Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31

nation than most of the five days pro-
grams combined.
Nor can one easily forget the exqul.
site skill with which it was played by
the Vienna or kolisch las it is some
times called String Quartet. Kolisch
is a brother-inlaw 1 believe, Of Ar
mold Schoenberg, and undoubtedly re-
cieved much of his training in those
strenuous years when Schoenberg was
giving concerts of modern music in
Vienna behind closed doors and win
dows. and devoting as high as 80 re-
hearsals to such works as his "Pierrot
Lunaire." Certainly, it was training
that told in this instance; and this
performance by Kolisch Quartet was
not only the high water mark reached
by any of the various instrumental en-.
sembles during the festival but one of
the most brilliant and understanding
performances of a new work in the
ultra.modern idiom ever heard by this
reviewer.
The rest of that days program con-
sisted of a sonata for flute and piano
by a young Dutchman, Willem Piper,
with the composer himself at the
piano; q "Concertino" by Loos ia.
nacek. dean Of the Czechoslovakian
composers, for piano, two violins.
viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and
a plano work, lie Danza del Re Da.
vid." by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesc
OF the younger school of Italian mod
erns. The Piper work proved charm
ing, but banal; the 'concertino," played
with great fire and poetry by Ilona
observation-disclosures of Prague, held
more emotional than musical interest;
while the Castelnuove number, per.
formed with great technical brilliancy
by Walter Gieseking. began with an
arresting bravura and rhythm, but
failed to sustain interest throughout its
overgreat length.
The second concert, for orchestra.
did not hear. It consisted of Henry
F. Gilbert's dance in Place Kongo,"
which the Metropolitan gave as a bal
let some years ago: Seventh Suite,
op. 49," by Josef Matthias Hauer, an
Austrian; the Danish Carl Nielsen's
Fifth symphony" and a piano con-
certo by the leading Hungarian mod.
ERNST, Bella Bartok. with the latter
at the piano. The Gilbert number was
conducted by Sander Harmati Of
Omaha, Nebr.; the Hauer by Hermann
Scherchen of Berlin, and the Bartok
and Nielsen works by Wilhelm Furt-
waensler. While I did not hear this
concert, from first-hand reports I did
not miss much. According to my in.
formant, distinguished critic. the
first two movements Of the Bartok
concerto were very banal, while the
Nielsen symphony might have been
written by Niels Gade."
Tho second chamber music concert
began with two deadly dull string
quartets by Conrad Beck and Wladi.
mir Vogel, respectively. the first a
swiss and the second German. Their
dullness Of content was only equaIed
by the playing of the Amar String
Quartet Of Frankfurt, Of which Paul
Hindemith, one of Germany's leading
modernists, is the viola player. A con-
certo by Alban Berg. pupil of
Schoenberg's, which came next, left
piano and violin, with an accompani.
ment by 10 wood winds--needed so
many instruments to produce such
feeble and Intellectual sounds. / did
not remain for the last number, a
"Magnificat," by Heinrich Kaminskf
(German), for solo soprano, solo viola,
orchestra and small chorus.
The next morning Sunday was dis
tinguished by what, from all accounts,
was q really beautiful work. an ora
torio by the Jugoslavian composer,
f3ozidar Sirola, on the Life and Medi-
tations of the Holy Brothers and
Slavic Apostles, Cyril and Methodius.'
The same could not be said of the
evening concert which began DULY
with the French two works--a choreo-
graphic work, 'L'Offrande Siva," by
Claude Delvincourt, and a "Cantique
SUI Soleil de st. Francois d'Assise,"
for soprano and orchestra, by Ray
mond Petit, both works conducted by
Walter Strarum. The tagging inter-
est of the audience. which last had
been steadily dwindling ever since the
opening concert, was. however, reused
to great enthusiasm by Ernest Toch's
piano concerto, which followed. Toch,
Of the ultra modern German school, is
distinguished, like others Of this
school, by tremendous animal energy
rather than emotional vitality. I'm
like the others, however. he has a GER
tain musical fantasy which results In
effects usually arresting. if not al
ways logical. He is, moreover. a mas
ter of Instrumentation, and his work,
superbly played by Walter Frey of
Zurich, stood out in it's hard brill
liancy as the most vital and original
Of all the works that had succeeded
the Mossolow Quartet Undoubtedly.
It deserves a place in the literature of
modern piano concertos. The pro-
gram ended with a Second SYM
phony" by the Czechoslovakian COM
poser, Emil Amman.
The last concert opened with an un-
string quartet by Bernard
Van Dieren, naturalized English
man OF French.Dutch parentage. 1t
was followed by jolly "Sonatine" for
flute, clarinet and bassoon by young
Danish modernist, Joergen Benton,
and that in turn by a piano trio,
Spanish in rhythms and more or less
French in content. by the Spaniard,
Joaquin Turina. The remainder of
the program, sonata for violin and
piano by Alexander Jemnitz Q1un
garian). Aaron Copland's Music for
the Theater" tAmerican), and set |
ting of the 139th Psalm by w. G.
Whitaker of England. for unaccom-
panied chorus did not stay for it. |
but did hear DIR. Whittaker's Bach |
Choir" which he had founded and |
brought from Newcastle, sing some |
folk songs next day. and they sang