Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-21

THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment on Things
Musical in Discriminating
Philadelphia

T,HE modern composer in now
strange and little tried medium was
introduced to us on Thursday evening
by Percy Granger when he played the
ultra modern piano sonata by Cyril
Scott. In the days of the classics the
young composer was supposed to show
his proficiency in handling sonata form
by the composition of many piano soma
tas before trying the larger forms, but
nowadays our composers leap full
, hedged from their musical swaddling
clothes into the composition of operas,
symphonies, symphonic poems and other
musical works of the largest dimensions.
Fhis is a somewhat mixed metaphor, but
it conveys the idea.
One reason for this is the gradual
elimination of absolute music by the
greatest composers since Beethoven.
From the time when Schumann began
to write pretty much everything for the
piano to title, this system has come
more and more into vogue. But it
should not be forgotten that in this re-
Spect Schumann wrote upon plan radi-
cally, different from that of the modern
composers, to say nothing of the fact
that his musical ideas were in many re-
Spccts radically different also.
Another reason was the widespread
promulgation of the idea, for which
List and Wagner were chiefly respon
sible, that the sonata form and the Gu
tire symphonic field had been so ex-
hausted by Beethoven that nothing more
could be done along these lines. 1t is
hot in ha ff
souataS has been composed since the time
of the great Bonn master which appears
10 be permanent music, with the possi-
bic exception of one sonata by Jiszt and
the two by Chopin.
THIS is true in a much more limited
a way in the symphony. Despite the
assertion of Wagner that nothing more
of merit could be composed after Bee
thoven'S Ninth. a number of great and
purely symphonic works have been writ
ten since that time, anc. they bid fair to
survive for many wears yet to come.
Among these may be mentioned the In
finished and the G major of Schubert:
at least two, the First and Fourth, of
Schumann all four of those of Brahms,
the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth of Tschai-
kowsky, the one by Caesar Franck, the
Il minor New World) of Dtorak and
some others.
The decadence of the piano sonata as
a means of expression by the modern
composers has doubtless been due to
some extent to the general shortening of
recital programs and the substitution of a
greater number of smaller compositions
for few of the larger ones. Beethoven,
it is true, has furnished Il lot of the
latter type and, after all, little has been
said in the form of piano sonatas since
he wrote the Hammer Clavicr and the
gigantic ones in A fat and { minor, the
principal piano works in that amazing
list of compositions after he bud passed
tie opus 100 mark.
THEREFORE,, by reason of its rarity
L if for no other, the performance of
the piano sonata of Mr.. Scott by Percy
Granger formed one of the most inter-
vSting points in the current season. The
work is very large in its outlines and
. really consists of seven movements, as
all of the regulation four movements
is connected by an interlude, which is
nothing more or less than development
of material which has previously ap-
pcared at some time or other i'll the
sonata.
II this work Of Mr.. Scott be taken as
II type, however, one of the chief lessons
that its performance brought home most
strongly is that the modern composer of
the Cyril Scott brand. who runs to dis
sonant harmonies and extremes if not
absurdities of rhythms, has not con
genial medium in the classic sonata
form. AS was noted in these columns
the day after the concert, the piano
sonata does not go to the lengths of the
violin sonata of the same composer in
these respects, but even at that it is
pretty radical The themes of the mod
crn composers are not such as lend
themselves to development along the
b lines of the classic sonata form; and
thematic development is the very breath
of life of the sonata.
Mr.. Scott is evidently an admirer of
Debussy, to put it mildly, and Mr..
Granger made the tactical error of fol-
lowing the sonata with three of De
bdssy's most atmospheric aud popular
pieces. \ few years ago we thought
Debussy had gone pretty far in the line
of dissonances, but after the Scott So
uata his works sounded like Haydn after
Ornstein or Prokoheff.
TT IS to be regretted that the fine old
L form of the piano sonata has vir-
tually been placed in the discard but
Us long as the trend of modern musical
thought continues along the lines which
it has during the last few years, with Il
continual and increasing tendency to
break away from compositions in strict
form, there is little hope of and even
less use in attempting to revive it. The
thoughts of the modern composer are
too hetic to hit into the old classic So
uata.
In this respect, however, the COM
poser for the piano is only following the
liues adopted by his brothers who write
in the larger forms. The symphony has
now all but given way entirely to the
symphonic poem, always written to q
program; the shorter piuuo pieces have
= name each, if not something more ex-
ended in the way of title, aud the con
rorto for violin. piano or yioloncello has
virtually departed The concerto for
piano by Rachmaninof, played here
within the limits of the present season
by Mr., Cortot and by Mr.. Rachmaninoff
himself, was constantly referred to as
new" but it was nine wears old this
year. Times and manners change and
music changes with them because in
the last analysis music is ouly an emo
tional reflection of the times in which
the composer lives; ; but the pity of it is
that these fine old forms are almost gone
aud the modern composer has given Us
nothing to put in their places.
TNHE professional artist, whatever may
4 be the medium in which he works,
is credited with having kind heart,
/ L