Evening star., 1940-04-08

W I1AcH. 1lS duUlcIlCc yesterday
must have thought so, for it gave
vociferous demonstration of its
enjoyment.
Most of the numbers of his pro-
gram were sung In English and this,
Of course, added considerably to
the pleasure Of the average member
OF the audience. With the exception
OF three classic songs, with which
his program opened, many of the
others were familiar, either because
Mr.. Crooks has made them so, or
because they are in the ordinary
repertoire Of singers. Loneliness
and longing seemed to be over
stressed in the way of dominating
sentiment Of the program, and the
mood throughout was set in a quiet,
tender, sad vein without any allevia-
ton. Even the three solo numbers
by Frederick Schauwecker, accom-
panist for Mr.. Crooks, were of the
same order.
Although Mr.. Crooks immersed
himself completely in the sentiment
Of whatever he sang, he was not in
especially good voice yesterday.
There was slight huskiness in
some OF his tones and his prime
fault, sluggish attack of his high
notes particularly, was very much in
evidence. 1t is a pity that the un-
evenness Of his vocal technique is
allowed to continue, for its mars one
OF the loveliest voices of the pres
ent day. In spite of this, he is able
to achieve his effects and give out
the sweet, poignant quality which
he possesses in a most moving way.
Artistry in Arias.
The lovely simplicity of his sing
ing of song like Il Dream of
JEANNE With the Light Brown
Hair" (Which had to be repeated)
masks very fine artistry which
could be fully appreciated in his
performance of Beethoven's II Love
Thee" Tell My Beloved" from
Haendels Atlanta" and IF With
All Your Heart" from Mendelssohn's
Elijah" In the latter, especially,
his emotional gift, his sincerity and
the nobility of the thought which
he put into it were superb and his
singing of it the finest, from every
standpoint. Of the program. The
long, smooth phrases, the tonal
warmth and the interpretive under
standing were mastery portrayed.
Next in importance as revealing
hie orttcfic 70
arias, "Vainement. ma bien aimee
from Lalo's lie Roi d'Ys" and the
Flower Song" from Carmen" both
beautifully given, even though the
high tones came forth with effort.
In response to the enthusiasm two
more arias were added, lie Reve"
from Massenet's "Manon" and "E
lucivan lie stelle" from the last act
Of "Tosca." Mr. Crooks is past
master of the use of falsetto and
pianissimo and these have become
somewhat in the nature of trade
mark of his singing.
Three Russian Songs.
Three Russian songs, sung in
English, Vassilinkos Longing,
Rimsky-Korsakoff's The Nightin-
gale and the Rose" and Tschaikow-
sky's None but the Lonely Heart"
and the aria from Rimsky-Korsa-
koff's May Night" sung in Russian
were sad in mood yet permitting Mr..
Crooks to exercise his talent for
putting sentiment into tone. Quill
ter's Nov Sleeps the Crimson
Petal" Morgan's "Clorinda," the
Foster song and the ever-appealing
Mother O Mine" made up the con-
Guiding group. Encores sprinkled
the program and formed an i'm
portant addition to it after the final
number.
The fine points of Mr.. Crooks
singing were duplicated in the &C.
compartments of Mr.. Schauwecker.
who also is a sensitive artist, as fur
ther demonstrated in his solo, fol-
lowed by work of his own COM
position:
Palestine paid $6646,00O for