Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-04
THE KNE1sEL QUARTET.

The sensitive and discriminating few
who hold that chamber music Is the high
est tyne of musical entertainment known
to u.s. found deal of justification last
night when the Kneisel Quartet was
heard at Witherspoon Hall. Messrs.
Kneisel, SvecenslS and willeke are regu-
lar members OF this remarkable organi-
zation; Mr.. Samuel Gardner taking the
place left vacant by the enforced absence
OF Mr.. Let7 has, under Mr.. Knelsers
tutoring, become an accomplished and
able player Last night there could be nc
objection to finding him in such excellent
company.
Unadvertised and self -eftacing to an ex-
trene, "the Knesels" seem happiest
when all attention goes out to the music;
when they are forgotten and only their
accomplishment is remembered. They
achieved this last night; In the playing
Of the beautiful Schumann quartet in A
major of the novelty by Zoltan Kodaly
and Of the Mozart in u major, there was
such an unegotstic perfection OF play
ing that II was not until the players rose
and bowed that one recalled their work
One does not desire to speak in superla-
tIyes of their work 1t Is as 1t has always
been, quietly and sanely and superbly
good The unity of their mechanics. as In
the last movement OF the Schumann, was
a delight to the ear; the individual play
ing Of Mr.. Kneisel in the Mozart finale
and of Mr.. Willeke in the Kodaly num-
ber, happen to come to mind. But they
were not better than a host OF other
moments. hardly better than the whole
evening was.
The Schumann and the Mozart quar-
tets were what they were expected to be.
But OF Kodaly there could hardly be eN-
pectations because the quartet has not
been played here before. The composer
r,l,t NTng
ist theorlst as well as musician, and
n professor at Pesth. He Is convinced
that there is a national Magyar music,
which has been corrupted by the insidious
growth of gypsy rhythms and gypsy or
namentation, This quartet, 1t may be as
sumed, is his proof that the Magyar
music is real and worthy. To consider
IL, first, mont -tenchnically, 1t was joy
Gus piece TO hear. The dissonances which,
for reasons of his own, the composer
uses, are not ar-percing; at times they
suddenly sharpen melody so that II
bites and holds where pure consonance
would falter and fall away,
OF the four movements, quite tradi-
tionally arranged, the first is least inter-
esting. In the second there Is long
passage in which muted strings Of the
first and second Vlolins play high against
n sustained pzzicato in the cello and
full tone of melody in the viola. The ef-
feet is strangely exotic and beautiful, OF
something passionate and tragic, some
thing subtle and refined, which takes the
hearer a thousand leagues from the folk.
The return is brightly and surprisingly
managed i'm the presto, The suggestion
of the friss-the rapid movement of the
Hungarian czardas-is clear, but the
movement is written in double and not
triple time. This and the allegro finale
are rich with humor, and the pulslng
beat of the national dance, Of folk song,
ana folk color and life. The last move
ment is rich in material; the composer
seems TO have saved up nothing, and TO
have thrown all the wealth oe his fancy
into this one movement Yet the themes
combine, and interweaye. and play about
each other. with fine freedom, and achieve
in the end a certain unity OF impression.
Technical interest in work which so
stirs and pleases as this quartet did can
only be secondary. Kodaly has stripped
the Magyar themes OF the meretricious
Cas he thinks) ornamentatlon OF the gyp-
sizes. Another gypsy trick, described by
the technicians as the use OF an aug
mented second in the scale OF the minor
mode, he has used spariugly and unin-
sistently. The third, and the essential
feature OF gypsy music the dance-beat,
he has kept and used to his own adyan-
tage. The whole quartet is based on
simple theme, first announced resOnantly
by the cello, II recurs in each movement,
inverted, now swift, now languorous, its
intervals changed, yet always recognlz-
able. It's use in the pizzacato and in the
tremendously boisterous and mad finale
are triumphs OF the composers genius