Evening star., 1944-11-05

LtldnI as van GOgh picture
National Symphony is shoWn
b Betty Jane Atkinson (center)
the orchestra.
Star STAFF Photo
For instance, in the slow movement
of Walter Piston's symphony, he said to
me, Doesn't that sound schmaltzy to
you?' We had to convince him to forget
his New England upbringing."
A Treasure Hunt
Finding gem among dozens of scores
is no small treasure hunt, but some
times the lesser compositions make the
finding William Schumann's American
Overture in pile of scores.
THE orchestration was as brilliant as
a Van Gogh picture. After looking it
over second and a third time, l be-
came so enamoured of it that I knew
we'd have to play it. We started a sea-
son with 1.-THE very first piece 1t was
like throwing pot of paint in the faces
of our audience"
Deciding just how and when to pre-
sent new works is always a problem.
DR.. Kinder has tried various kinds of
programming. First he tried presenting
au-American concerts but audiences
would yearn for little Brahms Then
he thought of selecting 10 of the best
and letting special audience decide
which they'd like to hear again.
That wasn't so successful" he grinned,
because they always chose the most in
nocuous-you know, the least shocking"
He finally decided the best program.
ming was TO intersperse the shorter
pieces all through the season and draw
special attention to the larger new
works.
New symphonies to Be Heard
Two new symphonies will be featured
during the National Symphony's 14th
season, which opens at Constitution Hall
Wednesday night. One of them is by
Sam Barber, talented PhiladeIphian and
nephew of the great contralto, Louise
Homer. The composed is now in the
Army but he will be here for the per-
formance of his work.
The other work is the first concert
performance of George Anteil's Fourth
Symphony" which was broadcast last
winter by Stokowski.
Hr. Antheil, according to DR.. Kinder.
used to be radical in the musical
world. His Ballet Mechanique" for II
player pianos and percussion instru-
ments created a sensation 20 years ago.
Then, said DR.. Kinder, Mr. Antheil
gave up music because he knew some
thing was wrong and he wanted to find
out if it was the music of the day. or
the people who listened to it, or he
himself
He became a movie director, wrote
radio scripts, syndicated column of
advice to the lovelorn and a book on
chemistry which became a standard
work. He also conducted a correspond
ence course in piano playing 1t was
only recently that he came back to his
first love-composing. DR.. Kinder calls
this work "as convincing as an adver-
tisement in Vogue"
Shorter, Numbers Scheduled
In the coming season, DR.. Kinder
also will present a number of shorter
pieces for the first time-including one
of his own, The Seven Provinces"
which he wrote about Holland during
the spring and summer He says it's
based in part on 10Th and 17th century
Dutch tunes. A number of his ar
rangements have been performed by
the National Symphony but never an
original composition.
One OF the new works will be Hinde-
mith's Cupid and Psyche" The com.
poser. refugee, is now at Yale. An
other composer new to Washington is
Jack Frederick Fitzpatrick. part In
dian. DR.. Kinder read about his work
being performed by the St. Louis or
chestra, wrote to find out more about
him only to learn he's stationed here
at the Navy School of Music.
Tfne will be a rehearing of Mary
Howe's "Castellana" and of Kabalew.
sky's symphony which the orchestra
FAoy ~ AoSo III. 3AAAaAASl t4AAAlho
Kabalewsky is as good as Shostakovitch
and deserves to be heard as much.
Half a dozen other composers, whose
works were drawn from the hundreds
of scores mailed in to Dr. Kinder, will
be discovered" by Washington audi
ences this winter
Which Will Live?
OF all the new works he has per-
formed, DR.. Kinder can't say which
are going to live and which will be
forgotten. He says only that "I'd rather
be guilty of sin of commission than
of omission. I'd rather play them"
AS he looked over the huge card
blocked out with a rough draft of this
seasons programs and pointed out the
new names, he said:
ANY kind of an artist, either inter-
pretative or creative, is like plant who
needs the sunlight and rain and wind
of public performance and criticism.
An artist has to get to daylight"
That's why you'll find new names on