The New York herald., 1875-11-23
MUSEMENTS.
HANS Won BULow.


night, at Chickering Hail. in the following works
Concerto in b hat minor, opus % p, Tschaikowsky
Sonata quasi fantasia, No. 2 in c sharp minor opus
81 Beohoven Fantasia Schubert, arranged for piano
and orchestra by List The concerto which the
pianist played in Boston, is the work Of young pupil
Of Rubinstein. There 1t did not please, and many
thought that the OF its failure musical work
was account OF the nelciency of the orchestra IL
did very little better In New York. 1t is essentially
weak in conception, and, although many effective pas
sages may be found in IT, yet the lack of inspira-
ton and homogeneity Of thought must ever place
1t at disadvantage. TschaIkowsky is very young
man, and promising pupil Of the greatest
pianist now before the public But piano concerto
nowadays, demands in its construction larger ex
perience and heightened study than the composer
Of this concerto to have enjoyed Youths like
Mozart and Mendessohn are hard be found in this
age The opening movement, ARdane troppo &
noto deStoso has bizarre kind Of orchestration and
rather pretty motive given first by the yiolns and
cee which the long chords OF the piano drpggio
throw peculiar light The piano repeats the theme
with declamaory nterludes and some fancifu cmbroi
derry An allegro spiyito succeeds, beginning
with singular figure OF broken tripets afterwards
strange freaks in IN orchestra and genuine Rubnsten
passages for the piano The theme introduced here
not interesting although it has flavor Of schumann
notwithstanding the brilancy Of the piano
phrases Further on, Lizstan and modulatons
In, shall we call Il harmony occur and II eccenricity
can be called talent in composition, here Mr. TschaIk-
wosky deserves praise But there entire absence
Of form and continued thought which must render it
distasteful TO the musical mind. Tho composer not
wishing TO entrust even TO the eminent pianist to whom
he dedicated the work, and who certainly did ample
justice last night has written out in full the cadenzas
he desired 10 accompany this concerto. The
first is formidable undertaking for any pianist
difficult Of execution in the extreme and unhappy
correspondingly Ineffective The second movement
andanttao smpce has little OF the Henselt spirit as
conveyed in the Largheto Of the famous concerto by
that author Many unmstakable Henset passages
H. The finale, allegro con faoc0 introduces Russian
melody of very characteristic kind. Here as in
some Of the preceding movements the orchestra fedd
completely to give proper support TO the pianist The
composer has undoubtedly written passages the wind
instruments that in piano concerto not only
tremely difficult but also very absurd But the players
dd not IN portions OF the work that were compara-
lively easy respond to the baton Of Dr. Damrosch AS
they should, and in many instances they spoiled the
magnificent rendering OF Mr.. Bllow Nothing short OF
the orchestra OF Mr. Thomas could do justice such
piano playing IN work 50 rcpete with strange
mental effects
! Baow's next essay was more grateful to him and
also TO his hearers The 'Mooniight' sonata as No
Of opus y BY Beethoven is generally known familiar
\ TO every one who has touched the ivory keys. Ee
4 played II as If the spirit Of Beethoven lowering
over him It was SO far superior to his performance Of
nize the same interpreter The inimitable intro
| ductory movement, Addgio Sostenuto, APP
parently easy to play and, yet containing such
indnude Of poetry and tenderness land those who
know the love that inspired it toward the lady TO
whom il is dedicated, Julia Gucciard cannot help
aZng the fact that the nmost depths of the heart Of
the greatest composer that ever lived revealed
4 In this tone poemh idyl Of beauty
beneath the inspired fingers of Bllow He dweit
upon 1t tenderly and caressngly. and each finger
1 seemed to be instinct with the spirit of poetry He
gded into the dieqreo as il il were continuation OF
Il cha
4 OF tempo We have been accustomed to abrupt
change Of sentiment and tempo in this part
4 of the sonata that the manner in which
4 Bnlow played the duegretto was both a
delight and surprise. The fingers passed
not note was indstinct II was the acme OF iegdto
playing. The concluding presto dgitdto delivered
with more emphasis and more intelligent conception
than mas ever 0een known before in New York There
was no attempt at display or obruding the individuality
of the player The listener forgot Bllow in Beethoven
more exquisite Interpretation OF a tone poem
could scarcely DO realized. The tumultuous ap-
pause which followed brought the pianist back
again ard he made A very pretty little speech as fol-
lows;-"Ladies and gentlemen, The sonata quasi tan
tasia which you have just heard has twin sister, No
! opus y, and. II time allows l will present her ;"
Then he played the delightful sonata in fiat, and his
rendering Of it gave pleasure than in the
''Moonlight" AS an interpreter Of Beethoven Bdow
appears TO the best advantage He evidently has tho
profound vereration for the colossus of music
his earliest precepLors, Wagner and Liszt
Franz Schuberts grand fantasa-an early work by
one Of the most inspired OF modern German com
posershas been arranged for orchestra and piano by
the indefatgable Lszt who has laid hands upon nearly
every orchestral work OF classical writer's the pur
pose Of adapting II TO his favorite instrument In
some cases he has been entirely
full, in others conocastc Notwithstanding
the grand effects he produces in the
work in question, there doubt that he has
TALLY converted the original sentiment of it, He has
invested ii with so much Of his impeuous nature
that there is little OF the spirit Of schubert lett Even
In the Introductory allegro fu0co there
Is Of Llszt than Schubert The first short
cddenza is from the original author. The second
movement, ddGgio, the motive Of which is the well
known song OF 'Ihe Wanderer, Is very fantastcay
colored The tremendous technical difficulties in tho
finale chds play beneath the trained fingers Of
Bdlow. His playing of this trying work
cessul as the two that preceded IL. word regarding
the orchestra The heat OF the hall seems TO
produce disagreeabe effect of hattenng the
of the the reeds that they appear
to be OF tune with the piano at times. Cannot this
be prevented? Strings creak and reeds bend and
the brass has uncertain tone. The orchestra is
composed or excellent elements. There is
why they should be often at loggerheads in regard
70 tnnn .ih the