The Washington times., 1927-04-12
DICTATORSHIP
IN THE AIR

With something akin to poppy
spring feeling the forces Of static
started out last evening as though
they'd rule the wave lengths but
soon became tired and sank TO
rest, allowing signals to come In
during the later hours with con.
siderable volume and clarity. The
South was very much q loud
speaker contributor last night
with the Middle West running il
b close second. There was much
interference and considerable fad
ing-but on the whole the evening
wasn't bad for careful tuning.
25a
Two orchestral geniuses were the
real stars Of the wave lengths last
highland 1t il not exaggerating
their ability bit to designate 1t
as genius. Director Rape, of the
Roxy Orchestra, was the first to
make himself distinctly among those
present In the loud speakers with
q most remarkable demonstration
of how a vocal symphony can be-
produced, in his arrangement of the
Tschaikowslry "1S12" overture for
chorus and orchestra. The second
was Cesare Sodero, who provided
real orchestral thrills In the wEAF
production of Delibes' 'Lakme'
For many years 1t has been q
pet idea of mine that some of the
great symphonic music could be
narvelou sly interpreted by . chorus
Of human voices, provided there
would be developed q director OF
sufficient originality, enterprise, un-
Outstanding of the composers In.
kerest and capacity for hard work,
10 arrange the music for the voice,
with orchestral accompaniment, of
course, and with many more parts
than are usually found In choral
numbers.
The Tschaikowskv overture which
Rappe directed as the opening mum
Der of the Roxy program from WIZ
and WRC last night was arranged
just that way-and never before
have we heard, the power and trag-
Ady and triumph of that overture
90 definitely delivered to the under
standing of the listeners.
Practically all of the orchestral
arrangements Of the Roxy program.
Especially the Persian Garden"
suite of Liza lehman. showed the
same individual touch and the same
artistic direction. Gladys Rice and
Douglas StanDury were the mem
bers of the company who were to
be featured-but Rape was the real
star.
SODERO SHOWS
EDITORIAL GENIUS
The genius Of Sodero as an editor
and condenser of music was never
better demonstrated than in the
arrangement Of 'Iakme" with
which the formal programs of
WEAF and WRC were closed last
evening. Time and again we've
commented on the manner In which
this director telescopes two hours
or more of music into one hour OF
satisfactory production that con
tains the complete idea and Lag
me" was the most exquisite ex.
ample of this we've heard. The
opera has been done once or twice
before by the Sodero forces but 1t
seemed to us last evenings ar
rangement was different more
complete and played with con-
siderably more feeling. The sing.
ers were not quite as good as they
have been in the previous prediic-
tons of the same, opera.
One OF the most pleasing of the
evening program features was the
performance of the First Congre-
gational Church Choir, q capella,
under the direction Of Ruby Smith
Stahl. An "a capella" choir calls
for the utmost exactness of tone
and precision of execution, both Of
which were notable in the several
numbers presented during the first
half hour of WRC- activity. Sing
ing without accompaniment the
choristers have no guide but their
own voices to maintain the rather
intricate harmonies in which this