Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-13
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Beethoven Plano Recital by the sto-
kowskIs One Of the Biggest Musi'
cal Events In Philadelphia
In a Generation
by SARAH ID. LOWRIE

BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE
T DO not know who is responsible for the
first suggestion to the Stokowskis OF the
Beethoven piano rccitals. but whoever it
was conferred Il great and signal favor on
the town.
Nothing that has happened in Philadel-
phia for a generation has had the distinc-
tion--in n sense the interest--that Madame
SamRrof's playing of the Sonatas and Leo
pold Stokowski's comments on the compost
tions have given. The rccitals really marx
an epoch in the musical history of Philadel-
phia.
Tn TIE history Of music and of the cul-
L ture of the word certain things happen
now and again which forever make the place
in which they happen famous. All shrines
are made shrincs Just because something
connected with the worlds progress occurred
there.
1t is not a shrine like place. that ornate.
overdrapcd. low -ceilngcd ballroom Of the
Bellevue -Stratford. The noises Of dishes
being washed on one side and ashes being
dumped on the other side make one aware
that other affairs besides music are in prog
ress under the same roof. even IL the odor
of past dinners and present suppers did. not
linger In the atmosphere.
One could wish that the newly renovated
foyer of the Academy would from hence
forth mark the spot where these wonderful
concerts were inauguratcd, but no untoward
circumstances can actually mar, just as no
eminently becoming surroundings could In a
sense make, the happening less or more Of
an event.
D DEDUCED to its very simple terms this
~ is what has happened. Tho greatest
compositions Of the greatest composer OF
music for the piano are being played and
classicaly interpreted by one Of the great
pianists of the world. And prefacing her
Interpretation. which. In a historic sense, is
the interprctation--for Madame Samarof is
too great an artist to impose her person
ality between Beethoven and her hearers
there is the quiet balanced comment on the
spiritual and technical gencralities that
mark each sonata with character of Its
own, made by one of the greatest orchestral
leaders of this present period Of art,
Therefore the audience that crowds that
low room two evenings month this winter
will have had In his sonatas Beethoven with
all his qualities reproduced as near to the
original as one great artist can reproduce
another, but added to this bringing to re-
mcmbrance" the sensations of the past, there
Is the added interest Of the contemporary
point of view.
MADAME SANlAROFF, in giving the ira
1NI ditional Interpretation handed down
from beethoven through master after master
until the present, Is comforting a tremendous
favor as well as fulfilling tremendous duty.
What Mr.. Stokowski docs is make an at
mosphere of sympathy and comprehension
by voicing for all the audience the reactions
OF present day men and women to the soma
tas. In q sense he makes the audience not
so much en- rapport with Beethoven as with
one another and with his wife, so that she
plays to a group which for that evening at
least Is n group of friends listening to the
great thoughts of a friend and master.
Tboro oro ca many r,vs of I;steninr ,o
,,,,sin onI ;,JooJ nf hcin, ,nnsicoI Some
Istoncrs oncn n Ioor and i"t il nour through
tLon, I;,,o y sond of hoimv .rmror mir somo
@ 'ne'' INV n"Vu ;%i Va u""S n,nnnn,,,o" ,'n
tho aris. r,;,i tho;r thomrhtr coma use /,
n" n norrntic othnrs NJ n stimuIont. some
M, - -, tho onoivticoI ,ah,o and dissoct II
into itS com,"ncnt nnrts. .omn--nnd th;s
n,n,;os 70 tho ,na inrity nf nrofeasorai critics
w,hn writo for newsnnncrs.--nrc intercstcd to
na,o ho,,, T. ;o donn a. no+ Io,n son,o ,ro
Interested in tho artists who internrrt tl,e
granhicoi INTERPRETATIONS of tho ncrformers
rather than of the composers; some find It
n language that is interpretativc Of them
selves.
do not know which hearpr the composers
like best to write for. or whether in the
long run they write for any hearers as much
as for themselves.
TT Is strange fate that so fundamental
i an ort ne that Of music should have 70
donend for ita cwiatcrcn IN futmro gonoro
tions Of players or sinpers 70 keen + alive
These sonotas Of HrctLovon's for instancei
So far ms I con find ont, only opco hefore
have thcy all been piayed in this wov NV a
rreat nienist The nhysical and inteiiactuai
feat involved Is too taxing for anv hut tho
greatest artist, and the condition of n whole
Season in one Mace So ne 70 moEe such cone
certs nossible docs not oupnrcntlv bonnep
onrc in n generation, pi|'
The most one can get in the courso of fftv
venrs Of concert going ia two sonotaa or n
rerital preccded and followed nv comnos,-
tionS hv a variety Of comnosers Tharo ia
M getting a comprehensiye idea of the mi
versatility of Bcethoycn's genius and HE
yitaiitv in those nroVronq irtnrastin%