Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1891-12-19
BOSTON SYMPHONY CLUB
A FINE CONCERT GIVEN LAST
EVENING.

First of series of Refined En.
teri ainme ents-E .sQuisite Finish
and Marvellous Mastery-VOcal
Gymnastics.
The concert given last night at the opera
house was primarily due to the liberal
spirit and wise judgment of the mama
gers OF the Young Mems Christian Asso-
citation; determination to give the
public participation i'll amusements ele-
waiting, refining, aud at the same time
pleasing to every taste. The concert
last night was the first of what we may
expect of series of similar and not inie-
rior entertainments.
There was no disappointment, even
after the somewhat extravagant esti-
mates of the capacities of musical club
so widely famous. The large audience
proved at once its cultivated taste and
its appreciation of good music by its
breath thlcss silence and absorbed attention
as each gem of the programme was in
succession presented broken only by
hearty applause and rapturous encores.
The first piece, a symphony from Haydn,
bv the whole club, at once fixed the char
acter OF the music and OF the musicians,
and introduced the audience to a new
field of pleasure; to music delicate, re-
fined subducd in its sound, but penc-
trating every ear and thrilling every
heart. There was an exquisite finish in
every note, a clearness and dstinctness
in every touch, a sweetness in every har-
mony that was a marvel of mastery over
the powers OF instrumental capabillty.
Those in the habit OF being stunned and
deaitned by the blasts of the brass band
or the blatant appeal to popular favor
OF the usual orchestral music. might be
amazed at the impression made by the
cxquisitely delicate low sounding notes
which so gently and, relatively, inaudibly
felt upon the ear, and vet went straight
to the mark witha force more impressive
and pleasing than if they had been
driven and hammered i'll by the clamor OF
artists whose forte is noise, and whose
triumph is in the stunning detonations
of concerted confusion.
The program is too long to review
in detail, and THE CITIZEN can particu-
larize only few portions.
Miss Laura Burnham, in the second
piece, sang an aria from the Carnival of
Venice with voice perfectly trained, OF
marvellous clcarncss and tlexibility. with
A rn nd "a
dcrful capacity of sustaining itself in un-
broken smoothness even in the very high
est and most ambitious notes. 1t was a
powerful illustration OF natural capacity
and high culture; yet THE CITIZEN must be
permitted to say that, to the unsophistl-
Gated ear, the pleasure derived from the
perfect culture of the human throat into
the successful rival OF fabricated
musical instrument was less than that
simple, natural, and at the same time,
cxQustcly cultivated faculty Slorlhcd
bv such singers as adorned the school OF
lcny Lind; a school OF nature, to which
art was invoked only to give finish and
refinement.
Mr.. Rucquoy gave us new revelations
of the power and sweetness Of the tamil-
lar flute; no longer familiar" Oh his
hands, but very wizard in his fingers,
now full, round and sweet; again anima-
ted, vivaciouS, Caprcious, flexible, flying
from the extremes of the deep low notes
to the heights OF the very highest, and
all with sweetness. melody and pertec-
ton OF finish that astOnished with its
skill and delighted with its harmonies
His solo, Souvenir de Baden, was mar
vel of executions; but as friend near by
expressed it, was rather an exhibit of
skillul musical gymnastics than a spcci-
men of satisfactory music. This, how