New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-08
HIGH CLASS MUSIC
In CONCERT ROOM
PadereWski in Semi
GloOm-KneiSel and New
Music in Sunlight.
PIANOFORTE MUSIC
OF LOUIS XIV PERIOD
Professor Smiths New Quartet
at the Kneisel
Concert.
Z, IL Z. KREHBIEL.

There sere two concerts Of prime
importance yesterday, both devoted 70
the class Of intimate music once char
acterized by title as belonging to the
chamber. though in one instance the
outward manifestation has so outgrowu
the original intent and meaning that u
would provoke n smile 10 apply it. The
reference goes 20 Mr.. PaderewskI
recital Of pianoforte music IN Car
negie Hall IN the afternoon. Mr..
PaderewsN does not play for the
few who are Initiated. but for the
many, some Of whom know the mean
ing Of mis- musical message, but the
majority OF whom wish TO place them
selves under ;he spell Of a name and
personality, and are helped by the
devices which even great artists DO not
hesitate TO use 10 heIghten the rys-
;ery of an ar. which can stand the
sunlight as well as any other and
which would be all the more delight
fully potential Il that light were ueI-
IuItted 70 shine upon 10. But atfecta-
ton ard scnt!mentalIsm have decrecd
that one of the sanest and most virile
OF pianists ought 10 be seen and heard
In semi gloom. and 90 we must perforce
listen TO Mr. Paderewski In o twilight
and permit him 10 weave halo about
himself by the music which he makes
The fact brought a bit OF incongruity
with il yesterday. because the
pianist, departing from an old
rule while following modern
tendency in which there is a prom
Use TO a needed return 70 aesthetic
health, introduced into his programme
some of the music OF a period IN which
the striving of creators ind performers
was directed chiefly 10 the expression
of physical gracefulness and beauty OF
pose and movements. Mr. Paderewski
played two of COuperin's pieces and one
Of Dacuin's- music of the time of the
Grand Monarch. The tendency 10 re-
store these compositions TO place in
the repertory OF virtuosi is one that
must be hailed with delight Only a
decade ago one had to listen TO q music
machine 10 hear Daquin's dainty. yet
amazingly artistic "Coucou" This
season it is already become a popular
piece with pianists. Mr.. Paderewskl
translated its phrases, as he did those
OF Couperin's "Bandoline' and Carl
lon de Cyth&re," from the terms Of the
old harpsichord, for which they were
written, into those of the modern piano
forte But he did not do much Yiolence
to them. In fact, he made o. them
pleasurable bridge TO the discovery
which followed, that ne is not so much
obsessed as he was a few years ago by
the prevailing nervous distemper which
manifests itself in forcing the piano
forte into dynamic utterance which, in
moments of supreme climax, robs the
instrument OF its character and its
beauty. lie held himself, "a a rule, in
check and permitted US to admire him
as the executive artist who knows what
it means 10 live in angelic wedlock with
poets like Schumann he played the
Symphonic Studies and Chopin.
At Aeolian Hall in the evening the
Kneisel Quartet, calling in the help Of
two musicians who have often shown
that they live in intimate brotherhood
with them-Josef Kovarik. viola. and
Leo Schulz, violoncello- gave a concert
in which between two familiar classic
works of serenest beauty they intro
duced a novelty in which the modern
spirit had manifestation. The three
works we're Brahmss seXtet In G.;
David Stanley Smiths quartet IN A,
and Schubert's quintet In {. No patron
of the lest things in concert music in
New York will ask how these works
were played; no. what the type Of the
audience and how it received the
delectable entertainment provided for
il. What curiosity there was centred
in the new quartet By Professor
Smith. written under the stress
of the emotional excitement aTak-
ened by the present musical turmoil.
but written, let IL be said, with
a feeling Of gratitude by an American
musician who. feeling and yielding TO
prevalent currents IN art. IS yet TOO
healthy to be carried into the vortex