigh and Lawrence Brown, now at the height of their popularity. Mr. Hale's singing calls only for superlatives. He clearly perceives the essential spirit of Moussorgsky's bravado as distinguished from Deems Taylor's, each in turn receiving an authentic hearing, while the delicate tonal strands of Debussy's Mandoline are as happy in his voice as the more hardy conceptions of Strauss and Wolf. Helen Chase's work as accompanist was most commendable.
39DECEMBER 13
40Cleveland Orchestra
41When Nikolai Sokoloff first brought the Cleveland Orchestra here four or five years ago, though not up to the technical standpoint which it exhibits today, it made up what it lacked in that by a splendid and genuine enthusiasm for the music it played. Sokoloff has now accomplished the task of bringing his men to a state of technical accomplishment that allows them to be compared with any orchestra in the country, while at the same time they have retained a great deal of that freshness and enthusiasm without which music making becomes perfunctory. On December 13, at Carnegie Hall, he offered the most interesting program that the Clevelanders have played here in several seasons. It began with a ballet suite from Cephale et Procris, by Gretry, arranged by Mottl; three charming old French dances delightfully played, with just the right archaic touch. Then came the principal item of the program, the First Symphony of Jean Sibelius. Listening to it, one is tempted to apply to him the epithet of "Brahms of the North." There is the same introspective method of thought, the same overloaded orchestration, the same noble passages—and the same dull pages alternating with them. The first Symphony is, on the whole, a very fine work. Written in 1899, it will stand comparison with any symphony of the last quarter century. Sokoloff led it with spirit and enthusiasm and the men played it with a rounded finish that showed that much time had been devoted to rehearsals. Some of the climaxes were overwhelming in their force.
43For the second part of the program there was Ottorino Respighi's The Fountains of Rome. Sokoloff caught the atmosphere of this work—which looks back over one shoulder at Debussy and farther still back over the other at Wagner—and played it with a fine feeling for its varying moods. The exquisite close was a particularly fine bit of orchestral playing on the part of the solo desks. To end with, there was a rousing performance of the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, after which the audience remained to call the conductor back half a dozen times. He called upon his men to rise and accept the applause, as he had also done after the symphony. Taken as a whole, it was one of the best orchestra concerts of the season, both in the matter of the program and the spirit and manner of its execution.
45Friends of Music
46At the concert of the Friends of Music at Town Hall, on December 13, there was the first performance in America of Hans Hermann Wetzler's suite of six numbers, music to Shakespeare's "As You Like It." It was excellent music, unpretentious and with real tunes, good to listen to. The audience liked it. The rest of the program went to three fine soloists—Carl Flesch, who gave a masterly performance of the Bach Chaconne and then, with Felix Salmond, cellist, as fine a reading of the Brahms double concerto as has ever been heard here. The other soloist, Carlos Salzedo, harpist extraordinary, played with the orchestra the two Debussy dances known as Sacred and Profane. The virtuosity of Salzedo's harp playing is too well known to require special praise in this instance. For once, the Friends of Music concert was sold out long in advance. There was an audience that loved its stars and showed it by the warmest of applause for all three of them. Artur Bodanzky conducted.
48[Other concerts of the week not reviewed here will be published in the next issue.]
50Musicians' Enterprises to Celebrate
51The Musicians' Enterprises, Inc., the aims of which are the amelioration of the musicians' conditions of America, expects to celebrate its inauguration within a fortnight.
53In view of the ideals this society has set out to accomplish, there can be no surprise at the fact that such famous patrons of music as Otto H. Kahn, Harry Harkness Flagler, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, and also such stars in the musical profession as Prof. Leopold Auer, Alexander Lambert, Artur Bodanzky, Gennaro Papi, Dr. Josef Stransky, Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman, Bruno Walter, Ernest Schelling, Henry Hadley, Josef Lhevinne, Mischa Levitzki, Rafaelo Diaz, and many others, are not only sponsoring but also actively supporting this society.
55The first step toward the realization of this elaborate plan of the Musicians' Enterprises, Inc., is the opening of music centers, the first being in the form of a splendid music store where "everything in music" will be found. It was planned to open this store about December 15 at 110 West 116th Street.
57A competent and experienced staff has been engaged to manage this store. Mitchel Zatman, the manager, has had several years experience and has the full knowledge required by such an undertaking. Expert violin repairers as well as piano tuners and repairers will be a credit to this institution. A fine stock of violins, cellos, violas, etc., as well as wind and brass instruments, pianos, phonographs, phonograph records, a full library of classical and popular music, in short everything in music, will be found.
59This first step will be celebrated in a manner befitting the magnitude of the Enterprises itself. A large number of artists from different parts of the globe will be present at this celebration, thus lending unusual importance to the event.
61It is felt certain that the musicians will patronize their own store and that a great many music lovers will patronize a store owned by professional musicians, thus assuring the complete success of this undertaking.
63Edwin Hughes Plays in Mansfield
64Edwin Hughes, pianist, appeared with success in Mansfield, Ohio, December 8, on the concert course of the Mansfield Civic Music League.
66FREDERICK JACOBI
67The Poet in the Desert
68(For Baritone Solo, Chorus and Orchestra)
70Concert of the Society of the Friends of Music, New York, November 22, 1925
72LAWRENCE TIBBETT
73Soloist
74ARTUR BODANZKY
75Conductor
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