Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-30

its first American performance.
This quartet seemed loosely
hinged and arid of real musical
values. Mr.. Bridge has written
previous quartetS that held much
more interest. 1t was as we'll that
the Hungarian visitors chose the
beauties of The established Mozart
to give this audience the first i'm
preston of their abilities as an
organization. The Roth String
Quartet has the virtuosity of the
perfect ensemble.
The mornings program Friday
was concluded by a quintet by
Martini, also dedicated to Mrs.
Coolidge and given it's first per-
Torrance. Written for two vio-
Inns, two violas and violoncello,
the Roth ensemble was assisted
| by Egon KornStein at the second
viola. The work is colorful, has
cood. sense of authority and con-
reTs musical message intcll!-
gently.
by far the most. original and
~. progressive composition on
the entire festival series seemed
to be Arnold Schoenberg's Third
Quartet, Opus &c." given on the
| final program Friday afternoon.
1t was played between the en-
broidered beauties of Schubert'S
"Minuetto From Symphony in Is
Flat Major, No. 81: ia tribute to
the centenary year of that COM
poSer'S DEATH, and the rcSurrec-
ton motives of RespighiS "Tritt:-
CO Botticelliano"- dedicated to
Mrs. Coolidge and first played in
Washington last Spring. which
seemed even more inspiring and
1 work Of genius under the ardent
direction of Hugo KortSchak, as
>layed by the Chamber Orchestra
If Boston.
The .Schoenberg, between the
brilliant romanticiSm of these
two colorful works, seemed the
concentrated essence of absolute
music, done in the subtle gray
tones of. ultra modernism. The
1chocnberg work was like misty
r0hweb curtain of mysterious
lother-worldneSs hung between
tl1e more mundane tapestries of
Ticnncse and italian weaving.
sew understood the Schoenberg.
'>or1aps even fewer really enjoyed,
the. work, yet no craftsman could
Teny the perfect quartet form OF
it's score or that 1t showed
~
that the Schoenberg should he
played by the Gordon String
Quartet of Chicago. which. on the
opening day. made its debut in
the East in q Jolly. familiar quar-
/ tet by the first master of string
quartet form. Josef HAYDN - an
Austrian of an earlier period. The
Young virtuoSo, jacques GordC!i.
md his able assistants. Walter
-r"~"oc'-. rncond violin: Clarence
Evans, viola. and Richard Wag--
rer, vio'oncellist. certainly showed
~erSa tilitv and amazing grasp of
so1usical> htera ture and traditions
= two such diverse COMPOSITIONS.
THIS c-'o rtet has heer' organized
'-'-~~ 1N41 ~"1d it - IN he hoped
it will play in Washington at
n carly date.
THURSDAY, the middle day OF
L the festival, was distinguished
by two highly contrasting pro-
grams The South Mountain
quartet of Pittsfield founded by
Mrs. Coolidge in 1929 gave
lovely Interpretation of beautiful,
established music in the Brahms
Quartet in A Minor, Opus 81,
No. g."
The Elshuco Trio of New York
founded by Willem Willeke IN
1919 played Sonata a Ire" writ
ten by the italian modernist, NAL
ipiero, dedicated to Mrs. Coolidge,
and with the second and third
parts given first American Pc
Torrance. Aurelio Giorni, pianist,
William Knoll, violinist, and Mr..
Willeke, violoncelliSt, gave the
three "tempoS" evident sympa-
thetic reading, with no pause be-
tween the movements designated
as allegro impetuoso," "ritenuto"
and again ALLEGRO impetuoSo."
The, work seemed clever, light and
rather inconSequential compared
to the Max Roger "Sextet in F
Major, Opus 49," which followed.
In the sextet the South Mountain
Quartet was assisted by Paul Lee
may, viola player, and Victor
Gomez, cellist. 1t was the
first American performance and
showed the authority OF genius
combined with admirable work
manship. The two middle move
ments were highly contrasting.
with the. "vivace" much the more
effective and the largo" with
less originality and conviction. j.,
Spain was highly honored
Thursday night by the fact that
all compositions were by Spanish
| writer's and much of the inter-
nretation was by SpaniardS or
! descendants of forbearS OF the
land of air castles and bull fights.
SnaniSh folk SoneS. sung in three
groups, with a different and in
,rIgu!ng costume for each group.
were featured. The singer, Dr
diseuse, to be exact, was Luis l
Espinel, who is said to be descend
cd from an ariStocratic Spanish
family now living in California:
The provinces Of Asturia, Galicid f,
CASTLE, Valencia and Murcia were
represented. Perhaps the "hiC"
! of the folk songs was Castilian
song sung only with subtle tam
BOURNE accompaniment by the
singer, who pitched her voice very
high for this. song. Kathryn
KERN, pianist, was an excellent
accompanist for the other songs.
! Manuel de Falla's Concerto for