Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-28


Dirksen, harpsichord Phillips Gallery.
Mozart sonata program: major: <.
s. y major: x, Z: B fiat major. K. s;
major %r'0 K. IL; 4 major, K. IL ?
major, X. l3.
Why the first eight sonatas for
violin and keyboard of Mozart,
written when the composer was
six. seven and eight years old,
are never played is, I suppose,
that while musicians know they
exist they never take the trouble
of finding out that, like the ma
ture sonatas of Mozart. they are
good music. The child at that
early age had not only learned
how to write pieces of perfect
balance and the utmost melodic
charm, but also how to play
them either on harpsichord sor
fiddle. While Mozart's style de-
veloped and deepened in the
years to come, the essential
quality we can always recognize
and which we call simply
'Mozartian" the composer had
from the first.
Werner Lywen and Richard
Dirksen started their pilgrimage
through the Mozart violin sonata
cycle yesterday at the Phillips
Gallery and showed that they
both have the imaginative mu-
steamship to recreate in these
early works, which are simple
in form but intense in feeling,
the brilliance, the melodic al
lure and the sentiment the lack
of which could make of their
performance that most horrible
Specter of the concert hall-the
recital of historical impor-
lance" The music is very diff
cult to play. Many Of the move
ments have quick Albert BASES
that go on for six or eight min
utes without interruption, and
which can tire a players hand,
which must stay poised over the
keys, in a manner quite different
from other keyboard difficulties.
The fiddler seldom has an OPP
portunity to come to the fore,
yet he must never sound dry nor
make his simple accompaniment
seem a matter of indifference.
Both artists were excellent-''in-
comparable" is the proper word
In this case, for neither they nor
probably any member of the
capacity audience had ever heard
any one of the sonatas played by
anyone else.
Mr.. Dirksen used a harpsichord
rather than a piano. not only be-
cause Mozart at this stage of his
career was familiar only with the
older instrument but because it
is clearly preferable for music of
such transparency and for style
which calls for constant changes
of tone color. Heavy chords in
the bass of full and close
harmony are muddy on the
piano but are a feature of harpsi-
chord style. The Lutte stop is
often handy for such pieces as
the first movement of the A ma
jor sonata which is as clearly a
mandoline grenade as the
famous air in Don Giovanni"
In acknowledging fluctuations
after their concert both artists
modestly attributed the success
OF the afternoon to the genius of
Mozart, and while the never
tagging beauty of the sonatas
taken one after the other with
out selection is truly incredible,
MI. Dirksen and Mr.. LyWen
should not attempt to escape the
genuine appreciation of their
audience, for after all it was they
who found the new field of
flowers and presented the bou-
quet. Mozart himself had little
interest in being a proselyte for
his own music even when he was
alive, and today he can give the
music-lover everything except
performers.
The second recital in the cycle
takes place tonight in the Phil
Inns Gallery at 0.30