Evening star., 1932-01-13

Percussion" the new Strawinsky
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra"
and the Moussorgsky pictures at
an Exhibition" arranged for or
chestra by Maurice Ravel.
The evening, to put it mildly, was
one of stress and strain. Mr.. Sto-
kowski, of course gives his audi
ences what he thinks they should
have and not by any means what
they would like him to want them
to have. Thus, after program pre-
sented earlier in the season of early
classicists, he delves into the pres
ent with such a definite gesture of
We'll, see what you think of this?"
that it leaves Judgment as well as
the evenings pleasure trifie doubt
full
The trouble with any perform
ance given by Stokowski and his
Philadelphians is that, whether you
like the program or not, it is all
played so superbly that you are
forced to marvel in the middle of
your grief. Even during the pro-
motion of what may seem to be
diabolic sequences of noise there is
never any question but of electricity
in mind and body produced by the
miraculous methods Of tone power
which Stokowski injects into his
orchestra. While, for instance, last
night the Lopatnikof Symphony"
seemed nothing if not cinematic,
and the musical gyrations Of its
allegro motto" movement almost
too confused for comfort, the sheer
wizardry of the orchestra lin &C
ton" was something to wonder at
and the fact that Stokowski should
be so calm under such confusing
circumstances.
Then, too, while the Milhaud Con-
certo, for percussions is an interest
ing stunt-since the soloing of
timpani, bass drum tenor drum,
snare drum, tambourine, cymbals,
ruthe, castanetS, triangle, rattle
metal block, wood block and tam-tam
is something not to be found on an
average program. its major theme is
difficult to catch and its final out
burst a blurb and blare rather than
the approach to a grandiose finale.
Most interesting of the first group
was the Mossolow Iron Foundry"
which has been played around the
ullOCl val OtliCA lloIlCcY
and which had the distinction last
night Of receiving misses as well as
applause. No work presented in re-
cent years has been SO definitely
liked and dtSliked-and the fact
that there was those who preferred
to greet it with hoots showed at
least that it was something that had
definite message. This unlike
much of the rest of the program,
had such decided form of its own,
and was so obviously in shape and
substance what it was meant to be
that when the whistle blew in the
middle of it, it would have been
perfectly easy to rise and go out
into the night.
The Strawinsky Concerto, which re-
ceived its initial baptism in Berlin
but three months ago, and which
has been played several times over
here already by Samuel Dushkin
(who has the sole rights for its
performance) is difficult to grasp
in its first hearing. Mr.. Dushkin
swears that it will wear well, that
like all Of Strawinskys works 1t will
have to age before it Is ripe for
dissection. But as played by him
last n1ght-w1th great skill but with
a certain lack of feeling-it seemed
not so interesting by a long ways
as many Of Strawinskys other works,
and as though his new style" (Some-
one has said certain passages sound
like nothing more or less than Bach
played backward,'O is less profound
than it is f1ashy and brilliantly un-
emotional.
The program closed with the
Moussorgsky Pictures" played SC
superbly that the audience was
found to be laughing out loud dur
ing the BALLET ot chickens in their
shells. =. De g. MELCHER.