Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-14
A PLEASING PERFORMANCE.
Miss Aus der Ohe's Presents an UnuaualIy
Enjoyable Progrnmme-An Opportunity
Music Teachers should Not Have Neg
lected-Gems from Beethoven and Other

Miss aus uoF Ono'9 kf0Bento 0n Unuauatly
Enjoyable Progrnmme-An Opportunity
Music Teachers Should Not Have Neg.
Iected-Gems from Beethoven and Other
Composers.
pITTsBURG has sscores Of piano teachers. Each
week those teachers meet hundreds of pupils
and laboriously endeaVor to develop them into
piano players. The best the indispensable ally in
su ch an endeavor is for the pupil to have every
possible opportunity Of hearing first class piano
playing. How can it be, then, that one Of the
foremo piano players Of the day can come to
this city after abundant announcement in ad-
vance, and play before a beggarly array Of
empty benches, from which the piano teachers
and pupils are the most conspicuous absentees?
The 200 or more music lovers who were pres
ent in Old City Hall last evening to hear Miss
Adele Aus der Ohe had the clearest reason to
wonder at the absence Of the many to whom
such an opportunity would be of the utmost
practical and aesthetic value. To realize the
importance OF the opportunity enables one to
measure the culpabilitylof those who though
standing in the musical watch towers, neglect
to herald its approach.
Those empty benches did more than suggest
powerfully such reh ections as Just limited at.
They deprived the player of the stimulus that
ence. They also formed a resonant void in
which the tones OF the piano rang and re-echoed
as though the damper pedal were fastened
down. The muddling and cOarsenlng effect Of
this echo was apparent throughout the pro-
gramme.
TNDER such conditions it is not easy to open
arecital in proper frame of mind for 80
intense movement as the first of Beethoven's
e minor senate. Op. 90, the one dedicated to the
Countess Won Lichnowsky. The senate was
the least satisfying of Miss Aus der Ohe's in
depreciation; largely because of the conditions,
but partly, no doubt, because the pianist has
larger sympathy with and experience in the
more modern schools of piano playing There
was more of FIRE and dash than of masterfuI
passion; there were some effects bordering on
the sensational where greater refinement
would have been in place, some nuances passed
over where reverent study would love to linger.
This is judging Miss Aus der Ohe by the very
highest standards, of course: there was none
the less great deal to be learned from her
playing OF the senate by most people, still more
to be enjoyed by all. And she can beyond a
doubt play Beethoven yet better under more
favorable conditions.
7 JPoN the balance OF the programme the
most carping critic could find small room
for adverse comment-unless, perchance, it
should be in the tendency, common to most
Virtuosi Of taking difficult movement faster
than it should go, out OF sheer pride in being
able TO do SO. The Reconndisdnce in Schu-
mans "Carneval, !" for instance was accelerated
at some sacrifice of clearness in its middle
portion, and Mendelssohn's little "Spinning
Song" suggested steam engine rather than a
dainty foot as the motive power Of the wheel.
The two bits OF pieces by Scarlatti were like
antique canoes in their quaint, clear-cut
beauty, admirably brought out by Miss Aus der
Ohe's crisp touch and careful phrasing. The
mOck-antique Of the PadeTewski minuet was
clearly distinguishable from the genuine, but it
gave the player chance TO score point
In a steady rhythm exceptionally well
marked without being obtrusive. The same
effect was yet more-almost too-prominent in
the "Carnevar' promenade. Schubert's lovely,
fluent B fat lmpromptu was quite caressingly
treated in proper places and made exceedingly
effective throughout.
CcHUMAN's set of tone sketches, the "Carne-
VAL" op. Q, has not been heard here in its
entirety, perhaps, tor decade, If ever. Il was
good to hear it entire that the sense OF proper
tion and connection should be preserved; bet
ter yet to hear it played so that its rich con-
tents were clearly and most effectively brought
out. Space is lacking to particularize. but the
WdIz Noble and EtGsebuis, of the more sober
numbers, and the PGntdLoTl and the concluding
march, Of the more brilliant parts deserve es-
pecial mention.
IN Liszt's big, bombastic spanish Rhapsodie''
Miss Aus der Ohe proved her right to be con-
sidered-as was the fact-Liszt's favorite pupil
among his favorite sex. Indeed, for this per-
formance, the sex qualification may be omitted.
DAlbert, himself. could not have conquered
the abounding difficulties of this piece with a
more electrifying virtuosity in all particulars.
More could not be said.
THIS evening Miss Aus der Ohe plays Bee
thoven's Moonlight senate. the Bach
Tausig, Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, and
several important works each of Chopin, Ru-
binstein and Liszt. @. W. 8.