The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-02
MIR. FRITZ KREISLER

Kresler played 1t, had not tho pro- gramme betrayed that date"
 | MT. Fritz Kreisler is In many respects
 the king of the violin," for his playing
 is characterized by "big lines" majestic
 expression, spicai presentation-in other words, everything that goes to make
 him the supreme master of the fiddle" 1 Of the reception accorded Mir Kreisier | on the occasion of his first New York concert this season, October 24, at Car
 negie Han, the critic of Musical Ainerica said
 To-day more than ever in past years q recital of kreisler Is love feast. He
 may play supernally well or less well but always the acclaim is prod gious, always | the assembled multitude dilates with the same degree of enthusiastic emotion. Somehow one cannot escape the suspicion that the unreasonable treatment of the violnist during the war weighs on the public conscience Gas we'll it mighD and that the present ecstasy of good will
 springs in part from an ntuitive wish
 to make honorable amends. At all events there was an outburst that lasted a good
 part of five minutes when Mir. Kreisler
 appeared last Sunday. It was only the
 precursor of others, more intense and equally prolonged, which continued pc
 riodically from a till near 5:3o. That
 Carnegie Hail was packed beyond it's
 usual point of stffoeatioff, that the over
 flow occupied every available inch of
 stage space are matters that require at
 this date no specification
 "Of course, Rreisier is always Kreisler,
 and something of the irresistible hu-
 manness of his art is ever present. But
 the performance of the Schubert Fan
 tasy was soundly disappointing. In ad- |
 vance, one pardoned him in the Veux- |,
 temps concerto-which the hordes of
 fiddling medocrity have taken irretriev-
 ably unto themselves--and then regretted
 adagio religioso was momentarily sub
 limated by his art. The programme | would have been more enjoyable in any case without the concerto. The Fantasy of Schubert-in effect, 8 sonata-is sell dom done. though it might profitably be employed to vary the eternal repetitions of the violin repertoire. Difficurt. and in the main rather trivial, it contains middle movement that redeems the pal triness of it's opening and close. The episode takes the form of 8 brief series of variations on the song, "Sei mir gegrusst," which Schubert (who knew a. good thing when he had itl has quoted and developed somewhat as he did the 'Wanderer' in the c major fantasy for piano, Death and the Maiden in the D minor quartet and the 'Forelle' in one of his auintets.
 Somehow Mir. Kreisler has an invari- able way of finding himself when he : arc the most delectable adornments of his programme It was in great meas lre so this time. His own unaccom- panied Introduction and Scherzo-Ca- price' (of which the Introduction is a g he played in a fashion that | called to mind his performance of the i in the Beethoven concerto, so T Opulent It was, so SpieH- N lid in it's polyphonic richness. Rirnskys I Chant Indoue' held up the proceedings | ill repetition was forthcoming. Who V ,an transmit the viennese spirit of I Iodowsky's 'Wienerisch better than the l composer of the Caprice viennois?' " e
 The artistic genealogy of MT. Fritz :, ISreisler the great violinist, is more than L. ordinarily interesting. It reaches back directly to Corelli, the founder Of tho greatest school of violinists the world 1as known. While Mr. Kreisler at one .ime did some work under the famous Massart in tke Conservatoire of Paris, lis principal teacher. and tho man to whom he owes the most, was Josef Hal- ,lcsberger of Vienna Helmesberger was I pupil of bis father. who in his time vas pupil of the famous Boehm, the eacher of Remenyi, Gruen, Ernst and II oachim. Boehm was a pupil of Rode, . vho was a pupil of viotti, . pupil of ltf