New-York tribune., 1921-10-01
Prize Composition by Warner
Heard at Berkshire Festival
Americans Piece Is for Three Pianos; Two Interest
ing and Varied Programs Given; Mrs.
Coolidge Presented " ith Tablet

not lend their voices in any combina-
ton to the accents Of passion in vio
lent dramatic utterances.
Mr.. Sowerby tries 10 make them do
50 In his first movement and. instead,
frequently makes thep sound only rude
and querulous. Not for a moment was
there the emotional flow which WAS so
entrancing in the Mozart quintet, when,
despite all the devices resorted to by
the composer, all the instruments re-
tanned their native idiom- sang, as the
wachsen ist.' A. to the themes and
their treatment what must be said Of
Mr.. Sowerbys quintet applies with
equal truth to Mr.. Warmers trio. The
themes are in inverse ratio to the tech
meal workmanship bestowed upon them.
Ideas in themselves, and susceptible of
interesting and expressive development.
are the things needfui ia composition
day.
We have technique in abundance:
too much we are tempted TO say. for
it has ever been that the period Of
greatest technical ability, Sc it be
by the spirit, is the period of greatest
creative prolixity. Lacking beautiful
and pregnant themes. no amount OF
Juggling can give us beautiful music.
While Bach taught this lesson to-day,
Professor Smith, of Yale taught it on
Thursday in the few moments which
he gave US. In the suave and beautiful
harmonic and instrumental setting of
a Gregorian tone there entered the ele-
ment of contrast and repose sadly alb
sent in both the compositions under
discussion.
Fail to Achieve Variety
Both Mr.. Sowerby and Mr.. Warner
strove valiantly for variety, but the
more they strove the more they
achieved sameness of color, sameness
of feeling or effect was reminded d
by their music of Karl Maria Won
Weber's epigram on the ingenious varl-
ationist Gelinek: "No theme on earth
! escapes your genius; the simplest
theme of all. yourself, you never vary
And now, bringing into count the suite
for the same com mbination of wind in
struments composed by Domenico
Bresca, we come to our final and salts
! flying conclusion. Mr.. Brescla calls
his work dithyrambic suite, and in
three movements attempts to give eX-
preston to an elegy on an ancient
Greek dancer-a dance around the altar
of God, said the program-but IN fancy
! Mr.. Brescia meant around the altar
of the god Bacchus and in final
figure an Olympian game. On titles
! there need be no waste OF words. 1t
would be foolish to think of any classic
game of which we have knowledge.
The point we are trying to reach is
that Mr. Brescia gave pretty express
sions to the Greek spirit in his clegiac
first movement, and that he made his
| instruments speak more naturally and
emotionally than Mr.. Sowerby. IN
happily, Mr.. Brescia, though now q
teacher and conductor in America. IS a
foreigner, who came to San Francisco
his present home, from Santiago dc
Chile. Was there an approach be
tween him and Mr.. Warner, and also 3
superiority, because they were for
eigners? If so was this superiority
due to anything connected with nation
aity? | fear tina: the answer must be
in the affirmative, and the explanation
lies in the fact that the foreigners rep
resented the music of the festival, thus
far better grounded in the art than
tncir American colleagues.
Brescia's Music Effective
Mr.. Brescia's music was more eff
fective in contrast than Mr.. Warner
possibly because he had the more ex
pressive and fruitful themes. Mr.. War
ner's trio is chock- full of ingenuity
and his foremost movement the middle
one of three, is delightfully."- whimsical
and fantastical but the first move
ment is fantastcal and the last pre-
dominantly so-not a single section ot
real flowing and expressive melody.
In marked contrast to his trio and
Mr. Sowerby's quintet was Vincent
dIndy's "Sara abande," in which with all
needful flights of individual fancy he
follows the line of constructive form
as rigidly as any dry-asdust musician
of the eighteenth century. Finally
a word of unqualified praise for Mr.
Barrere, whose pleasing variety OF
color and expression in the Bach sonata
was revelation to many a contemneI
Of his instrument, and for Messrs
Giorni Willeke and Breeskin, who
played the two pianoforte trios with d
perfection in all things exquisite