The San Francisco call., 1908-05-21
|RUSSIAN-SLAVlC
MUSIC THRILLS
Damrosch's Symphony 0rches-
ira Renders Best Program
of the Series
By Walter Anthony

Look out for surprises from Walter
Damrosch and his New York symphony
players Last night at DreaEnland rink
goodly crowd of music lovers went
for no other reason than that the or
chestra was going TO be there too. The
crowd, sizeable as 1t was, lacked num-
bers and was the smallest that Dam
rosch has yet bowed 10 and turned his
back upon; yet the program was voted.
unanimously, the best Of the series. and
If a personal note might be permitted.
I think it was the biggest treat yet
spread by the orchestra II was q
Russian-Slavic night.
If you were not there last night you
missed Tschaikowsky's composite suite,
prosaically numbered 50. which begins
with an -elegy" and ends with theme
and variations, but which is really
nothing more than the cry of a soul
tormented; and which was so played
There is no good trying to program
Tschaikowsky. The first movement
meant anything you wanted 1t 10, pro-
vided tense heart strings and the abil-
ity to feel were there. Indeed, DAM
rosch with baton in hand was leader
not so much to his orchestra as he was
to his hearers for whom he untwined
the briars by the wayside and showed q
tiful and new as ever poesyis pioneers
have trod. and you felt the pressure
OF comrades hand. You see 1t is
difficult TO write of Russian Slavic
music and remain sane
Another surprise was supplied by
Henry Bramsen. violoncellist, who
played alone for the first time, and
proved himself the best OF all thus far
put forward as New York symphony
soloists. His tone is warm and vigor-
Gus; it is delicate and big-anomolous
though that may seem-his bow is as
pliiant as a fddIer's and ne sings in
double notes as easily as most players
utter one. You forget he is q cellist
when his left hand strays 10 the
bridge. and the tone he draws there is
sweet and round and fun like q violin
ist gets. He played Tschaikowsky
theme with variations; but they were
not the usual variations. They were
new songs each time, and all moods
but merry ones were under the touch
of his bow.
Another thing you missed, if you
were not there last night was Rubin
STEMS Melody in F. No doubt you
have heard il before. Everybody plays
il. but the orchestra made new and
glorious thing out Of its familiar
measures. Then there were three Rus
sian folksongs, one of which. Mos
quito Song" ended with a long drawn
out horn tone under fiuttering strings.
and stopped forte" for all the world
like the bill that the mosquito pre-
sents-
Moskowski, Rimsky- Korsakof, Cho-
pin-oh. yes, Chopin. He was down
for TWO selections. both of which were
trsnscriptions for flute. from piano
score. one was a nocturne and the
other was a waltz ard Barrere was
the soioist TO whom they were safely
intrusfed. Perhaps pianists might not
have enjoyed the tampering with the
Poles music. but others yielded TO the
spell Of Chopin's night music as played
by this artist. whose tones breathed
the spirit of moonlight and the melody
of nightingales.
Dvoraks music was represented by
two Slavic dances played by the or
chestra for the full value of their
plaintiye melodies.
Tonight viii be French-ltalian night,
and Lalo, Massenet, Debussy. Berlioz,
Mascagni and other composers viii be
drawn upon to compete with the glo-
ries of last nights glimpse into the
Slavic soul.