Evening star., 1948-04-28
Civic Orchestra
Concludes Series
OF Concerts
By Alice Eversmon

The Washington Civic Orchestra
concluded its series OF concerts
with a program in the Roosevelt
Auditorium last night at which
MacRae Cook, pianist, was soloist.
Hendrix Essers. conductor of the
orchestra, thanked the musicians
for their cooperation, especially
certain members who were respon-
sible for detail work, and the public
for its support, in a short speech
before the final number. The rain
in no way deferred a good-sized
audience from attending.
The orchestra has made marked
strides forward since its last pro-
gram in all the essentials of good
ensemble playing. The tone has
become more uniform and the in
tonation, in the violins particularly,
varied seldom from purity. Only in
fast passages of LISTS Les Prel-
udes" was = this noticeable, while
Mozart's symphony No. 38' known
as the Prague" was given an ex-
cellent performance with the strings
attaining notable sweetness and
clarity of quality.
With the large and varied group
under his direction Mr.. Essers has
achieved distinct musical results
They have a grasp of form and
| feeling for shadings so that, as a
whole, each number played had its
proper style and effect. The con-
ductor has nodded his musicians
to be responsive to the dictates of
his own musicianship and the or
cheStra has now attained a cohesion
that was wanting before. In uues-
tlons Of tempt and dynamics the
group is accurate and secure. This
was felt in the two opening seIec-
/ tlons, the Mozart symphony and
the Liszt symphonic poem, both of
which showed the excellent study
that had gone into their prepara-
ton.
1t is the policy Of this civic group,
presented by the D. c. Recreation
Department. City-wide Division, to
have local artist and play a work
by local composer at each concert.
The gifted young pianist, Mr.. Cook,
was heard in Rachmaninoff's Con
certo No 2" and the "Scherzo" from
James w. Crowley's Symphony No.
l" was given its first performance.
Mr.. Cook, who has been heard
here in recital, gave brilliant per-
Torrance Of the concerto. Only 20
years of age, he has already an rs
founding technique and a large and
expressive tone. The intricate
stormy passages of the popular con-
certo revealed his talent to the best
advantage, for in these he released
vibrant tone and the virtuosity of
which his fleet fingers are capable.
The many songful measures were
less tellingly set forth from the
point of view of his own rapport
with their sentiment although en-
bellished with well thought out
nuances. 1t was the young artists
poise and knowledge together with
his highly developed mechanical
equipment that gave the perform
ance a finished character and
brought him an ovation from the
audience at the end.
Two years younger than the solo,
ist, Mr.. Crowley is a member Of the
horn section of the Civic Orchestra.
His "Scherzo' shows that he has
something definite to say in music
and an individual way of saying it.
The performance of it last night
was not very smooth, and since the
composer has placed difficulties of
rhythm and intonation before the
players, they were less successful In
meeting the challenge than in the
other works. 1t would be interesting
to hear the entire symphony. for
Mr.. Crowley has marked skill for
his youth. He was called to the
front of the stage to acknowledge
the applause. The program finished
with the Mcdonald Stokowski
"Rumba."
Anglo-Saxons were early users of
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