New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-22
,amrosch Orchestra Stirs
Hearers with VillierS
Stanford Work
,ACJAL ASPIRATIONS
EXPRESSED IN MUSIC
2oentgen Concerto, Play
ed by His Son, Shows
Influence of Grieg
Nv H. E. KREHBIEL


~ the concert Of the symphony
- in Aeolian Hall. The series
.,r,.rts which have been desig-
- ss having festsl and anniver-
- character by the Philharmonic
,..;stv was brought to a conclusion
,~..,..,oouslv in Carnegie Hall. but
~. was nothing in the list OF pieces
!. there had been nothing IN the
,.-.,,pces Of the previous four
-, 70 eivo it a distinctive charac-
md so il calls for no comment
,rorsk's symphony "From the New
ro-ls~ which WAS one OF ITS ieat-
-, might have been made an inter
eng incident because Of the fact
-, IL, Grst performance had fallen
-. lot Of the society and that 1t
-, vritten here and its composer
90, nresent when II was first MADE
.ra;ble. but it. has been played so
o., since. even in this season, that
-. ,v.r The interest of curiosity
Ia attach 10 it; neither could sig
.s..r,o be given TO Victor HerbertS
IL If American airs composed
80 Years ago for the entertainment
- Corev Island audience. The Sun
,.u evening concerts at the Metropoi-
"a, Opera House, being designed to
zeal 70 an audience Of different
tsrocter. need not enter into consid-
grafton. H.
10 IL was left again, as it has often
voc, this season. for Mr.. waiter
1snrosch TO provide the music which
,v its character and the manner oil
IL performance challenged attention.
Quite unexpectedly, even to those
,bo had previously scanned ITS pro-
,ramme. the concert turned out to o!e
me Inn which the spirit OF racialism, "
,ot nationaliem, was celebrated IRON
,,gi,uinc 10 end. To start with, there
yee the overture "Fingsls cave,
vbicb Is Gaelic IN 50 far as NJ per
,stpates the musical impression MADE
mon the imagination of Mendelssohi
~ his FIRST visit TO the Hebrldes
bouob the music was developed late
n Ifslv. Then came Sir Charle'
.1liers Stanford's Irish symptom!
o which Mr.. Damrosch gave ITS mrs
American hearing at a concert OF IN
symphony Society exactly twehly-hIIiTl'
,esrs ago come next sunday W.
ave heard it frequently since an
With cver-growing admiration IN
native Irishman who IS one OF th'
most scholarly Of British musicians
Jaws tribute 10 the folk music Of hl'
,ative isle and in its slow movement
igspecially, raises what we are disposed
o consider the finest monument u
he spirit of Celtic folksong which ar
5stic music has produced. The jolllt!
III the hop-jig and the splendid prid'
~ Irish chivalry speak out in the sec
md and last movements, but these ele
rents count as little compared WITT
Il he pathos Of the ancient lament whlcf
les al the base Of the slow movement
md which-so admirably expresses
What DR.. Norman Mcleod once char
lcterized as "the thoughts that lie to-
II leep for tears the music Of an op
PRESSED. conquered but deeply feeling
mpressible, fanciful and generous
/ ieopIe': the music appropriate 10 th'
4 larp I'm Tara's halls. That harI
L reluGe is the introduction TO int
movement and is heard again with lt'
i nournfully beautiful wall. toward th'
nd. j. is well that the symphony Is
ept alive; 1t speaks a message the
ignidcance of which will be palmer
o the world when the end Of the
resent awful cataclysm permits tho
acial voice of music to speak out IN
lesrer tones than 10 has yet done III
he artistic music of the world.
But IL was the solo feature which
! provided the greatest surprise. This
ras a violoncello concerto in q minor
opposed by Julius Roentgen and
layed by his son Engelbert, who Is
low the first 'cellist Of the Symphony
\ ociety's orchestra. The father Of the
omposer was a Dutch musician who
ad voluntarily expatriated himself to
'ecome a prominent figure in the mu-
| ical life of Leipsic in the Mendels-
= ohnian period. Though born in the
rtistic capital of Saxony, julius Roent-
| 'en, like one Of his sons, who played a
/ Ole for a space in this country as a
1 member Of the Kneisel Quartet, and
/ lso like the other. who was the solo
/ erformer yesterday, is again a Hol-
j hnder and the director OF the Conser-
l story Of Music in Amsterdam. lie was
Intimately associated with Grieg, and
i ONE of his compositions have dis
n 1crnA l.. .N-Is.fa,Va with fhe
Norwegian master in his devotion 10
4 olksoug. The surprise provided by
10 composition heard yesterday came
rom the fact that it was more than
/ lne-tenths Irish in spirit, that spirit
attending far beyond the slow move
1 nent which consists of variations or
M Irish folksong. 10 is a really win
ONE composition throughout, which
aerlhees nothing in the way Of musl-
"a dignity and beauty to a desire "a
\ how of the technics Of the solo instru-
| rent Mr. Roentgen played it with fine
Intelligence and feeling, though there
Tss no virtuoso brilliancy either in his
| one or his execution. At the end OF
ne concert came Sir Edward Cigars
antasia on Polish airs, entitled polo
"a confessedly composed to help
Yong in England the movement for the
tlef Of the Polish victims of the war
twhose head Mr., Paderewsh stood. II
'as composed in July, 1915, and played
ere last spring. IL proclaims some
Asvic measures, including the Polish
ymn, sometimes beautifully and at the
t proudly and pompously; but other
Use Il does not much matter.