Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-17
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment on Things Must.
cal In Discriminating
philadelphia


just what has happened twice during
the current season.
The above statement Is made because
Samuel Below, solo viola Of the or
chestra, will leave the organization at
the end Of this season to become viola
player in the private quartet maintained
by Mr.. Eastman, of Rochester.
Mr.. Belov Is the second solo viola
player to leave the orchestra this year
to take a position with quartet, Emil
Ferir retiring from the same position
earlier In the season to become viola
player with the Berkshire Quartet,
which is maintained, or rather guaran-
teed, by Mrs. F. s. Coolidge, one of the
patrons Of chamber music In the United
States whose enthusiasm is deep enough
to touch her pockctbook. Incidentally.
Mr.. Ferir has obtained leave of absence
from the quartet to 60 to Europe with
Mr.. Damrosch and his orchestra on
their summer tour, also in the capacity
of sola viola.
MIR. BELOW has been member Of
AV1 the orchestra for number Of
years and was advanced to the position
Of solo viola when Mr.. Fcrir retired.
He also took Mr.. Ferris position In the
Rich Quartet, and his going will be a
loss to the musical resources Of Pbiln-
delphia. Personally n very modest man,
Mr.. Bellows real ability as viola
player was not discovered to the general
l.. Al. IL.
sition in the orchestra, although 1t was
ers Of the city, for there Is no place
where good musician Is more effec.
tually buried" than in the viola Sec
ton Of large orchestra.
For a couple of seasons he has been
a member of the Russian Quartet, an
organization composed Of Joel Belov,
his brother, first violin; Josef Chud-
nowsky, second violin; himself. viola,
and Sidney Hamer. cello. all members
of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The
quartet has given a number of success
full concerts out of town. but, at least
to the knowledge Of the writer, has not
given any formal public concerts in
Philadelphia.
| Arthur Hartman Is first violin OF the
Eastman Quartet, and the organization
promises to become one of the best In
the country. That this representative
of the Philadelphia Orchestra will be
successful in his work goes without say
ing to those who know his chamber
music experience and his ability in
technique, tone and, last but by no
means least, in general musicianship.
LIVERY string player in an orchestra,
IL with the possible exception Of the
concertmaster and the solo cellist, wants
to become a member of a professional
or Of private quartet II he can.
There are many reasons for this.
One. and perhaps the chief one, Is that
the literature Of the quartet Is far more
interesting to the player, especially OF
the second violin and viola parts, than
Is the literature of the orchestra. 1t
cannot be denied that much of the or
chestral or rather tonal "padding' lies
in these parts. The second violin rarely
has any melodic work unless It Is in
unison or In octave with the first vio
| Inns, and the melodic passages in the
violas also are few and far between.
On the other hand, in the quartet all
the instruments are squal in value and
solo work in all the parts is almost
constant. For example, the scherzo In
the Beethoven Quartet op. 80 No. is
divided into four practically equal parts
in solo work. This is what makes
string playing interesting and Is the
chief reason why string players literally
jump at the chance to join string quar-
tets.
A ND while on the general subject Of
"A chamber music and the string
quartet in particular, by one Of those
strange fatalities which happen in every
newspaper Office. no matter how thor
oughly systematizcd. the report OF the
concert Of the Schmidt Quartet In
Witherspoon Hall Friday evening,
April 0, was lost, and no notice Of one
of the finest chamber music concerts
given in Philadelphia for n long time
appeared in these columns the follow
ing day.
The personnel of the Schmidt Quartet
is one of the best that II Is possible to
assemble in the professional musician
ship of this city. in addition to which
it has always shown an adherence to
artistic ideals which must inevitably
place 1t among the very first Of Amcrt-
can quartets.
The program which the quartet played
was n trying one, both the Mendelssohn
A minor and the Beethoven + major
(the first Rasoumoffsky quartet) max
ing every demand possible on the tech.
nical resources and the musicianship OF
all the players. The performance
clearly showed long and careful re-
hearsal notably in the Beethoven mum
Der, with the desire to bring out to tho
uttermost detail all that the music con-
tained, and without the sill ghtest ap-
proach to that dangerous and musically
fatal tendency to use one of the great
est of compositions as vehicle OF per-
sonal or ensemble achievement,
GONE ONE came nearly starting
- something" at the "blind' concert
of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the
Academy on Friday afternoon week
ago. In one of the many pauscs when
were unavoidable. between the verbal
bulletins issued from the rostrum by
Mr.. Mattson, the silver tongued orator
of the orchestra, and the numbers played
by Messrs. Rich and Kinder, voice
from the outer darkness imploringly be-
sought harp solo.
This request ground keenly upon the
nerves of Mr.. Vincent Fanelli, Jr., 500
harpist of the orchestra, who, incl
dentally, Is one Of the greatest masters
of this difficult instrument In this or
any other country. 1t ground for two
reasons; one, the innate modesty OF
this splendid harp player, and second,
because 1t would have been Impossible
to grant the request.
It Is not generally known, but the
harp is the one orchestral instrument
which Is impossible to play in the dark.