Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-06
NEWS OF MUSIC
BY DAY THORPE

eQ1LOf OF CIle new 1Ork llIIleS,
devoted a full page last Sum-
day TO an article THE Phil
harmonic What's Wrong
With 1t and Why" 1t was
highly interesting, even to me,
who have had little contact
with the Philharmonic in re-
cent years. although during
the 1905 I was a faithful
Ncustomer. Mr.. Taubmans
.piece must be the source of
considerable heated discus
:.sion in New York these days.
Nevertheless, l daresay that
while there may be those who
brand Mr.. Taubman as blind
cor deaf. there is no New
Yorker who, after reading his
diagnosis and prescription. calls
him captious. 1t may be di-
sverting to run through Mr..
1Taubman's criticism of the
Philharmonic to see if he had
eany suggestions which are Of
value to the National SYM
-phony.
: The situations of the two
.orchestras are. of course, not
necessarily similar. The Phil
harmonic is ia years old, and
1has been considered one of the
half dozen finest orcheStras in
4 he world. It's reputation
snakes its present decline,
which, I believe, is generally
conceded, unusually conspicu-
sous. The National Symphony,
sone the other hand is a young
orchestra which during the
last three or four years has
attained technical proficiency
st has never before had.
While we can expect and hope
for the improvement possible
in every living organism. the
National, unlike the Philhar-
smonic pictured by Mr.. Taub-
man, is not run down, inept,
careless and imprecise.
. Mr.. Taubman recommends
sthe removal of Dmitri Mitrop-
@oulos, the conductor of the
philharmonic He :. "haS not
established his capacities as an
orchestral drillmaster. 1t may
seven be asked whether he cares
about refinementS of eXecu-
.tion. He is a serious, dedi-
seated musician, with strong
sympathies for the repertory
of the late 10Th century and
for certain areas of goth CEN
fury music. His flair is for
dramatic music and he can
communicate an almost fever
ish intensity. Such virtues,
applied to classic and early
romantic music become fall
ings. In short, Mr.. Mitrop-
ouloS is not at his best in an
important area of the orches-
tra's repertoire"
Matter of Tastes
No one could say of Howard
Mitchell that his abilities as an
orchestral drillmaster are in
doubt, or that he does not care
about refinements of execu-
ton. He has developed the
orchestra from a provincial
organization to one of the most
highly trained bands in the
country. He is not unlike MIR.
Taubman's Mitropoulos. how
ever, in the unecleticism of his
tastes and his conspicuously
greater success with Rach-
fl1aninoff, Strauss, Debussy,
Tchaikovsky and Creston than
with the classic masters. Per-
haps. though, Mr.. Taubman's
riesidiratum is impractical. for
few artists are as at home in
one field of endeavor as an
other and. at any rate. it can
be argued cogently that the
modern symphony orchestra is
not by nature ideally suited to
Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and
Vivaldi.
Mr.. Taubman is unhappy
about the Philharmonic'S
choice of soloists and its pro-
grams. He makes the start
ingly iconoclastic and revolu-
tionary observation that THE
music, of course, provides any
orchestra with its funda-
mental excuse for being" He
feels that the big name artists
have edged out most of the
younger talent which the
Philharmonic's audience has a
right to hear an that the
arrangement of programs APP
pear to be haphazard and de-
pendent on the soloists and
conductors who happen to be
engaged for the season :"
He advises: Make the music
the point of departure for the
seasons plans"
We have the same problem
here. The cause of our rather
unimaginative programs is, l
think. largely financial. Next
season. for example. each Of
our subscription concerts will
be given twice. Dr.. Mitchell
and Ralph Black, the manager,
feel that they must have a big
name artist, either as soloist
or conductor, for each of these
pairs. for it is only by at
tracing a large fringe audi
ence with the bait of the big
name" backed up by reputa-
ton, by press agentry, by the
big record companies. even by
television, that they think they
can hope for a full house.
Now the Hesses. the Heifetzes.
the Rubinsteins can usually
command a bigger fee playing
for Hayes Concerts. where
there is no orchestra TO be
paid. than they can with the
Symphony. When they do
1~A a &