The Washington times., 1935-08-15


proving glances over the shoulders
of the vast audience assembled at
the Watergate, Burle Marx di-
rected his second and last concert
Of the Sunset Symphony" series
last night. At the conclusion of
the program he was recalled time
and again, leaving no doubt as to
his popularity.
AS several of the guest conduc-
tors have given encoreS at the end
of the program, the audiences
have come to expect them, with
out realizing that Burle Marx has
arranged a longer program for
each of his concerts than has
been the custom of other directors
Mr.. Marx at once commanded
the attention Of his auditors by
his dramatic Interpretation of
Weber's Overture to "Euryanthe. I"
and gave a brilliant performance
of Beethoven's Symphony No. S."
The unusual speed Of the first
movement and the third move
ment added to the brilliancy, but
at times caused some passages TO
be less coherent.
1t would take a KouSSevitZky to
play the grotesque theme for the
baSses at the speed taken last
night. The second movement with
the beautiful melody was given a
superb reading and likewise the
last movement with the rousing
ending.
Whatever liberties Mr.. Marx
took with the old classics, he made
up for by his sympathetic read
ings of the South American works.
One felt that the composers spirit
was animating the baton; the
rhythms, the time changes, and
the crescendos were injected with
a Latin temperament that is hard
to initiate.
Indian Themes
While the "suite Infantil"
Castro, and "Bebe S'Endort"
(OswaldD had an unmistakable
Spanish flavor. the Brazilian
Suite" (Mignone) used native In
dian themes with a decided mod
erniStic touch. The second move
ment of the Brazilian Suite"
made use of a rhythm that was
odd to say the least and the last
movement employed the tympani
throughout.
Harrison Christian, BARTON e
Soloist, has a delightful stage pres
ence and a good resonant voice
that possesses good quality. He
sang down to the microphones and
hence it was hard to judge the
real calibre of his voice. Whether
he took the higher tones too softly
on account of the microphoneS or
whether he was not able to cover
fully these tones could not be de-
termined. His vocal equipment is
Of good operate timbre.
The next Sunset Symphony"
concert by the National Symphony
Orchestra will be given Sunday
night with Emanuel Balaban act
ing as the main guest conductor.
He has chosen for the principal
work of the evening TSchaikow-
Sky's "Symphony No. f."
This symphony is peculiar in
that it is the only symphony by
TSchaikowSky that is not domi-
mated by a gloomy melancholy and
desolation. The spirit of the work
is filled with vigorous and Virile
statements and at times is even
humorous. Its marvellous orches-
tral coloring and brilliance have
made it as popular if not more
so than the well-knoWn Fifth and
Sixth Symphonies.
The violinS and celloS introduce
the first theme shown above in
the first or Moderate movement.
It is treated with a delicate form
of Syncopation which gives it
grace and vitality. The theme is
repeated many times with grow
ing emphasis and varia tion S
punctuated frequently by flying
scales.
The clarinet introduces the Sec
ond dryly humorous theme shown
above and the bassoon initiates it.
other lovely bits of melody are
introduced and woven into the tex
ture of the movement while the
flutes shower glittering drops of
tone over the ensemble. The first