Evening star., 1933-05-03
\HE annual Spring concert of the
George Washington Glee Clubs
took place last evening at the
UyiIIorH Trcfa rvha cIVhe mara


i Willard Hotel The clubs were
directed by Robert Howe Har-
mon, with Grace Ruble Harmon as ac-
companist, and had as assisting artist
Nils Falkman, operatic and concert
tenor. Every box and seat in the large
ball room was taken, and the audience
eQualed its size by the amount of en-
thusiastic applause that greeted the
performance of the clubs.
For clear-cut work 1t was decidedly
the outstanding choral concert Of the
season. The clubs attain a concentrated
tone and combined effort that result
in an effect as of one grandiose inStru-
ment. The precision. neatness and care,
while of especially high order, was not
permitted to interfere with the real joy
of singing. The singers sang from we'll
opened throats. and as If the marked
rhythm and fine shadings were entirely
their own idea rather than the result
of hard training and drilling by their
expert conductor.
1t Is a real achievement that Mr..
Harmon has accomplished in acquiring
the mellow, free-tone quality which
held not to the border line of pitch.
but firmly placed upon it throughout
the harmonization 1t was this high
pitch that gave gay. fresh coloring to
the entire program and kept away any
feeling Of monotony. Mr.. Harmon has
also succeeded in making the chorus
arrive at the desired shadings with
alertness. There were infinitely minute
attacks difficult to train a large group
to accomplish. that came with decision
and an exact calculation as to the
duration Of the effect that was most
satisfying Mr.. Harmon has the singers
well in hand. knows what he wants
and gets it. which IS not an easy task
when handling rs individuals.
As to natural beauty Of tone that Of
the Mems Club was of superior quality.
An organ-like richness and fullness was
fundamental characteristic that lent
itself with elasticity TO whatever de-
mands were made upon It, Thus the
magnificent Prayer Of Praise" which
opened the program on a sublime note.
Sullivan'S The Long Day Closes" or
The Merry Frogs" by Speiser. or Can
dish's The jolly Roger" were equally
we'll done with delightfully."- well worked
out contrasts. In the sacred music.
which made up one group. Palestrina's
''Tenebrae factae sunt" was sung with
nobility and Solemnity. The "Benedic-
tus" from Gounod's famed St. Cecilia
mass however. was taken too quickly
to be impressive and it was further
marred by the off pitch of the soloist.
the first and only transgression of this
kind the entire evening.
The Women's Club sang. unaccom-
panied, a new arrangement of Drink
To Me Only With Thine Eyes" Rober-
tons The Bells" and the "Cachuca"
and finale from Sullivan's The Condo
liers." Their voices blended excellently
and the pure, fresh quality was pre-
served throughout and not sacrificed to
any striving for powerful climaxes. The
high sopranos particularly were un-
usually fine. They SCARED to the high
tones easily and retained the proper
balance necessary for the deeper guam
tity of sound of the mems voices.
This was excellently Illustrated in the
combined singing of the clubs. Here
the careful training which had been
given them stood out predomlnately
and the balance maintained, the
nuances and the dynamic control were
above criticism. The Praise to the
Lord" of Christensen and the Czecho-
slovakian folk song arranged by Klbal-
chich were the two extremes that called
these qualities into relief and were
Justly rewarded by generous applause.
Another composition of Christensen.
Beautiful Savior" the "Sanctus' from
the same St. Cecilia mass OF Gounod
and the rousing ''Kammenoi Ostrow" OF
Rubenstein. especially arranged for the
chorus. were the finishing numbers OF
the program. In the last the clubs were
accompanied by the Brusilof Concert
Orchestra.
The soloist of the evening was Nils
Falkman who gave the e Lucivan lie
Stelle," from the last act of "Tosca,' as
his first number. This aria is not par
ticularly we'll suited to stand alone on
a concert program and its moving and
dramatic character was somewhat lost.
Mr.. Falkman, a Swedish tenor, has a
lyric voice of true Italian color, which
his Italian pronunciation unfortunately
did not match. 1t is a voice that. in
the proper surroundings, could make
much of Just such an aria as this one
from "Tosca," for it is appealing and
warm and well managed His real ar
tistic feeling was better demonstrated
in his singing of the ''Traum Durch Die
Daemmerung, by Strauss: Katherine
Glen's Twilight" and Russelrs Il Hold
Her Hands," in which he spun out his
tones SO as to make the natural beauty
of his voice evident and which he In
terpreted with refined understanding
He was ably assisted at the piano by
with discretion.
THE Washington Oratorio Society,
George F. Kortzenborn, conductor,
made its debut last evening in a pres
ertation of the first two parts of
Haydn's Creation" in the auditorium
of Central High School. The cho-
rus sings with good tone and pre-
cision, though it is weak in the tenor
and contralto parts. The soloists were
Esther Ingram. soprano DR.. George
Anderson. tenor. and Neal Parrish,
baritone, who sang the bass part; Mar
jorie Davis at the piano and Gertrude
Dyre at the organ were the accom-
panists. The performance would have
been more effective had the accompani-
ments been of the organ, augmented
by piano instead of the reverse.
Miss Ingram and Mr.. Parrish have
voices of good range and quality, and,
with proper study will make good sing
ers. Neither showed any knowledge OF
the art of oratorio, making no distinc-
ton between recitative and aria. DIR.
Anderson, however, showed more
familiarity with the art, and sang the
recitative and aria, in native worth
and honor" with nice shading and
exv,1a rxo1I