The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-25
GREAT SYMPHONY CONCERT
PROFESSOR SANFORD SCORES 4 MOST BRILLIANT SUCCESS.

| Symphony Composed During Happiest 1 Period of schummann's Life, Rendered MT. Troostwyk's Splendid Work-pro-
 lessor Parker Conducts the Orchestra.
 The largest audience that has ever listened to concert by the New Haven | Symphony orchestra assembled at the Hyperion yesterday afternoon. The reason for the particularly numerous assemblage was the appearance of Pro- lessor Samuel s. Sanford as soloist. Professor Sanford's playing last year in the College street music hall attract ed an audience that Uncomfortable | crowded the building. It was natural | to expect that his second appearances would prove equally potent in attrac- tive power. It is extremely doubtful that another soloist of equal popular ity would be found. Aside from his musical pre- eminence, Professor San ford's personal qualities are such that whenever he is announced to appear he is sure to meet with an overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception. His popularity is equally great with the musical de- partment, the orchestra and the social world with whom he has come in con- tact. All these people rejoice in an op-s portunity to show their friendship, and the enthusiasm manifested yesterday l afternoon was entirely spontaneous and genuine.
 | t1 | Although Professor Sanford's playing was the especial feature of the pro- gramme, the whole concert was meri- torious. The symphony was Schu-s mann's B flat, generally known as the Spring symphony. It is the happiest and most joyful of all Schumann,s four and has always been the most pleas ing to concert-goers. It was composed during the happiest period of Schu-S manns life. and throughout it seems an expression of the very joy of exist ence. As a performance it does not compare favorably with some other things our orchestra has done. Never l theless, 1t was a most worthy achieves. l ment when the tremendous difficulties | of the score are taken into considera- ton. It is well worth while to attempt the bigger works for the sake of con- l tinued improvement. And although l there were some obvious uncertainties l in the rendition of yesterday, the glo-' rious spirit of the work was always in l evidence, which rebounds doubly to. Professor Parker's credit.
 The second number was Liszt's E flat; concerto for piano and orchestra. The orchestral part of this work Is one of the most difficult things the men have attempted The strange rythms and characteristic rubato passages make the work of accompaniment a most lperilous task The orchestra acquit- ted themselves we'll and great praise is due Professor Parker for the careful direction which brought about the ex- cellent result Of Professor Sanford's $ work it is impossible to speak in terms of measured praise. The Liszt con- certo is one of the most difficult works in the pianist's repertoire. For its aa- equate performance there must be stu- pendous technique and interpretative ability of the highest order. It is safe to say that since the days of Ruben stein such a dazzling performance has not been heard here. Such was the opinion of all the older members of the musical fraternity yesterday. Perhaps the quality that seemed most remark able in yesterdays performance was the wonderful rythmic integrity that was preserved throughout the work. It imparted new life to passages which had hitherto seemed mere technical display with other pianists. Of the technical merits there is nothing left to be said. The tremendous octave passages were taken at terrific speed and were worked up into splendid cli- maxes every time The last movement was perhaps the finest of all. The piano part was given with the utmost delicacy and grace and yet with bril- liancy that was fairly prismatic. The finale was a gorgeous mass of tone color that left the nearer utterly ex- hausted. The applause that followed was deafening. When Professor Sam ford reappeared to bow his thanks two laurel wreaths tied with Yale blue rib- bon were presented to him, and a charming basket of flowers was passed over the footlights by little Loretta OConnell, the tiny pianiste in whom Professor Sanford has been interested. The larger of the two wreaths was l DlA upliS dIlu lAc OtuCI HUH the orchestra. Professor Sanford was compelled to return several times, each time to increasing applause and much cheering from the upper gallery, and he finally sat down and played his own arrangement of Pergolesi's Nina" !" After the excitement of the concerto this beautiful old melody was especial ly effective, and the interpretation was one that will be remembered.
 It is sincerely to be hoped that one may look forward to another perform ance next year, and surely there can be no doubt in Professor Sanford's s mind as to whether people would like to hear him again or not. After the concerto the orchestra played two of Dvorak's Slavic dances, Nos. and g., from opus 46, and the programme clos ed with Grieg's Peer Gynt'' suite, which is always beautiful and always welcome. In the third movement MT. Troostwyk's solo was so exquisitely done that he received most enthusias- tic demonstration and was obliged to repeat it. It can be said again what has been said so often before, that MT. Troostwyk is a violinist of re- markable ability, and the privilege of listening to such perfect work as he did yesterday cannot be overestimated. MT. Troostwyk is most distinguished