Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-12

symphony No. ...............B Beethoven
Per uuesto bella mAno''. .,'.,.,... Mozart
David Bisphsm
contra-bass obllsato by Anton Torello
symphonic poem, 'Pelleas et Melisande.'
..r,,. n,,,-, schoenbers
Yesterdays concert of the Philadel-
phia Orchestra was virtually made
up Of novelties, for. although almost all
the numbers have been heard here pre-
viously, they arc by no means we'll
known. David Bispham was the So
loist, and the great Philadelphia bari
tone, one of the Quaker City's most
distinguished contributions TO the mu-
sical art, divided honors with Schoen-
berg's symphonic poem, "Pcllcas and
Melisande," which was virtually, II
not actually, new to a Philadelphia
audience.
The concert began with the Beethoven
Symphony No. 4, which is so rarely
played that in itself It constituted O
novelty. Had almost any composer but
Beethoven written this symphony II
would be considered one Of his finest
works, but coming, as 1t does, between
the three Rasoumoffsky quartets. op.
their form Of music, md the violin con
certo, on. 81, the king of all violin
compositions, the symphony docs not
measure up to the standard of the
masterpieces on either side Of It. How
ever, entirely omtting the chronological
side, 1t is not the equal OF the Third
symphony. The difference lies chiefly
in the thematic material, for the de-
velopment section Of the Fourth leaves
nothing to be imagined. An interesting
feature is the architecture of the scherzo
In which the design Of the great scherzo
Of the Seventh symphony is shown for
the first time. The work was finely
interpreted and as beautifully played.
The orchestral novelty was the
Schocnberg symphonic poem. in which
Mr.. Stokowski may have committed an
error In program making. The work
Is too long and too intricate to have
anything but the leading place on q
program. Before playing the compo-
sition Mr.. Stokowski made one Of his
interesting and characteristic addresses,
In which he besought the hearers to
listen to the composition with an open
mind and not to be disturbed by the
| modern tendencies of the composer har-
monically.
But the Schoenbcrg. symphonic poem
| needed no plea In its behalf. It is true
that an understanding Of the 'compo-
sition would have been aided by n
| program, for, based on the Maeterlinck
text or the Dcbussy operntic setting,
it was undeniably difficult to follow the
story in the Schoenberg music. But
It is one OF the finest modern orchestral
| compositions that has been given in
Philadelphia for long time. The dis
sonances are frequently raw" but
they are almost always the result of the
pitilcss part writing in which Schoen-
berg INDUCES Tin the ID minor quartet
and the sextet for strings for example J
rather than in the exploitation of inten :,
tionally discordant harmony. There
are many exquisitely beautiful parts
in the work and such breaking OF the
rules as there are. and there are
many, are made for the effect and not
for the mere sake Of breaking them.
Much more that space rorbids could be
said about this remarkable work.
Mr.. Bispham scored n deserved tri-
umph in both Of his appearances. In
the Mozart aria he showed full, rich
tone combined with the artistry that
he always had. The Max Schillings
setting Of the "Witch's Song" was de
livered with dramatic force which re
called the best of his famous Wagnerian
roles. One Of the features of thfs
unique program was the contra bass