Evening star., 1939-11-18
Three Slavic
Works Heard
Budapest Quartet
Returns in
Whittal Concert
Bv ALICE EVERSMAN.

For those who like to SAVIOR less
somber character in chamber music,
the Budapest String Quartet offered
a program of masters of this type at
the Library of Congress last eve
ming. This ensemble group, which
has already gained considerable
popularity here, made its first ap-
pearance this season in the series
sponsored by the Gertrude Clarke
Whittall Foundation. Programmed
Yesterday were the Dvorak quartet
in E Flat Major, Op, 81" the
Smetana Quartet in E Minor" and
the Tchaikowsky Quartet in F Ma
ior. Op. 22."' The four splendid
Stradavari instruments, so respon-
sive in the hands of these players,
were used.
The three Slavic composers were
contempories, Smetana the oldest,
with his pupil, Dvorak, one year
Younger than Tchaikowsky. The
three uuartets played on this pro-
gram were composed two and three
years apart. TchaikoWsky's in 1874
Smetanas in 1876 and Dvoraks in
1879. What different influences
these years brought to each could be
traced in their works.
The two Czech composers had a
distinct fair for chamber music
writing but TchaikoWsky had but
little liking for this form and COM
posed but three quartets, none OF
which could equal those of Smetana
and Dvorak in the fertility of imagl-
nation and the easy flow OF rhythm
and melody. The Dvorak is a work
full of lovely sentiment that Is re-
ljeved by a touch of melancholy here
and there. as in the opening theme
of the Dumka. Followed by a ro-
nance of exquisite proportions, these
two slow movements are set off by
the lively, bright character OF the
first and last.
In the Smetana quartet named
"Aus meinem Leben,' the story OF
the composers life progresses TO
that tragic finale where he allows
the persistent high note that trou-
bled him in his oncoming deafness
to be incorporated in the music
and from then onward leaves a
poignant record of his hopelesSness
and resignation in the last measures
Tchaikowsky, who thought best in
symphonic terms, ladened his quartet
with heavier material that never
quite reaches the freedom OF ex-
preston or the harmonic richness
of his symphonies.
In the emotional subject matter
of these quartets, the Budapest
players found an ideal outlet for
their warm tonal unity and strong
temperament. Not only are thelr
effects planned with musical con-
sciousness but they are directed with
a forgetfulness of the same which
gives the special stamp that makes
this group more interesting than
some of their more restrained COL
leagues. Last evening the intona-
tion was not always perfect, which
may have been due to their fingers
not quite having the feel of the
strange Instruments, but eclipslng
this defect were the suavity of thelt
phrasing, the blend of tone with
tone and the fire and poetry o1
their interpretation. Their temp
are snappy, their accents sharp ano
when legato is needed the toni
flows in matching quality and in
tention.
The audience enjoyed this as.
sembling of Slavic composers anc
the sympathy which the four play.
ers, Josef Roismann and Alexande!
Schneider, violins; Boris Kroyt
viola, and Mischa Schneider, cellist
showed in their presentation. Thi!
afternoon at 3 o'clock the same
artists will play Beethoven pro-
gram consisting of the "Quartets il
G Major, Op. 18, No. g." in &c Fla
Major, Op. "a" and in "B Fla
Major, Op. 1870" with the "Grane
Fugue of Opus 1882 as the las
movement,