Evening star., 1944-11-05
Kinder Discusses New Works
BY Miriam Gutenberg

The symphony ends. Conductor Hans
Kinder Of the National Symphony Or
cnestra bows to the applause and points
his baton toward the row of boxes.
A man rises. smiles half timidly as
the audience greets him with a new
burst Of applause. This is the biggest
moment of his life. He has just heard
his first symphony performed. And an
audience is applauding his work.
Week after week during the orchestra
season that scene Is repeated because
the National Symphony Orchestra intro
duces more new works than any other
major orchestra in the country outside
Of such laboratory orchestras as the
one at Rochester.
TITS q most rewarding experience for
conductor to bring to life the con-
temporary compositions because it's the
only thing he can do for posterity," ex-
planned DR.. Kinder
If perform Beethoven's Fifth Sym
phony" again it won't do Beethoven
much good. He's already safe in his niche
OF glory, whereas these young people
The National Symptoms conductor
also has a personal interest in playing
the new as well as the old That's why,
he said, he became a conductor. AS a
cellist, he'd played everything that had
been written.
The idea of growing old and having
to play the same thing over and over
was distasteful to me-" he explained.
You have to be music lover as well
as performer.
You know. I've always pitied actors in
America. Their success is measured by
how long a play runs. Imagine having
to play 'Abie's Irish Rose for seven
years! What career for an artist"
One of the advantages a city drives
from having a resident orchestra, he
added, is that it doesn't have to play
the same works all the time. 1t can play
the literature Of music at large while an
orchestra that visits cities on tour is
dience wants to hear. 1t can't expert
ment
Introducing new composition is only
half the story, however, DR.. Kinder
pointed out. He's afraid that with the
current interest in American compos>
ers. conductors may play new things
once just to keep in step and then put
them in the discard.
Proud of Repeats"
DR.. Kinder is proud of the orchestras
record on repeats. He's so convinced
that new compositions must be played
more than once in order to live that he
wrote number of critics and composers
suggesting they convene once every
three or four years to go over the new
works and decide which they think de-
serve a rehearing
Out Of 81 critics. he reported, Sc said
they thought it was a good idea. OF the
2l conductors he approached with the
plan, only six showed any enthusiasm
Audiences, DR.. Kinder is convinced,
want to hear new works almost as much
as the composers want to have their
works performed. He excepted the re
dictionaries" among audiences who "for-
get that If their attitude were general
We would never hear any new music"
Audience Reaction
Dr. Kinder doesn't always 20 by audi
ence reactions to new compositions.
Something that strikes their fancy may
be too superficial to survive Sometimes
the very unfamiliarity of a new work
makes them "sit on their hands"
DR.. Kinder tells the story of Hans Won
Bulow. the famous conductor, who in
troluced a new work in Berlin. No ap-
plause was forthcoming.
You didn't seem to like it," Conductor
Won Bulow told the audience That's
because you didn't understand it. I'll
play it again"
And he did. The composer was List.
The orchestra, too, may be skeptical
about a new composition, said DR..
Kinder.
The musicians often become exas-
perated by new language in music and
the newer it is the more exasperated
they become. If they have good part,
though, they'll think the whole thing is
good. Mozart had an incredible knack