The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-07
4 SYMPHONY BY BRUCKNER.
HIS SEVENTH PLAYED BY THE
BOSTONIANS.
work Revived Here After Twenty Years
Improves on . Second lHearing. but
stu Fails 10 Bel Accepted rs Great
suDerbIy Interpreted by Dr. Carl Muck.

Still Fails TO Bel Accepted as Great
suDerbIy Interpreted by Dr. Carl Muck.
In the order Of incidents a concert Of
the Boston symphony Orchestra came
around again last night at Carnegie Hall.
The programme consisted of Anton Bruck-
ner's f major symphony, the seventh OF
his series; Lists f flat piano concerto and
Beethoven's "Leonore" overture, No. 3.
The solo performer was Moriz Rosenthal.
Let him be dismissed at once with the rec
ord that he has never played the finale OF
the concerto faster. Fol this let us bless
him, because it came sooner to IN end.
For those who are more interested in
creative than in performing musicians the
Bruckner symphony was the important
matter of the evening. This composition
was produced here twenty years ago by
the Philharmonic Society under Theodore
Thomas in the Metropolitan Opera House.
At that time it struck a chill 10 the hearts
Of its hearers, many of whom departed from
the auditorium after the second movement.
Mr.. Krehbiel in his Review Of the New
York Musical Season" said: 1T may he
beautiful in twenty-five years: it is not
beautiful now" At the same time he took
the newspapers Of the day TO task for their
NASTY anu lltOIiFluCldlO VI
the composition and made note of some
striking things in the first movement and
moments in the second approaching
grandeur"
Last night this second movement wa
warmly applauded and at the end Of the
symphony DIR Muck, the conductor. was
compelled 20 bow several times in recogni-
.tion of the continued demonstration OF
pleasure. In the end he called upon the
entire orchestra to rise and acknowledge
the favor Of the audience. IL looked az II
Bruckner had come into his own, yet despite.
the ncontrovertible fact that our musical
perceptions have widened and deepened in
twenty years and that our aesthetic palates
AVE learned TO hunger for harmonies that
bite and burn. II was impossible TO AVOID
the belief that the applause was rather a
tribute to the mastery conquest of tonal
difficulties than to the charm OF the work
itself.
Hardened observers Of musical doings
are not a little sccrtical as to the readiness
of large concert audiences 10 take Joy IN
music ConCadinC SO little TO the taste for
sensuous beauty and demanding so much
intellectual application to its intricate
development. Bruckner's works have been
heard ~infrequently in New York, which is a
city quito unaCquaintad with the reasons
for hostility TO this composer 30 long eX-
istsnt in Austria. The war between the
Bruckneritas and the ~Brahmsianer' ia
Unknown here. Whatever Bruckner has
to say to us is heard without prejudice.
Therefore with judicial calm we can say
this morning that the general estimate
placed on this symphony twenty years
ago was in it's fundamental marshalling Of
facts Just but that il JAILED to appreciate
the true worth OF the work as an Intellectual
edifice and Of the notably lofty and elo-
uuent character OF its second eme
TIT first movement is a remarkable piece
of composition. Its thematic matter would
be a fortune TO some of the tone splashers
of to-day, while its superb mastery OF the
wealth OF orchestral counterpoint, the real
counterpoint that does not merely hnd
issue in unexpected and shocking assaults
upon the ear and upon the analytical faculty
Of the mind hut rather produces new and
speaking results out OF the meeting OF
melodic thoughts, ia not equalled by any
of the much aunted masters OF the Munich
dynasty.
As for the second movement, this is
indeed an inspiration, Its second theme
il one of the most beautiful thoughts 10
be found in all symphonic literature. The
serious fault of this part Of the symphony
Is a want of confluence in the develop
ment, which is overelaborated 40 that the
repetitions of the subject matter IN their
original share are too numerous ana con-
eequently weaken the structure, vi the
shcerzo little can be said in praise. II
has originality Of style, but it is an ugly
style. Here, too. bald repetition, inslstent
vearisome reiteration of the melodlc rag
ment first pealed by the trumpet If carried
TO tho very verge of inanity. The trio
affords welcome relief, but is itself made
by force of contrast TO appear to be better
than il actually is.
The finale is desperately involved and has
episod es of ugliness which would delight
the mind Of Richard Strauss. The recur-
renee at the end of the pedal point used m
the first movement, a pedal point which in
harmony and instrumental color bears a
DANGEROUS resemblance to that at the be-
ginning of -Rheingold," is a tiresome and
wcaningless device. There are several
passages in the work which tread close upon
Tho heels of Wagner and in the scherzo the
eohoea~of Die Meist ersinger" are not
secondary, hut primary.
IL this essay at a curSoTy review OF the
composition means anythlng AT all II means
that the work is uncommonly uneven IN
merit, that it has only flashes OF lnsplra-
ton. admirable though they are; that II is
laboriouslv built, il prollX and too ire
uuCntly plunges into that ocean OF discord
upon which floats the bark of Strauss.
We have had twenty years to grow up TO
this varictV Of music, and we still find our
ears pleading against the vain arguments
of our bra'ns. We strive to convince our
selves tina music il winging her flight
into rellms Of new harmonic thought, but
we hunger for elemental beauty as we
find il in the immortal works OF certain
masters, though clothed in various garb. =.
The sincerity of Bruckner, the chastity OF
his artistic feeling. his profound intel
lectuality and his firm command OF the
technics OF his art bespeak for him an honor
able position among composers. But when
II comes TO asking us, IA his misguided
Nrnnese friends asked their contem-
poraries, to accept him as the opponent
after all these years to enter a verdict of
sNot prOVpn."