New-York tribune., 1921-11-19
Slender Audience
Hears Strauss in
I s Town Hall Benefit
Doubled Price of Admission
81 and High Quality Of Pro-
E :. gram Held Responsible;
sr* Composer Is at His Best
BY H. E.. Krehbiel

There were many vacant chairs in
ewn Hall last night when DR.. Strauss,
WITH excellent help, gave the only con-
cert of chamber music which he pur-
poses giving in New York this season.
At his first concert Carnegie Hall was
crowded; at his second the Metropoli-
tan Opera House filled; at the third a
small concert-room disclosed empty
seats. The phenomena invite specula-
tion as to their cause, but we fear time
and space would be wasted were we to
indulge in it. Moreover, the sum Of
them is not yet, for, besides the con-
certs with the Philadelphia Orchestra
IN which DR.. Strauss appears in his full
stature as composer and conductor,
he is announced for three recitals at
which Miss Schumann, Nine. Gerhardt
and Miss Engell will sing some of his
pianoforte, and before the next sub
scription concert is given he will con-
duct local band in Sunday night
concert at the Hippodrome. After that
speculative comment may be in order.
Probable reasons for last nights spec
tacle were that the concert was devoted
to music sincere appreciation of which
belongs to the trained and chosen few,
WAS for the benefit Of the Town Hall
Endowment Fund, and the price OF
tickets was double the ordinary. The
last may have been sufficient to pro-
duce the effect which has been noted.
The music played was DR.. Strauss's
Sonata for pianoforte and violoncello,
his Sonata for pianoforte and violin, q
pair of his innocent little pianoforte
pieces Cone of them known as "At the
Fountain"), and his Quartet for piano
forte. violin, viola and violoncello. Mr..
Willeke, MIR. Huberman in the violin con-
sonata, Mr.. Hobeman in the violin SON.
alta and in the quartet the violn player
was Mr.. William Kroll. Ali this music
belongs to the music composed when
Dr.. Strauss was deyotee at the classic
shrine. It is to be hoped that his atti-
ard Wagner toward nis own symphony
and early operas, namely, that though
he spoke Of them as "sins Of his youth"
he yet kept a warm place in his
heart of hearts for them.
Dr.. Strauss's pieces, even the piano
forte trifies, are not sins, not even
artistic peccadilloes. They do not
loom large in the list of his works,
but they make gracious proclamation
Of his crative genius at period when
he had no need to call in the help Of
things essentially extraneous to music,
to stimulate his inventive fancy. They
are frankly and unaffectedly music,
nothing else, nothing less, nothing
more. DR.. Strauss is not virtuoso
pianist and makes no attempt to ap-
pear as one. He played his pieces
with less obvious desire to bring out
their beauties of tone and expression
than his companions, but hon
estly, straightforwardly and we'll. Mr..
Willeke disclosed a greater familiarity
with the violoncella sonata than did
the composer, and played his part of it
with less sentimentality than Mr..
Huberman INDUCED in the piece for
violin. The ensemble playing in the
quartet showed proper respect for the
composer and the occasion; it could
not be called finished in style or execu-
ton. That was not to be expected
under the circumstances.