New-York tribune., 1922-01-18
Red Letter Dav
Offers 4 Main
Musical Events
England Sends Myra Hess,
Pianist of High Skill.
Combining Beauty of
Thought and Expression
St. Olaf's Choir Returns
Deepens First Favorable
Impression: kreisler and
F1onzaley Quartet Heard
By II. E. krchbiel

Any enthusiastic lover Of good music
might have felt himself justified in
.hc wish that ne was able, after hear
ing one concert in the afternoon. TO
hear three in the evening; for all the
public musical affairs Of yesterday
were of a nigh order of merit. the
performers admirable and the music
thrice so.
A newcomer was added to the large
list Of first class pansts; Mr.. Kreis-
Ter returned from triumphant Euro
pean tour to find an eager welcome
from mis- host Of American friends;
the Flonzaley Quartet played chamber
music. new and old, and the choir of
st. Olaf College, Of Mortified, Mimi
which has come to stand for the best
that we are privileged to hear in
capella singing, having established that
reputation at single concert last sea
so7, confirmed il at second in the
metropolitan Opera House. A Red Let
ter day in the musical calendar, surely
AMI one that cheered the heart of many
intelligent devotees. No single reviewer
can comment on all the incidents. since
not even the possession of Fortunatuss
WISHING cap WOuiu nave eN2D!eO nlM
TO hear all the music, but it is posi-
Bile and a pleasurable duty to mention
the generous and goodly dispensaton
as prelude to short commentary on
two OF the incidents.
Miss Hess's Recital
Miss Myra Hess. the new pianist
who appeared at Aeolian Hall in the
afternoon, comes to US from England
That fact is in itself interesting. All
the other artists in her department,
outside of dozen or so native or nat
uralized americans whom we have
heard this season, hail from continent
al Europe. We cannot tax our memory
for tho sake of absolute correctness
and explicitness, but Russia, Poland
i'ermany and Austria have sent the
largest contingents, Spain and Italy
have been represented. and we fancy
that delegates from Hungary and the
new states hatched by the war, if not
ALREADY with us. are in the ofing We
nave heard from Ireland but only
through her composers and singers
Perhaps she. too, will make us realize
that she has other musicians than Kill
kenny cats and the welders of shi-
lelahs, and Scotland ought soon to send
US something better than the baepipers
who welcome Sir Harry Lauder But
MISS Hess comes from England and we
now know. to paraphrase a German
saving, that there also live artistic
folk "on the other side of the noun
talns,' or the Channel. And Miss Hess
comes bearing a beautiful message
None OF our visitors has brought
more beautiful one.
She is every inch an artist. everv
fiber in her comely and well poised
body is musical. Her knowledge. her
instincts. her technical skill are of
the highest order She possesses not
only fancy but the higher gift which
is imagination. Her expositlons are
rot merely intellectual. they are poet
zeal also. The book Of music is omen
to her She knows it better and it's
spirit from the serene, pellucid classi-
clsm Of Scarlatt to the focculent airy
impressionism Of Debussy. 50 much at
least. she revealed yesterday in the
three little compositions. called sonatas
because they are instrumental. not
vocaN and the group of sonorous fan
tastes by the Frenchman, who dwelt
in musical dreamland full of ex-
quisite tonal exhalations, whose signi-
fcanoes are but feebly suggested by
their title. Her Debussy list was not
that announced last Sunday: but what
booted il i we were asked to imagine
minstrels instead of goldfish, or a sub
merged cathedral instead of festival
in Granada? Whether the chant Of
monks in ia Cathedrale engloutie"
came from the present site of the
mythical city whose story is presented
to US at the Metropolitan Opera House
or through enshrouding wells of har-
monte mist is all one to us
THIS is music which exists because