The sun., 1910-02-18
THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
DEBUSSYS THREE NOCTURNES
on THE PROGRAMME.

"CIOuds." Festivals" and "'sIrens" Help
Listeners to FOrEet the winter
weather OutdOOrs-The MacDOweII
Club Chorus Takes Part-Other Music.
The three nocturnes written by Claude
Debussy formed part Of last nights
programme Of tha Philharmonic Society
at Carnegie Hall. and Mr.. Mailer en-
CHANGED their singular and haunting
beauty by playing them without the
interruption of applause. II any music
deserves the somewhat vague term
atmospheric. tits this OF the French
composer, and so the conditions thus
obtained by the conductor we're partic-
ularly fortunate. Clouds, Festivals
and Sirens as the Anglicized titles OF
these nocturnes read on last evenings
lists. are now reasonably familiar here,
though the third one. with its murmur
Of the sea and its allurng call OF the sirens
half sung, half sighed. was first performed
in this city only few weeks ago.
The exquisite tone colors and textures
OF Clouds were set forth by the Phil
harmonic players with enough body and
resonance to reach every listener with
out losing their impalpabIe and ethereal
character. In ~Fetes" the composers
deft use Of musical perspective was faith
fully reproduced in the performance.
The distant entry of the march music
gave the impression one gains from read
ing footnote in nonpareil type at the bot
tom Of a page set in BREWER. There was
a nice adjustment Of dynamic values here,
and the dramatic touch was not absent,
while throughout the piece the nocturne
oh NI..x inn
of the procession Of revelers remained
obviously an interlude.
Sirens" was rendered with the help
OF the MacDowell Club Chorus Of about
forty women's voices. whose conductor
is Kurt SCHNEIDER. Il is elusive four
part music that this group OF sopranos
and mezzosopranos is called upon to
sing. and the fact that there are no words
but only n succession OF vowel sounds
does not lessen its difficulty. This en-
ployment Of the human voice simply as
an instrument without Obstructing it's
flow or altering its color by burdening
it with the arbitrary task OF uttering
speech has its advocates among the
musically elect There are those who
deem it the most natural and artistic
way of utilizing the tones that singers
can produce. Heard again last night
under the excellent acoustic conditions
OF Carnegie Hall this blending of voices
and instruments was undeniably beauti-
full. The young women Of the Mcdowell
Club Chorus distinguished themselves
by accurate and sympathetic singing
and MIR. Mailer conducted all three OF
the nocturnes with Jealous devotion.
Besides the Debussy group the pro-
gramme included Tschaikowsky' Romeo
and Juliet" overture fantasia, Wagner's
A Faust Overture" and -Siegfried ldyl"
and the Berlioz Roman Carnival" over
ture. The Tschaikowsky music was
played with demonstrative fervor and a
good deal of eloquence. The choral
episode for wood wind, near the close
went with professional gravity and
beauty. The two Wagner pieces showed
the same qualities in performance as they
did at last Sunday. afternoons Phil
harmonic concert. Parts Of the -Sieg-
fried Idyl" were set forth with rare APP
peal. but the music as a whole could have
borne a more loving Interpretation.
The audience that braved last evenings
storm evidently felt repaid.