Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-24
SOME RUSSIAN MUSIC
Not-Too-Soulful Program Played Finely
by the Orchestra
Life is a tragedy for those that think a com
edy for those who feel"


II Life is a traEsSy for, those that think COM
Revised version.
They routed the foes of Russia at the
Academy yesterday afternoon-not Boches
nor Turks but the critical gentry who asso-
ciate all Slavic music with the wailing of
the damned. with the composers who have
too much ego in their cosmos. with the pity
that concerns itself only with criminals and
low women" as one PhilistiDe has said.
There was glory in an afternoon that could
feature five Russian numbers and never
fall into the pit Of "world-pain." A COM
bination of splendid emotion and clean
carved technique ruled the conducting.
There was that fine rensity which concerts
dedicated to one especial phase of music
breed. And there was brave and vigorous
beauty in the individual playing. The
Kinder cello stood out with particular clar-
ity. The harps were touched to lovely
issues. Indeed, the whole band gave itself
to its agreeable task with more address and
spirit than it had displayed just before its
recent trip. The breath of New England
was or seemed to be, still in its lungs.
If you have nothing else to do this eve
ming and II you (preferring your Beethoven
and Brahms to the bald program" de-
cences of Cub think that Russian music
IL a mere affair of binding color and the
too-loud sob. drop in at the repetition of
From the light, rhythmic measures of the
"Rousane ct Ludmila" overture, a thing
all compact of energy and love of tune for
its own sake, to the dancing brightness
OF the superficial yet appealing "Capriccio
Espagnol" of Rimsky-Korsakow, you will
find not a note of annoying hystera in the
night The program runs an hour and a
haitian almost perfectly planned need of
melody. You will hear Borodin, who begot
the uninspiring prince Igor" in far happier
L! l. Il
talent. You will catch the lisp of sea water
and sense the magic-of sirens in Gliere' s
fascinating tone poem You may not per-
haps. agree that the little Tschaikowsxy
excerpt is the greatest matter on a very fine
program. You will be wrong. But at all
events Old Man Gloom will not get you.
For these composers. mauger their varying
methods. do not think eternity very like a
bathroom filled with dust and spiders" Or
IL they do. they can discern stars from the
windows and hear the laughter OF winds In
tho trees outside
1t is distinctly not a highbrow concert
In fact, II may. with some imaginative
stretch, be called vulgar in the first and
simplest sense of the adjective. Picture and
story are written all over II, though IL does
not lack the imprint Of absolute music.
You will find this indefinable touch in the
Borodn and Tschaikowsky numbers. The
symphony, relying mainly on severe, even
brutal, themes and sudden, harsh curves
Of thought, is not one of the things of
pearl-not 10 be put away In the chest of
memory with Franck's d minor or the
Tschaikowsky Fourth or the Second of
Schumann or Brahms's Third. But II is
good stout music. replete with a sort of
spirit that cries out for freedom. Tor occupa-
ton with life. for power and the punch
of the soul II this is too blatant for you.
you can await the intermezzo. Here you
will glimpse the untouchable Tschaikowsky
at his best The beauty of It cannot be told
In type. Nor may Mr.. Stokowski's appre-
citation OF It be hinted at without superia-
tives. II is enough to add that both he and
his men are playing like the fiery. romantic
but weil-drilled body of musicians they are.
and that their worth has been evident In no
such program this season as the present.
Do not bother about the Russian soul with
al its paladies That 4 efill Waiting 1he