Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-07
Yesterdays Concert

| ColCtIuy NOllOSit
Mr.. stokowskrs program for this
weeks pair of concerts Is most admir-
| ably arranged, quite apart from the
vexed and hackneyed question Of musical
nationality which the war has unhappily
brought to these shores. For those who
are Interested It may be said that the
symphony and concerto are German, and
Characteristically German while the
| three other numbers are almost agrees
siVely Russian. The studious may figure
out the exact amount of time devoted to
each, throw in the fact that the soloist
IS russian and call the balance even.
But, for music. the arrangement OF the
program has special interest The APP
peal Of the Schumann symphony which
begins the program is easy. The melo-
dies are fluent, and were fuently played
yesterday. The tone of the string choir
was delightfully."- clean and sweet the
woodwind was almost luscious at mo-
ments, and the horns more vibrantly
sonorous than they have been heretofore
The humor OF the scherzo, and the
slightly strained solemnlty OF the fourth
| movement are neither OF the sort that
makes great emotional demands upon the
hearer.
The appearance OF the soloist was ap.
parently the signal for an upward move
mcnt to which the orchestra, and ncces-
| sarily the audience, responded. The divine
adagio, in which Mr.. zimbalist and the
orchestra shared high honors, has an un-
inslstent but seductive power to lift It's
hearers to an almost inefrable plane OF
being. 1t is pure melody. and its effect
Is that OF pure line. perhaps OF purity it.
SELF. 1t is, Of course, indefnable. To let
an audience go with that exaltation glow
Ing In 1t would be a proud achievements
put II would be inhuman. The rest OF the
program took the hearer back to gay
and eNhilarating earth. Tho "Finlandia, "
more serious than the rest, was nobly
played; the beat OF Finnish song was care
fully accented by Mr.. Stokowsk and the
tremendous chords of the national hymn
were flung out with brave gestures
After them the music OF Mr.. Zimbalists
own dance compositions seemed a little
unreal. especially the first. The second
was earthly enough-it reminded one as It
was probably intended to do, of Polish
peasants playing the harmonica of a sun
day afternoon. Finally came the highly
colored, thudding Slavic March" of
TschailSowsky. Twice before this Mr.
Stokowsld has finished a program with
Russian pieces, and each time has sent
warm thrill through his hearers The
splendor and the reckessness of the
'Marche Slave" were greater than tho.
others. And Mr.. Stokowsld, conducting
with fine appreciation of the essentially
unrefined, and therefore uncivlized, char
acter of the major melodies of the march,
fulfilled its meaning The raciest slang
could hardly do justice to it.
The orchestra, 1t has already been
said, played well. Except for the mo-
ments at the beginning of the symphony
when the strings sang in extraordinary
power and beauty of voice, there was no
moment OF superhuman excellence but
fortunately, there was no moment when
the orchestra, or any part Of il. Jagged.
In the concerto its adjustment was par
ticular noteworthy; with the soloist the
orchestra played smoothly and well. and
without him it kept its own high place.
Mr.. Zimbalsts success yesterday was
unquestionable. He received the custom
ary recalls, but they were accorded with
more zest and personal enthusiasm than
often falls to a soloist. The music he
played was admirably chosen-lt is
concerto which almos. assures success to
n good player Mr. ZIr1balist, as a player,
is more than good. He is faultless. Tech
nically no criticism is possible; only
praise. The Bruch concerto Is not
7T-Sing place for virtuosi, but what was
hard I'm 1t Mr.. Zimbalist made easy. The
music that was written he played as it
was written, doing no violence to the ex-
quisite text he had to read. For some
that will not appear sufficient In other
cities there have grown up factions which
drrEWss Mr.. Zimbalist's personality, or his
lack SS one, just as it was once the GUS
.nm TO discuss the sincerity of public
me-. But why should one insist that
Mr.. zlmbalst move one precisely as
Ysaye does, for example? Mr. Zmbalist
as he appears on the stage is more pre-
possessing than he was some years ago,
but he stlll lacks ease, stIll lacks the fig
ure to command. He does not fire the
Imagination when he plays. That is true.
Yet with all his gifts that one can be
spared because 1t is just as true that he
moves the spirit. And II is quite likely
that the advertised and known personali-
ties of music would not have been able
to do what he did yesterday-transmit
a work so that it seemed that he and his
instrument and even the orchestra behind
him We're part of the composers spirit
at work on a fresh masterpiece.