Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-05
cABRILOWITSCHAS
''0 GUEST CONDUCTOR
.,der of. Detroit Orchestra
Scores Popular Success in
saturday Evening Concert

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"A rovc.dca.h Tristan" w. wssner sner
rs5tS5iss s5,.is Ei%nI"itsan GEsiS%rnIIo%itsan Guest conductor
cohr;lowitsch. conductor OF
J notroit Orchestra and world famous
. solo pianist, made his first ap-
os nm orchestral leader in
esr'n nav on Saturday evening, when
FnH -. .ho yucst conductor Of the Phila-
sio orchestra at the regular con-
elp us scored a huge popular sue
u. :, ID was recalled after each num-
.,Ilinr on the members OF the
.,ho.tra ~, to share with him the popular
'".l.im lust before the intermission ana
!, the close Of the concert.
/ Mr. Gabrilowitsch, in the absence
y, soloist, constructed a program
Tho works of the four composers
,a l tboupht in the. idiom OF the
...,sstro u perhaps more than any others,
.r.s.. - beethoven, Tschaikowsky and
wsSnsr - The sustained interest OF the
'ndience was possibly due at least as
.noh 10 the cleverly constructed
.sansuce of the compositions with their
,Vs.i,o variety Of color and musical
.,,,, as TO anything that Mr.;
cop.en n.,,,;tsch did in the way OF
'n's,p 4. conductor, Mr.. Gabrilowitsch
nd some decided characteristics
any U Of them the same as those wntSn
mori m his piano playing. He has dell
n.,v ua In the extreme, without. great
S..i ~ attention 10 detail. although IN
u. uu..as;Ssr;ng this last, it must be re-
.CUamhered that he did not have on
%s nrogram any highly thematically
iueo,rad or contrapuntal numbers,
noh .s The Franck symphony or the
voran;s sg,s from the Meistersinger: His
,.st % was generally incisive, and he eyi,
dently knew what effects ne Wanteu
and how to get them. in mahner
which was remarkable when 1t IS con @
,dored that he is not very tamlnsr
with the orchestra nor 1t = with nis
STYLE Of conducting, u
On the other hand, he did not snow
bc personanty which his european,
pputation as a. conductor would iead
one TO expect. His reading of the sym.
nbopy was entirely conventional, put
lin an inclination to exaggerate the
nianissimo parts in their .softness oil
toue and TO hurry the tempt somewhat,
Especially in the minuet. The selection
!. Tho places in which he used the
"luft" pauses Ito use a tenn for which
70 have no English equiyalent), both
N tbe introduction TO the finale. Of the
,vmphony and in the Weber overture,
vara NOT always well chosen and at
tines came dangerously near the line
Of good taste. :.
Il Is perhaps not fair to judge Of the
apabilities of a musician OF the ad-
mitted rank Of Mr.. Gabrilowitsch Oh a
Jingle hearing with an orchestra which
10 has not trained himself. Neverthe :
lss, he gave the general impression of
conductor who. at least in the Weber
overture, strained at the gnat OF orig
|usty and swallowed the camel of ex-
,Ueration. This. however, cannot
faithfully be said of the symphony nor
u the Wagner numbers. which were
conducted, with a few exceptions, in the
accepted style. i.
The adaptability Of the Philadelphia
Orchestra was never more strikingly
showr than in this concert. Mr.. .Sto- :
kowsh has repeatedly conducted all
the numbers on the program with the
possible exception of the symphony
and yet the orchestra responded to an
Interpretation radically different, as
though it had been under the baton OF
Mr., Gabrilowitsch for many rehearsals.
II is true that, to the. experienced
hearer Of the Philadelphia Orchestra
concerts, there were occasional infn-
itesmal hesitations, but almost instan-
taneously the organization responded
to the indicated wishes of Mr.. Gabrilo-
witsch with spontaneity which only
the most highly trained body of mu
Gcisns in the world could achieve,