New-York tribune., 1921-12-12
Programs of Two
Orcl1estras Offer
Study i'm Contrasts
Symphony at Aeolian Hall
and Philharmonic Society
at Carnegie Far Apart,
but Their Efforts Please
Bv n. f. krehbicl

The orchestral concerts given ycstcr-
day afternoon provided an occasion for
q study in contrasts, so far as pro-
grams were concerned. To carry the
study into n comparison Of perform
ances Is Impossible, since Nature has
fixed the fiat that no material thing Ga
newspaper commentator, for instance)
shall occupy two places in space at the
same time. The concerts were given
simultaneously, one in Carnegie Hall
and one in Aeolinn: At tho former the
band was that of the Philharmonic So
ciety, and the list Of pieces conducted
by Mr.. Stransky consisted of Handels
Concerto Crosse in C, Mozart's Sym
phony in G minor. Rimsky Korsakoffs 8
suite "Scheheraznde" and Tschaikoff-
sky's "Slavic March" At Aoolian Hall
Mr.. Walter Damrosch and his men of
Beethovens "Heroic Symphony" We
have it from the testimony Of compc-
tent Judges that they played it excel
lently we'll. But it would seem that
the music put Nj. Damroschr into a
mood Of something like that of Me-
phistophles, who, after he had dis
coursed on philosophy and logic with
Faust's scholar, grew weary Of dry
OOClIluc ana IOr rcIrcSnmcnC turned 10
his popular role of the devil.
We do not believe that Mr.. Damrosch
really thought that there was any
perilous stuff in the symphony Of
which the ears of his audience needed
purging, but he proceeded at once to
an act Of purgation by playing Gran
Vile Bantock's bit of ingenious fancy,
"The Pierrot of the Minute" followed
this with q piece for flute and or
chestra, and ended the entertainment
with the most comprehensive of the
many arrangements of Percy Grain
gers "foursome" entitled "Molly on
the Shore" and "room-music twelve
some" entitled "Shepherd's Hcy,' in
which last piece the joyously Gathering
xylophone most effectively and expe-
ditiously dispersed the mourners, if
any remained SO long about the grave
OF Beethoven's hero.
The whirligig of time, we have been
told on good authority, "brings in his
revenges." 1t may also be that it also
restores old predictions to their rights.
Something over fourscore years ago a
critic remarked that Sigismund THAI
berg seemed likely to join the conste-
lation of stars which then shone
brightest in the musical heavens
Paganini, Malibran and Gusikow. Who
was Gusikow? A Polish Jew who
played with amazing brilliancy on what
the Germans prosaically called "the
wood and straw instrument" otherwise
the xylophone. We fancy that were he
to return to life he might find a glad
welcome in the Aolian Hall concerts.
How he would rejoice the heart of Mr.
Granger! The "Eroca" was onlv
thirty years old when audiences went
wild over the xylophone virtuoso. 1t is
1T years old now, and perhaps the
time is come for reversion to type
of popular taste.
The flute music owes it's existence
to the circumstance that Mr.. GEORGES
Barrere is one Of Mr.. Damrosch's gen
tlemen musicians. No other fautist,
we are sure, could have turned the
thoughts of the dean of the Music
Sfho1l seh .,5 of Yale University, Mr. David
Stanley Smith, who is its composer
INTO paths so foreign to the ordinary
taste OF to-day. We should not be
at all surprised to learn that the work
IS very recent one. 1t might, indeed
nave been prompted by Mr.. Barrere's
ph;ch pelt1rmanees dane: Of sonata by Bach,
Whlch. despite its archaism, was one of
me nigh lights of the Chamber Music
Festival at Pittsfield two months ago
PROFESSOR Smith, to justify the title
and and the solo instrument, calls the piece
"fete Gallant" thus calling back type
OF music and period which invokes