Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-26
Won BULOWS RECITAL.

| The Noted Pianist's Appearance Greeted By
nm Apprecinrive Audience - The Pro-
gramme an Interesting and Artistic Ono.
a FTER lapse of 19 years the second appear
ance of Hans Won Bulow before Pitts
burg audience was made at Old City Hall last
evening. 1t would be hard to say just how
many years have elapsed since such another
audience in numbers and quality has been
gathered in this city to listen to a simple piano
recital, unaided by any collateral attraction.
The close attention and enthusiastic applause
from first to last showed that the auditors were
more than satisfied in hearing the doughty,
little doctor, all by himself, play through the
following programmes:
1. Mozart Q756-1791). ......... Fantasie and
2. ]. S. Bach ii6S5-l75oJ' ......................
ld.) Sarabande, F major.
(d.) Concerto in the Italian style.
Allegro-Andante-Presto.)
B. Beethoven. y. Sonata appassionata, op. 81
Allegro assai-Andante con moto Finale.
4. Joachim Raft C1s22-1SS2) )..................
tpreude- Menue T@ IRi Rom m @ FEsueJ
o. chopin O. Nocturne op. 9, No; g.
to.) lmpromptu, op. 20, snarp.
60 Scherzo. op. 81, sharp minor.
d. Berceuse. op. 81.
'.venezi a Nspoli, . Ganzone e Tarantella.
N framing this programme ruling considera-
tlon would seem to have been to please the
public in the provincial towns in which. success
sively, it is being played. Where Won Bulow
is sure of his public, he generally insists upon
different kind of programme. Recognized as
the most authoritative exponent of Beethoven,
the apostle of Brahms-in short, as the eintellect-
ual pianist par excellence-von Bulow can
well afford to leave the stock pieces of Chopin
and Listz to other and younger players. in fuller
flush of technical prowess, but not possessed Of
the same learning and experience.
Nevertheless it was an interesting pro-
gramme, from a general artistic standpoint;
giving valuable illustration of the develop
ment of pianistic art from Father Bach down
to the present day. The broad, mastery hand
ling of the sarabande and the andante from
the Bach concerto brought out fully the vital
forms beyond the ken of your everyday vir
tuoso. In the pompous allegro and the bril-
liant presto. Also appeared meaning and a
soul, though both were PLAYED with that
thoroughly classical purity and dignity of style
which. with SO many players, mean simply dry
ness and commonplace.
N the great sonata appassionata-that one of
the masterworks which most fully COM
bines the elements of popularity and of truest
musicianship-the really great pianist shone
forth at his best Reverent. painstaking with
the smallest details, finished to nicety-this
Interpretation was yet more notable for its
rugged freedom, its breadth and especially for
that comprehensive grasp of the work as
whole which, by all the resources of phrasing
of tone qualities and of dynamic grada-
tions, held together as an homogeneous
unit all these diverse elements. Similarly in
the exceedingly difficult and elaborate suite in
which Rail- has SO successfully imbued old
forms with new life; here. too, the comprehen-
sive grasp of the master player made clear and
strikingly effective what might very easily
seem complicated and obscure. What slight
technical blemishes were observable should not
weigh for moment beside the noble qualities
of head and heart that filled both of these i'm
portant compositions.
The Chopin Berceuse was charmingly given;
it had a touch of sentiment not always ac-
credited to the worthy Doctor Won Bulow.
The other Chopin numbers and the played
out Lszt tarantella, were not, on the
whole, up to the standard of playing set
by the rest of the programme. Here the me-
chanical increases in Importance as the intel
lectual decreases; in the so years of Won Bu-
lows life-as with anyone else-the progression
has been the other way. Nevertheless these
were exceedingly well played;
the vlrile Chopin Scherzo, indeed, might be
wholly excepted from the above structures, on
account OF the drastic, passionate power of its
performance. c. w. s.