Evening star., 1941-10-16
Music Guild
Gives First of
SixCOnCerts
Fine Performance
Is Dulled by
Poor Acoustics
BY ALICE EVERSMAN.


A program introducing new works
was presented by the Chamber
Music Guild at its first concert Of
the season last evening. Two Of
these, the Suite for Flute and
String Quartet" by Bach, arranged
by Luis Grzman, and the tone poem,
Maid of Taos" by Edwina McCarty
Davis, were dedicated to the guild
and performed for the first time. A
work by the British composer, Ar
mold Bax, and three pieces for flute,
harp and strings by Daniel Gregory
Mason we're the other novelties, the
program concluding with Debussy's
"Danse Sacree" and "Danse Pro-
fame" for harp and strings.
In the performance of these num-
bers the guild members had the
assistance of two sterling musicians,
Sylvia Meyer, harpist. and Kenton
Terry, flutist, both of the National
Symphony Orchestra. The origi-
nal members of the string quartet
who ably worked with Marcel An
cher, founder and cellist Of the
group, to organize and perfect the
ensemble, remain the same, the two
violinists being Frank Gittelson and
Alexander Levin, the violist, Ben
jamin Sosner.
The concert last evening was
given in Almas Temple, which the
guild has selected for its headquar-
tiers this year, but under the condi-
tions existing at the first event Of
the series of six, 1t proved not TO
be the best choice. The acoustic
was not good but part of this may
have been due to background Of
folded cloth which seemed to absorb
the sound of the string instruments
especially. OF a dark blue color, 1t
overshadowed the artists with a
gloomy atmosphere. The stage set
ting was a last-minute and unex-
pected arrangement and undoubt-
edly will be remedied for the other
concerts.
In spite of this drawback which
affected the tonal quality of the
ensemble. the sincerity Of the musi-
cal intentions of the artists was
apparent. Most of the softer pas
sages were rendered ineffective be-
cause of a lack of clarity beyond
the control of the players. This
was first noticeable in the Lento
asSai of the Bach work, movement
from an organ sonata. Mr.. Guzman
has succeeded admirably in retain
ing ard at the same time intensity
ing the play of colors in the excerpts
he bound together in suite form. the
Lento separating an Andante from
the Flute Sonata No. l" and the
Allegro from Flute Sonata No. g."
For the finely spun passages so skill
fully delivered by Mr.. Terry, the
string instruments are woven to-
gether in an accompaniment with
sympathetic regard for their con-
tributing color.
Mrs Davis Maid Of Taos is a
charming work, retaining its de-
scriptive powers throughout and
filled with an exotic atmosphere.
1t is smoothly written with con-
slant vitality accentuated by its
rhythms. Mr.. Terry again assisted
the quartet members. The Bax COM
position has moments when senti-
ment scars in full flight and this
lyric note seems to speak more truth
than the sudden drop to gloomy
tone which is often present. The
relation between the two is not
clear nor is the development of idea
uninterrupted, but on the whole 1t
has enough interest to hold the
attention.
Miss Meyer was the fifth member
of the group for this work which,
however, gave less outstanding
passages to the harp than to the
cello and viola. The Debussy dances
gave her the opportunity for full
display of her virtuosity and her per-
formance was a brilliant one. The
two guest artists joined the quartet
in the "Sarabande," "Elegy" and
Caprice" by Mr.. Mason, appealing
short numbers in the main if want
ing somewhat in depth. The playing
Of the string quartet continues on
the high plane the members estab-
lished last season.