Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-16
NEWS or MUSIC
NEWS OF MUSIC
Symphony Pair Series
Finding Ready Buyers
BY IRVING LowENs

A certain amount Of musical
history viii be In the making
at Constitution Hall on Oc-
tober is when the 1867 sea-
son Of the National Symphony
Orchestra, modestly billed as
'"the greatest concert series
ever presented" gets under
way.
It is not the music which
will be performed. distin-
guished as it is, that will be
significant. Here, for the first
time. an orchestra will be its
own impresario. Offering not
only its own talents, but that
Of two other orchestras and a
ballet company as we'll.
Other innovations are also
In store for Washingtonians.
The pairs system" is to be
introduced, supplanting the
old Odd Series and Even
Series. Instead of two indie
pendent series Of 10 concerts
each. is pairs Of concerts will
be given. The season sub
scriber will have his choice of
attending either Tuesday or
Wednesday evenings. and he
will hear the Boston and the
Philadelphia orchestras as part
Of his subscription.
Some Pairs viii Differ
Actually, the pairs are not
identical. The Boston SYM
phony is a pair" only TECH
nically. as it will present two
completely separate programs
on December 10 and February
Z. The Philadelphians will
offer two special programs out
side the pairs system" on
January 20 and March 10.
The Royal Danish Ballet Com
pany's two programs will be
entirely different. And the
January 80 pair by the Ma
tional Symphony Orchestra
with Artur Rubinstein as solo,
list will see the great pianist
featured in different works.
It has also been announced
that the complement of So
instrumentalists in the Ma
tional Symphony Orchestra
has been permanently in
creased by 10, and that there
will now be 96 musicians to
play for every regularly sched-
uled concert.
A glance at the seasons
programs (Which are, of course,
subject to future change) re-
veals a somewhat conservative
trend. The core of the music
consists of a so-called Bee
thoven Festival" which is to
include all nine symphonies
and most of the concerti.
Few Novelties on Programs
Although quite few works
are being added to the SYM
phony's repertoire for the first
time, among them such things
as the Beethoven Leonore No.
Overture, genuine novelties
are on the sparse side.
Neither of the two world
premiereS, works by Morton
Gould and Howard Hanson.
seem calculated to generate
any earthquakes among the
planets music-lovers.
AS We have come to expect
from DR.. Mitchell, contempo-
rary American music will not
be neglected. Symphonies by
Henry Cowell and Walter Pts
ton plus smaller works by
Samuel Barber and Walling-
ford Riegger will receive local
premieres, Other compare
lively unfamiliar composers
to be heard will include Poot.
Braein, and Nielsen.
The only Washington COM
poser represented on the pro.
gram is the Rev. Russell Wool
len, whose orchestral Toccata
will open the November 27-28
pair.
1t Is evident that the music
selected for the season is de-
signed not to delight the
music critic (for whom Bee
thoven cannot help but be
pretty much bread-and- butter
music but rather to fill Con-
stitution Hall if possible. From
a practical point Of view, it is
fortunate that this is SO, as
there are hardly enough re-
viewers in Washington to fill
the D. A. RS spacious audi
forum. After all, one has to
get the audience into the hall,
else there would soon be no
orchestra for the critic to
write about.
Piper Calls the Tune
There is no gainsaying the
fact that the ordinary concert
goer prefers Beethoven to Bar
tok and Tchaikovsky to
Chavez, regardless of what
the unregenerate highbrow
might feel about the situation.
And the piper. in the long run,
calls the tune.
1t is the ordinary concertgoer
who keeps the National SYM
phony in business, as well as
hundreds Of other orchestras
throughout the country. With
out him, the new works by the
Pistons and the Cowells would
gather dust on the shelf be-
cause there would be nobody to
play them.
The problem before Ameri-
can symphony orchestras, al
most all Of whom operate in
the red, is how to get the per-
son who enjoys an occasional
piece of longhair music, a base
mD a &