Books › Musical Courier 1926-02-04: Vol 92 Iss 5, 1926 › scan 22
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Musical Courier 1926-02-04: Vol 92 Iss 5, 1926
60 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1CLEVELAND, OHIO
3CLEVELAND, Ohio.—The tenth pair of concerts given by the Cleveland Orchestra at Masonic hall took place January 14 and 16 in the form of an orchestra program, sans soloist. Tchaikowsky's fifth symphony was given an inspiring performance, with Nikolai Sokoloff apparently at his best, and the orchestra playing with exceptional spirit and vigor. Enesco's Dance of the Theban Shepherds from Oedipus, which was done in Cleveland last year under the baton of the composer, was repeated on this program and was received with more enthusiasm than at the preceding concert. Then Debussy's luscious sketches, Clouds and Festivals, were played with a delicate lyricism that was in splendid contrast with the foregoing, and the program closed with the stirring and emotional Poeme de l'Extase by Scriabin. All in all, it was one of the most enjoyable musical evenings of the season; a fact to which the audience attested by its prolonged applause after each number.
5Paderewski came to Public hall, January 17, to present an all-Chopin program before a mammoth audience of some 13,000. He held the throng in a spell with his virtuosity and demonstrated that the years have made no perceptible inroads upon his pianistic capabilities. The audience paid him the tribute of rising to its feet when he stepped upon the stage, and after his first group he was presented with a gold heart, proffered him by the Polish people of Cleveland. This concert was one of the excellent series offered by Frederic Gonda.
7Coming from India's coral strand to translate the native music into terms comprehensible to Occidental ears, Ratan Devi gave two recitals here, at the Art Museum, on January 17, and at the Cleveland Institute of Music, January 18. She gave a short talk before each song, explaining its origin and significance and provided a real musical treat. E. C.
9Cecil Arden with Civic Concert Series
11Cecil Arden, of the Metropolitan Opera Company, has signed a contract with the Civic Concert Series of Chicago whereby this management will handle all her bookings in the middle west.
13A goodly number of engagements have already been secured through them, and Miss Arden will no doubt become as popular in the middle west as she already is in the south, east and far west. She is now on tour filling engagements in Colorado, New Mexico, California and Montana. This is Miss Arden's second tour to the Pacific Coast this season, and her fourth season under the management of A. M. Oberfelder of Denver. She sang in Florida the first week in January with such splendid success that she was at once reengaged to appear there next season.
15This young contralto is rapidly becoming one of the most popular attractions on many of the concert courses throughout the country. Her special number, Carmen's Dream, arranged for her by her teacher, Buzzi-Peccia, has had no small bearing on the success of her recitals, for it is one of the most artistic novelties ever presented to the concert going public.
17Ballon Guest at Metropolitan Concert
19Ellen Ballon was the visiting artist at the Sunday Night Concert at the Metropolitan, January 31, and was heard in a brilliant rendition of Rubinstein's D minor concerto, as well as three shorter pieces. Miss Ballon is decidedly a talented young pianist and won her audience from the first; even before she had played, her youth and charm of manner made a deep impression. But she can play excellently, and she increased the favorable impression as her contributions went on. She revealed a fine technic, a good tone, commendable rhythm, and her interpretations were always interesting and musically. Miss Ballon was warmly applauded.
21A high light on the program as to orchestral selections was the ever popular Rimsky-Korsakoff Scheherazade, and among the artists appearing, who came in for particular favor at the hands of the audience, were: Nanette Guilford, Merle Alcock, Marcella Roeseler (who substituted for Elizabeth Kandt), Queena Mario, Lawrence Tibbett, Mario Basiola and Adamo Didur. Bamboschek conducted.
23Dunning Teachers Meet
25The regular monthly meeting of the New York Dunning Music Teachers' Association was held on January 17 at the studio of Virginia Ryan. The association has selected two leaders for each meeting to discuss various subjects. The topics for the January meeting were technic and hand training and memory work, discussed by Mrs. Monroe Daniels and Mrs. Boyce.
27Rochester Opera Company Impresses Canada
29Press reviews from Canadian cities tell of the interest aroused by the tour of Vladimir Rosing and principals of the Rochester American Opera Company presenting opera in English. The group recently completed its trip, in which seventeen performances were given in six cities. Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Victoria and Lethbridge. The performances were all along the lines of Mr. Rosing's "intimate opera" idea, in which the text and narrative is made paramount to elaborate choruses and scenic effects. Mr. Rosing appeared in the principal roles of many of the performances, supported by the following: Ednah Richardson, Mary Silveira, Margaret Williamson and Cecile Sherman, sopranos; Brownie Peebles, mezzo; Charles Hedley and Phillip Reep, tenors; Donald McGill and Allan Burt, baritones, and George Fleming Houston, basso. The conductor for all performances was Emmanuel Balaban. The repertory included the complete operas of Martha, Faust, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, and excerpts from Carmen, Rigoletto, Boris Godunoff, Eugen Onegin, The Pirates of Penzance and Pinafore.
31Reviewers in the Vancouver papers told of the success scored by the company and the hearty reception accorded by the audiences. The Star said: "Vancouver has the honor this week of witnessing the first experiment in Canada of producing music drama in English along intimate lines, and with all due respect to the opinions of the doubting ones who were privileged to attend the initial performance of Vladimir Rosing and the Rochester American Opera Company at the Orpheum Theater on Monday evening, the outcome was thoroughly impressive and refreshing."
334,000 Hear Organ Dedication in Detroit
35About 4,000 persons filled to capacity the new Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church of Detroit, Mich., when the huge seven unit pipe organ, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Grimnell and their daughter, Geraldine, was dedicated with a concert by Charles Courboin, organist, and an address by Bishop Thomas Nicholson. Both the concert and the Bishop's address were much appreciated by the audience that overflowed to the church school rooms, and it is advocated by Bishop Nicholson that a series of Sunday afternoon concerts on the organ be given. In the words of the latter: "Such entertainments are a part of the church duty. Music and art and literature have played an important part in church development, with some of the world's finest contributions coming from the churchmen."
37New York Critics Praise William Murdoch
39William Murdoch, the English pianist, has been heard in two New York recitals this season and has won excellent criticisms from the press. Following his first appearance the New York Sun stated: "He has an enormous amount of admirable finger technic, facility, fluency, fine pedal control, and rich color supply. His leading asset is his beautiful piano tone. At times he played with a captivating brilliance bordering on the bravura, and he was able to hold his performance on a plane far above any suggestion of insignificance or mediocrity." Mr. Murdoch's second recital inspired the critic of the Christian Science Monitor to write: "The problems of piano technic (merely from the mechanical side) which his program proposed for solution were many and difficult, and Mr. Murdoch's successful accomplishment of this part of his task alone would merit more than ordinary praise. All the interpretive forces of the pianist-musician were heavily drawn upon, and Mr. Murdoch was in every instance more than equal to the demands. And there were fine gradations in his interpretations which few pianists are able to bring about. Such playing, such an attitude toward music, is rare, and for this reason doubly welcome."
41Marie Morrisey Sings "Humanly"
43Consistently fine notices have been the result of Marie Morrisey's appearances since her return to concert activities this season. Her recital at Hammond, Ind., under the auspices of the Hammond Civic Music Association, called forth the following tribute from the pen of Stanley Jenks, formerly critic on the London Times: "The listener asks four things of a singer. First, there must be nature's gift of a voice; secondly, the ability to use it, which we call technic; third, the musicianship to give it a soul, which we call temperament; fourth, the personality to charm, which combined with the other three qualifications we call artistry. To find all four characteristics in one singer is very rare. They are the passport that leads the singer up the golden stairs to the realms of musical immortality. Miss Morrisey has them all, as she readily proved last night. It is no wonder to me that Brunswick, for whom she records exclusively, has enrolled her in its select hall of fame. Miss Morrisey has a rich contralto voice that is mellowed to a well-nigh unbelievable tonal purity. Her technic carries the polish of experience. It could be said that she sings heavenly. I prefer, however, to say that she sings humanly, and in saying it I can pay neither her nor any singer a greater compliment."
45Althouse "Wins Hearers' Hearts"
47"The big audience gave Paul Althouse the sort of ovation that is only given to a great artist," writes the music reviewer of the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman-Review, after the tenor's great success in recital in that city recently. And the review continues: "Althouse lifted everybody into a mood of exaltation that matched his own magnificent effects created by his songs. He has an endowment of tonal beauty and interpretative ability, with a remarkable power of enunciation. He has a dramatic temperament that is keenly sensitive to the mood of every song. The warmth and color of his singing made a remarkable appeal."
49Sundelius for North Shore Festival
51Marie Sundelius will be soloist in a performance of the Brahms German Requiem to be given by the North Shore Festival Association at Evanston (Ill.) on May 31. Mme. Sundelius has recently returned from a concert tour of the Scandinavian countries, and will start at once filling concert dates and singing again at the Metropolitan Opera.
53Leonard Liebling to Europe
55Leonard Liebling, editor-in-chief of the MUSICAL COURIER, will sail for Europe aboard the S. S. Olympic on Friday night of this week for a short vacation. He will be absent from New York for about four weeks.
57THE CURTIS QUARTET.
59One of the three public performances scheduled for this season by the newly organized Curtis Quartet is to be given in Town Hall, New York, on February 25. All four artists are members of the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, from which the new group takes its name. The first violin is Carl Flesch, head of the violin department; the second violin, Emanuel Zettin, one of Mr. Flesch's assistants; the viola, Louis Bailly, professor of viola, and the cellist, Felix Salmon, professor of cello. The program to be played includes Haydn's quartet in D minor, op. 76, No. 2; Beethoven's in C major, op. 59, No. 3, and the Brahms quartet in A minor, op. 51, No. 2. (Photo by Kubey-Rembrandt.)
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