Evening star., 1947-07-09
Two Concerts in One Presented
To Water Gate Audience

symphony. The ticket holders of
the weather casualty concert bene-
fited also by the combination.
True, the numbers selected for
last night had to be put aside for
performance at some future date
with the exception of Mr.. TomaSow's S
solo. the Tschakowsky violin con-
certo and the excerpts from Rodg-
ers' "Oklahoma" with which the
concert ended. The orchestra, under
the direction of Howard Mitchell,
assistant conductor of the symphony
and it's first cellist, was heard In
the Overture to Wolf -Ferrari's "The
Secret of Susanne," the "Introduc-
tion," ~Dance of the Apprentices"
and Entrance Of the Mastersing-
ers' from Wagner's die Meister-
singer" and the Polka" and "Fugue"
from Weinberger's "Schwanda."
The brilliant attraction Of the en-
tire program was Mr.. Tomasow's s
playing. This superb artist repeated
the Tschaikowsky concerto, which
he performed in Constitution Hall
with the symphony last winter, by
request. It is a number in which
his all-around skill shines and of
which he is an outstanding inter-
prefer. The constant beauty and
purity of his tone Is enhanced by an
impeccable intonation which wavers
not an iota in the involved pattern
Of the rapid passages. He has ap-
parently fimitless speed at his COM
mand and a lively temperament to
match it, the combination of which
gave a dazzling effect to the last
movement. The instrument sang
the poetic content of the "Canzo-
META" with warmth Of feeling and
the nuances that touched off many
phrases of the opening movement
were artistically conceived. His sue
cess was great, even his companions
in the orchestra shouting their bra
vos as they added their applause to
that of the audience.
The Cossacks chose the brightest
numbers of their repertoire for this
summer performance. They con-
sisted Of various military songs and
other nostalgia selections such as
Karnovalov's Bells of Moscow" "
Knipper's Song Of the Plains, "
Sakovich's THE Sea- and the folk
songs, "Kaleenka" and "Sieny." The
soloists, G. Dubrovsky, and S.
Slepoushkin, bass-baritone; v. Pro-
kopenia, baritone, and v. Mano-
noff and r. Stanislavsky, tenors,
were excellent but on the whole
the singing was not up to the
standards. There was q tendency
to lowering of pitch and although
the director, Nicholas Kostrukoff.
conducted alertly. there was slow
capturing of the customary spirit
Of their performance.
The climax of their part Of the
program was, as always, the dancing
G.. Soloduhin's 1.-THE and graceful
movements prefaced his remarkable
knife-throwing in the "Lezginka"
and the several dancers who ex-
hibited their skill in the "Kozat-
chok" aroused amazement and en-
thusiasm with the variety Of intri-
cate steps and. the great leaps Of
the Cossack national dance. 1t was
all the more extraordinary consid-
ering the small space left them in
front of the seated orchestra IN
which to perform.
In his conducting Of the orchestral
portions of the program and in the
accompaniment Of the concerto, Mr..
Mitchell set his stamp On the Or
chestra's playing His very sensi-
tive feeling overlooked no oppor-
tunity for particular effects and he
was especially fencitous in balanc-
ing the orchestra choirs for marked
coloring. He has always something
definite to say and the diversity Of
last nights program offered him
many occasions to demonstrate 1t.