The sun., 1902-11-09
BOSTON SYMPHONY MATINEE.
FIRST AFTERNOON CONCERT or
MIR. GERICkE'S PLAYERS.
| Production OF New symphony by n Swiss
tOnlpOser-Mr. PuEnO plays Schubrrt's
"Wanderer" Fantasia Delightfully."-.

I Production OF a New symphony by n Swiss
| Conposer-Mr. PuEno plays schubrrt's
| "Wanderer" Fantasia Delightfully."-.
The first afternoon concert Of the seven
teenth season in this city Of the Boston
| symphony Orchestra was atte ndsd by a
large audience yesterday afternoon at Car
| negc Hall. The steady growth OF public
Interest in the concerts of this admirable
orchestra A strong evidence of the
advance In taste. The subscription this
season is larger than ever before and the
| prospects are that there will be very few
seats to spare at any concert.
| The programme of yesterday enter
tainmant consisted Of Berlioz's -Carnaval
Roman" overture. Liszt's arrangement
Of Schubert's -Wanderer" fantasia, Saint
Saens's symphonic poem, lie Rouet dom
| phalo. and Hans Huber's second symphony,
+ minor, opus us. The soloist in the Schu-
| bert music was the French pianist. Raoul
| Pugno. The Huber symphony was played
| for the first time in this city. 1t had already
! been given at the home concerts OF the
| orchestra
The composer Is a native OF Switzerland
| and is still living at the age Of 50. His sym
phoi.y Is a thoroughly modern work. hayin z
nothing Of the classic form except the
employment Of contrasting themes and
| certain lines OF musical development. Bat
| Hubers purpose is ultra-romantic His
object Is TO treat of matters lying entirely
outside Of the world Of music. He does
not content himself with broad mood pict-
ures, but asks the hcarer TO fni definite
| images. and those, too. of symUoIical crca-
tions III another field Of art.
The symphony l. intended to elorify the
genius Of the Swiss painter Bocklin This
might readily be- done by means of SYM
phonv. for other composers have tried the
experiment, not without success. But in
the very firrt movement Of this work the
composer asks IL, to fad in the cantabile
theme a reproduction Of the mood Of 30 rk-
lins picture. -S'e. the Meadow Laughs"
OF course since the programmes book
tells us To do il we do it, But how would il
be If we hal 40 guide' We should discern
the grace and aniability OF the thcmo and
recognize tho sunny mood Of this part Of
the music; but We should hardly realize
that II v ~ a tonal translation Of the thought
Of a painting. The lack of perfect clear
ness q: rin in this first movement adds to
the confusion of the hcarer.
The second movement Il bitter. for her,
We nave 10 DdtClAiC Stllfl ~, AINtlltltti 10
suggest the fauns and satyr- which Rock
lin loved to paint. Good; 80 long a., the
work is dedicated to the honor Of i}ocklin,
tho mood of the schorao explains itself
fairly we'll The same thing may be said
Of the slow movement IL is a mood pict-
urc, and the heGrcr is free TO connect ii
with any OF Bo kliu's pictures which it
suits: or better still. With the artist ic tenn
per Il IN" painter himself
The last movement con ststs Of a theme
and variations Here the composer has
made heavy draughts on our imsginat ions.
He asks US to regard each variation as
the musical representation Of a particular
picture, and he names the pictures for US.
1t is rather hard on those of Us who have
not seen the pictures TO reconstruct their
feeling from Huher's music, but with the
aid of the programme look we may possibly
see the matter as through a glass darkly.
The variations are 80 shilfully made that
II takes some perception TO discover that
they are variations at all.
The symphony "a whole makes an
indetermnatc impression. Ii is palpably
lahoring to express ideas antcccdent to
the moods Of the music; ard that is some
thing which, with all due difference to
Mr.. Huber, music cannot do. Music can
Initiate nature within certain limits, and
II can express moods and arouse emotions,
but il cannot tell the cause Of the emotions
nor reproduce paintings thought 20
eloqIcntly that we can Identify the paint
ing. The work was played with high
finish and had evidently been prepared
with all of Mr.. GeIiCAt's uuiailIng con-
scicntiousnCss.
MIR Pusno made his hr-t Impression
In Americs, with the -Wnndurcr- fantasia
five years ago He played II Yesterday
more beautifully than he did at the Val
dof-A-tO OTia concerts. There were more
contincnce in hi- dynaMics. l",s tendency
to burst the bonds of artis. ic restraint. a
finer feeling for tonGl values. Again. he