New-York tribune., 1920-11-07
Work of Boston
Orchestra on
Its First Visit
symphonies by Finnish and
Rumanian Composers
Draw Sharp Line Between
Productions of Two Kinds
Opposite Ideas Shown
"Thc Fall of the House of
Usher" Heard in Con.
cert Given in This CITY
By II. T. krehhicl


season Mr.. Montcux and the Boston
Orchestra have done a service which
deserves few words Of comment. Bv
giving hearing to symphonies by the
Finnish composer Sibelius and TIE Ru-
maNian Eresco (the latter at vestcr-
DAY afternoons concert in Carnegie
Hall) he has drawn sharp line OF
denaroation between the progressive
composers OF a decade ago and the
rcvolutionaries Of to-day. 1t is not
necessary 10 seek for the element
called natioralisn in order to enpha =
size the difference between the music
Of these two men and that of Casella.
Naiipiero and Ernest Bloch which has
been brought before the popular judg-
ment seat. That element is somewhat
hazy to the general understanding and
at the best and the vision is consider
ably obscured by the fact that the in
Auences reflected in it are not those
which can be traced to the peoples
rom whose loins the COMPOSERS
sprang. Sibelius discloses most obvi-
ously Scandinavian and Slavic infu
ences, Enesco. CaseIla and Malipiero
French and Russian; Bloch is Hebraic
n his capacity to assimilate whatever
popular idiom he chooses to exploit
The fact that he IS a Swiss by NATIVITY.
facialy q Hebrew and German in tech
a'cal training has nothing to do with
the TACT that he has written music
Hinged by synagogal hymns, or piece
ike the suite for viola and orchestra.
which he would have US believe was
evoked in him BY dream-visioas Of the
tar. Far st-Siam, possibly: Bur
nah, Java, Japan what not. What he
succeeded best IN doing was to make
what would be a capital Chinese ballet
Of the purposely grotesque order.
Differences in Music
The difference between the music of
tre revolu.ionaries Of to-day ana that
of tie aggresslvely for'vard y@ung men
Of decade or two ago is that it pro-
leeds from two opposite conceptions of
musical creation. In the Slbelius and
Enesco sympl.onics it was obvious
that expressive and plastic musical
thoughts were deemed primarily essen
tiAl. and that modes Of expression.
novel II POSSIBLE, the product OF skill
warmed by mag nation. were fitted to
them. In the compositions which We
nave thought It q du.y 10 condemn it Is
obviously novel ut.erancc which is the
first aim Of tee composers. and molodic
substance, idea, motive, only ncccs-
sary stalking horse. They seem to be
striving. as a { X writer's of cubs.
prose-, for . brief space, few years
ago, 70 arouse images. as they say, or
quicken the fancy and emotions, by
strange c7mbinat 'Ons + Instrumental
--nhres. And sc lurid co'ors strike
lie eye more quickly enG f7rcib'v than
s.hoord so the -en6e0cv Of the
would be anarc~s IS ia oNphosi7c dis
sonsuc.s hy eh~ic' M thcm Ito our
ears. Ttosp col~rie.ir tricks are easily
eaneht nu3 coniod. a~d hence this rude
iw0resei rism soon grows monotoncus
nd yea some.
Effort Toward Middle Course
In new 'roziti paved by the
Boston Orchestra yesterday we thought
nat We rad Observed an effort to fol-
low middle course l. was = piece.
which for want of more appropriate
Fouse Of 1-sNcr." from the poem of
Edward Ngr'iagaWo Hill. an American.
Cor fosse3iv il VA descriptive music,
}u- in -hc intention o.; the composer q
aeliroa,ion O. moods, which he found
In Poe'5 ry with intentional realism
Sd, the picturesque characters only N
nc solcrcus cl max and end. which
Nas bail: noou the phrases or emotions
which had served their psychological
purNose carrier. They did NJ show in
tee ruin which they were desirned at
last 10 deoict but disclosed them selves
there. as we .ho1znt, in their highest
potency The thematic material did
not seen very prerrar+ but it was
a. lcas- glss-ic and Mr. Hil showed
Ingenuity az learning in his mould
ing OF Il. Tie instrumental ion was
colorful. but d somewhat excessive as
or tho t'ntinabulating celes'a led even
superficial hearers to think Of Strauss's
merve-ously successful device of sprink-
ing harmonic dew in "Rcser rkavalicr"
and to that extent diminished MIR.
nilIs claim to originality. Bat to
make orieiral use Of celesta tones is
about as difficult task nowadays as
10 create a sensation with harp
ghssendo
Mr. Monteux's other numbers were
an orchestral setting by piernG of
Cesar Franck's "Prelude Chorale and
fugue' and Berlioz's "Benvenuto Gel
hnl" overture