New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-13
MUSIC.
THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.
a Concert of Tschaikowsky's Music.


given in Carnegie Hall yesterday afternoon The
second will be given at the same place and with
the same programme this evening, when, 1t Is fair
TO expect, the scenes OF enthusiastic appreciation
which marked yesterdays concert will be repeated
and multiplied. Mr.. Safonof conducted the pair or
Philharmonic concerts week ago; he will conduct
the pair OF concerts next week. 1t therefore
not the spirit OF curiosity alons which filed Carne-
gle Hall yesterday. programme composed ex-
clusively OF Tschaikowsky's music had something
to do with It, OF course, and after the experiences
of the last two it safely be added that
the inclusion in the list Of the symphony in minor
mao great deal to do with it. The lovers OF SYM
phonic music in New-York have come to look upon
Mr. Safonon a Tschaikowsky specialist. MI
! Weingartner us as a specialist in the
classics. and made his deepest impression last
season with reading of Beethoven's Choral
symphony. Mr.. Colonne came twice as repre-
sentative OF the French school, OF what may now be
/ termed the pre-Franckian period. winning his
finest triumph in performance OF the Fantastic
symphony by Berlioz. Mr.. Mengelberg came as
specialist in the Interpretation Of Elm HeldenIe-
ben" by Richard Strauss, and sacrificed the hrst
concert TO his desire to make stunning effect.
literally and metaphorically, with that piece or
bombast and claptrap. DR.. Strauss interest CEN
tered in the Interpretation of his music, and VS.
TO hear OF it from the next visitor from
Germany He is the hero of the hour with our
German cousins, as Tschaikowsky is with our Rus
sian. The tendencies illustrated by the two men
are Numerically opposed to each other, and II we
thusasrn which Mr. Safonoff has aroused every
time that he has directed performance Of the So
called. and misnamed, Pathetic" symphony was
wholly tribute to the music, it might be prontap4e
to attempt to study those tendencies little more
closely than present disposition prompts US 10 40
It is not without significance that far yester-
days music is concerned there was no expression
in it OF Russian radicalism. Tschaikowsky never
represented the extreme wing of the Muscovite
school. His case is like that Of Rpbinsteins who
IN
tian: the Christians call jew. The Russians
say am a German; the Germans say am g.
Russian To the classicists futurist; to the
futurists retrogade. and SO Conclusion; am
neither fish nor fesh-a pitiful individual indeed"
Fifteen years ago writer Of this review seems
to have been inclined 10 put Tschaikowsky In a
similar category. Writing of the first concert OF
the Carnegie Hall dedicatory festival. he said: lit
was the performance of NJ. Tschaikowskys
Manfred symphony four and half years ago
December I, 1886 which led The Tribune to utter
the warning cry: Look out for the MuscoViteI IN
Russia the great heart Of the people beats in tho
music even OF such cultured and finished COM
posers as NJ TschaIkowsky. and 1t therefore has
an elemental power There is trace OF barbarism
IN 1t with its directness truthfulness and forcetul-
ness Scarcely a composition has come from ST.
Petersburg for years in which we have not been
called on TO observe that huge yearning for char
acteristIc expression which will one day break
through ali the restrictions that now coudne 1t
and make its impress on the music OF the world
NJ Tschaikowsky is an interesting phenomenon in
our present activities because in him we are con-
strained to see the wise mediator between the
staid German school and the reckless, untamed
zeal OF the younger among his colleagues Ike
Rimsky- Korsakow, who would sacrifice the essence
Of art for the sake OF national feeling. He is also
interesting because, of all the Russian musicians
except Rubinstein know his music best" The
German school has outIived it's staidness since these
words were written. If Strauss and Roger are its
exempars!
There were two and a half hours OF Tschatkow-
sky's music in yesterdays concert, but scarcely
more than four times that number of minutes III
which the specific Russian idion heard. ana
then it spoke bat frnidiy. It was In the finale OF
the first number, the serenade in c for strings.
which Dr. Leopold Damrosch brought forward
tventy-one years ago and which has pracucaHE
lain on the shelf since. Only in the use OF a
nhrsse OF Russian folS-melody was the voice heard
Melancholy has indeed, marked Russian music loE
it's own; but tbs hesrt-searching grief the sen
accusing regret the abject despair of the concIu-
sion of the symphony in minor is an inolvloual
-,o,ce not a national Tschaikowsky chose TO keep
the sbroud Of secrecy about the subjective impulses
which had prompted the composition or the worn
though protesting always that there was a pr
sranorne" back Of it. His friends and those VINO
Iznevv his unhappy nature nave had no oitllcui'y III
,,n,,,,ipe programme wholly personal 1t was
This that to them made the finale OF the symphony
when first it was heard sound like continuation "
the stubborn ruror that he had taken MS own MS
oneration in yesterdays concert OF MISS Aus F
che who PLAYED the pianoforte concerto In 3 nat
minor. On May g. 1891. she played the same WORK
on the same platform. under the direction OF the
composer It was brilliant performance; 1t was
noted as such in the composers diary ana SO ~
lives in the memory OF al who were privileged 10
hear IL Mr.. Tschaikpwsky had come to New-York
on the invitation OF Mr.. Walter Danrosch to take
mart In the dedicatory exercises of Carnegie Hall
undoubtedly it in degree responsible Tor
the fact that Miss Aus der One received an invita-
ton to PLAY the concerto at concert OF the I'M
periaI Music Society in St Petersburg on OCTOBER
Is 1895 1t was a pathetcaily memorable affair.
schaikowsky conducted and the Symphonic Pa
tbetouep with which the concerto was again asso-
ciated Yesterday. which had been completed in the
summer of that year had its first public perform
ance ION the programme. too, were the dances
from Mozart's ''Idonneneo'; yesterdays programme
contained the Sereuade the first movement OF
which by Tschaikowsky's own confession. was
written a an expression Of his admiration for
Mozart-an admiration which akin to idolatry
and inspired him throughout his career9 Although
the composer was recalled many times after the
symphony he seemed dissatisfied with its reception
and expressed a wish that it be performed again
as soon as possible order that it might be better
understood His wish fulfilled the very next
concert Of the society, but when that took place
Tschaikowsky dead and buried.
The story is more pathetic than the symphony.
which would better have been called Tragic" as
the composers brother Modest suggested, Under
MT safonors leadership the symphony had
pec,Iliarlv thrilling performance yesterday Whether
or not all of Mr. safonoffs pugilistc gestures and
e-vratteus are necessary to the attainment OF such
results might q, curious inquiry; but its deter
lnination would avail nothing. He inspires his
players and he also inspires his hearers He sends
out Irresistible impulses Ike galvanic shocks. It
is significant fact. and it is pity that he
creates the greatest excitement the third move