Evening star., 1961-12-31

although IL dld stop 10 per
cent of the audience, soloiSt
Mischa Elman, the entire
Howard University Choir.
and a good number of Or
chestra men. The concert
marked a clear advance in
the quality of the music
programed-Vivaldi, Tchai-
kovsky, Gershwin, Randall
Thompson, and a specially
commissioned work by John
La MOntaine.
FEBRUARY - The Opera
Society mounted an uncut
Mozart "Idomeneo" with in
different success and loud
eclat, while the Library of
Congress (of all places
snatched off the operatic
honors with the world pre-
miere of Hugo WeiSgall's
enigmatic "Purgatory," a
word-f -for-word setting of
w. B. Yeats play. A lesser
known Soviet pianist, Dimi-
tri BashkirOv, made a strong
impression in a taxing Lisner
recital, and the young Ameri-
can, Theodore Lettvin, once
again performed brilliantly
in a Phillips Gallery appear
ance.
MISUNDERSTANDING was
a superb concert by the
Robert Shaw ChOrale, fea-
turing a superb performance
OF Carissimi's Jephtha. An
extraordinary business was
the appearance of Artur Ru-
binstein playing chamber
music with the Budapest
String Quartet at the Library
of Congress. Otherwise, the
month, which promised much,
turned out to be rather dis
appointing. Major recitalS by
Van Cliburn (in which he
arrived half-hour late)
Birgit Nilsson, and even the
well-nigh perfect Victoria De
Los Angeles were not up to
expectations. Washington got
its first taste in a long time
of the Cleveland Orchestra
under George Sell.
APRIL - Everything else
was pretty well thrown in the
background by the over
whelming Second Inter-
American Music Festival, in
volving five symphony Or
chestras, three chamber music
groups, 10 soloists. and the
public bow Of Howard Uni
versity's CramtOn Auditorium
very successfully as concert
hall, World premieres were
rife during the II concerts
presented. Alberto Ginastera
OF Argentina emerged from
the festival as clearly one of
the worlds leading compos-
erS, scoring a spectacular tri-
umph with his "Cantata para
America Magica" and a SEN
sational one with his Piano
Concerto. Performing stars
were the brilliant young pian-
iSt JOaO Carlos Martins and
an amazing soprano from
South America. Raquel Ado
naylO. Others who came out
OF the marathon with en-
hanced regulations as Gre
ators were Canada's Harry
SOmerS, Cuba'S AureliO de Ia
Vega, Colombia'S Fabio Con-
ZaleZ-Zuleta, and Washing
tons own Robert Evett. An
international tempest-in-a-
teapot blew up over a trun-
Gated premiere of the Gus
tavO Becerra Piano Concerto.
April's also-rans included the
OSW production of Carmen"
and a Constitution Hall ap-
pearance of the COncertge-
bOuw Orchestra of Amster-
dam.
MAY-This month was also
dominated by festivals, what
with Richard Bales putting
on his 18th annual American
Music Festival at the Ma
tional Gallery and a new en-
try at American University
organized by George Steiner,
a Contemporary Music Fes-
tival. Growing event of the
Gallery concerts was the
world premiere of a SYM
phony by the Rev. Russell
WOOllen. his first. AU stressed
quantity. what with Al new
works (27 of them world pre-
mieres) performed in four
days, and togetherness, what
with 40 composers floating
around on campus talking
about common problems. New