The San Francisco call., 1905-05-16

Whether Il is best 10 fly to Ills We know
not of-the Esaye Orchest-z's possihiif-
ties-or stick 10 the lesser violin roper
toire with the pianistic setting, last
nights concert set one s-thinking-
The first Of the six. Ysaye concerts OF
the week took place last night al the Al
hsmbra- local orchestra under an I'M
ported conductor. N Jules Dc Befve, as
sisted There Was s noble proSrH InIIles
and in the circumstances given not ig-
nobiv But-the but was big There
were 2 few moments only during the
concert when one could listen In soso-
lutte comfort Nor can We blame any one
but ourselves
One felt truly last night thai San Fran
cisco was exactly what II hes been so
frequently dubbed. "a big village Here
IS enc Of the royalties Of art. one of the
noblest Eeniuses that ever took bow In
hand, come with the rich intent of Civ
ing Us his best Almost al OF the great
violin works are represented on Hsaye's
programmes To give these an orches-
tIal setting is essential and 10 import an
orchestra an impossibility-
Accordingly a local orchestra. has beep
gathered in from the few musikanders
not swallowed up in the maWs OF the
cafes and thezterS- II is not 8 repre-
sentative orchestra, but quite the best IN
der the circumstances II has been well
rehesrsed by Nj Steindorf Il IS Snxi-
ousir n earnest and notably conScien-
Cous IN the orchestral numbers Il
schieTed fair results In the Bach con-
certo some astonishing moments OF deli
cscy and sympsthy- Yer ones teeth were
more frequently on edge One Was trem-
bling Tor the in1o1atioD If one was not
praying for The beat One WIS trying
TO sleve the tone whs1 one was not
hsnkering for more Of Il
NJ de Befve eoHl6 have done things.
could he do things, II would seem. and n
de Befve is the director Of the LAege Phil
harmonic Orchestra How good that is
one does not know One suspects the
fabulous Evidently the conductor is III
acouainted-has not been up against
ss we say here, the exigencies OF
SCRATCH Western orchestra His task was
not easy, and perhaps il is premature 10
judge him. But N. de BefYe appears to
have only a loose grip upon his men. TO
hold a unid and unauthoritative baton
He followed n Ysaye with only indif-
ferent sympathy and seemed generally
afraid Of the situation A person with
the courage and energy Of a Polacco
mighI have done something; n de BefTe
may 90 something later, perhaps to-
night and the rest Of the week The
point is that until we have an orchestra
ht to round out the art Of an Yssye, a
ways be the provincial folk they call US
And now 10 Hsaye. The violinist in
evitably suffered in the situation His
Airs Russes," that ended his expert
ence and programme last night was
quite nervously handled IN contrast
with the truly magnificent Bach that
opened It II were impossible to i'm
agine anything of nobler plan than NJ
Nsayes reading OF this Bach concerto.
u fr-r,nccftTa - a
tone of more miraculous sweetness.
Esaye is the Sembrich Of violinists
here Perhaps he is here most charac-
teristically wonderful It is the round
est sweetest Of violin voices, translu-
Gently pure, miraculousIy varied
Bach in this Violinlst's hands is as safe
as Shakespeare in Miss Marlowes II is
Bach pure, no obtrusion of the Ysaye
personality. an absolutely reverent and
an inspired reading. The magic Of the
man drew the orchestra. here into like
sympathy In the Adagio there were mo-
ments when one forgot that IL was not a
metropolitan orchestra behind the violin
ist Throughout by the way. there was
commendable absence of over ioudness
in the orchestral setting But one can
not hope 70 hear Bach more beautifully
played than was this, not even by Kreis-
ler-snd one cannot say more.
There was much Of the same sheer.
regnanL majestic beauty in the render
ing OF the Beethoven concerta- Males
ty is the keynote of the Ysaye playing
II Is big all round, tone, reading, tech
nfQue- II is rather a romantic Beeth-
oven that NJ Ysaye gives one. perhaps
shade OF a shade at times sentimen-
tai In the Larghetto one got this feel
sometimes But by this time the lirni-
tations Of the orchestra had imposed
themselves and NJ Ysaye played con-
scious Of them. One felt for the or
chestra, but one quite sympathized with
the violinist when he turned round TO
hiss-s-s-st at the horn that turned
sour and to shout "pianow at them.
But doubtless things will go better to-
night
The Wienawsd baIlade and polonaise
with piano alone came most welcouely
The hands were of the gladdest that ap-
plauced the loveliest reading Of the bal
lade that most of US had ever heard.
and polonaise brilliantly spirited The
audience, good one for the time Of
year, got up on the chairs TO applaud
and got the Airs Russes'' as encore.
Tonight Ysaye plays as chief work
the Saint-Saens concerto in B minor. and
II is TO be remembered that until he
comes again-perhaps another seven
years hence-there will be no chance to
hear these works again
BLANCHE PARTINGTON.