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14
THH MUSIC TIRADE REVIEW
part. If Miss Strong is not stronger than
she was at her last appearance in this city
there is no reason why Miss Tracey should
not have been a very satisfactory substitute.
Pascal, the Chopin player with a Men-
delssohnian face, gave a piano recital at
Sherry's early in the month. He played
to a fine audience and was for the greater
part skillful in his presentation of a Chopin
program. He has much poetry and deli-
cacy of touch, and there is a certain degree
of dreaminess perhaps not amiss in Chopin.
In the larger numbers his technic was not
TPHERE were so many concerts during always satisfying, but on the whole he
* the month just past, that it would met with a cordial reception which was
take a pen fitted out with Pegasus wings well deserved.
to hope to accomplish any part of a record.
* * * * *
However, here are a few things that hap-
A child prodigy, to the notion of this
pened. The supreme musical event was critic, has no place upon the concert stage
the visit of the Boston Symphony, the and certainly none in a critical review, but
first concert having as soloist, Gabrilo- this remarkably gifted little child, Hattie
witsch, who gave a superb presentation of Scholder, has so much to recommend her
the Schumann piano concerto; the second that it is impossible not to express, at
one presented Franz Kneisel, who played least, wonder at her powers. She gave a
the Brahms violin concerto in D major. concert at Mendelssohn Hall, with orches-
It would be hard to conceive a more pol- tra conducted by Arthur Mees. She played
ished, more finished, more exquisite pres- the Hungarian Fantasie, of Liszt, which is
entation than this admirable violinist gave. a tour de force with all of the pianists, no
Even those who openly dislike Brahms matter how old or skilled, and it is but fair
must have admired that which Kneisel gave to say, that she played it marvelously.
to them. Kneisel lacked nothing in tem- She played Chopin and Mozart as well. If
perament or poetic delivery, and brought she be kept from the public and allowed to
out every beauty of the composition. develop physically and mentally, she should
The orchestral numbers and program become an artist of rare qualities.
»
¥•
*
•
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arrangement were delightful, and Ger-
There
have
been
several
orchestral
con-
icke never seemed more masterful
than in his conducting of the beautiful certs during the month, one of the most
Brahms C minor Symphony. A novelty enjoyable having been the second of the
that was extremely pleasing due to its series of old classics that Sam Franko is
coloring, orchestration and general musi- giving. Indeed, besides giving patronage
cianship was the Oresteia of /Eschylus to the concerts one owes him a debt of
by Taneyeff, a professor of harmony at the thanks for unearthing these works, if only
Moscow Conservatory. The overture is for the one time. The numbers are given
not necessarily reminiscent of anything, a very intelligent and satisfactory presen-
yet one can not forget the great Russian tation, in which simplicity seems to be the
colorist, Tschaikowsky. The orchestra was dominant note. It takes a sincere musi-
at its best and the audience shared its cian, as is Franko, to have thought of this
plan. Mackenzie Gordon was the assist-
enthusiasm.
ing artist, and I had not heard him for
Sembrich gave three song recitals, and some years. I have never heard such a
Carnegie Hall was filled to its utmost each remarkable advance as is noticeable in his
time. Criticism is out of question. She delicious tenor voice. His tone placing is
represented the embodiment of everything flawless, enabling him to sing with an ease
that is great in art. Vocally she is beyond that is delightful and restful to his hearers.
and above everybody else, and artistically— I want to hear him again; in a modern pro-
well there is no limit to her art. In all gram he must be charming.
languages, in all styles, she is perfection.
Another concert that pleased its large
Ludovico Breitner, the French pianist, and fashionable clientele was that given
played the accompaniments for the first by the Women's String Orchestra under
concert, and Luckstone played the other Carl Lachmund's direction. It is no new
concerts, due to Breitner's out of town en- fact that the orchestra plays very well and
gagements.
shows that it is a serious and hard working
organization. In selections, too, the pro-
Miss Tracey gave a song recital which moters were very happy, for the program
may be dismissed with a very few words. opened with a Bach number, and included
She has some good notes, but did not stay a pleasing novelty by Mieczslaw Karlowiez.
on the pitch half the time. In fact, it was The soloists were Charlotte Maconda and
shown rather definitely that it was not her Helen Marie Burr. Of Maconda I wrote
size that kept her off the Metropolitan some years ago in most glowing terms,
English Opera stage. She sang several and see no reason to say otherwise now,
beautiful new songs, some with good style unless I might add that she has broadened
and some without aforesaid necessity. to a considerable extent. Miss Burr played
Miss Tracey was called upon to play Aida well, and both were received with much
with the Grau Opera Company to substi- enthusiasm.
tute at a few moments' notice for Miss
Susan Strong, who was to have taken the
Another attempt at making orchestral
music popular is being done by a number
of musicians under direction of F. X. Arens
who are giving a series of concerts at the
large Cooper Union Institute Hall. They
are giving good music and attractive solo-
ists for a very small amount of money and
it is sincerely to be hoped that the effort
will succeed, for it is in a good cause. The
soloist of the first concert was Alfred E.
Holmes, baritone, who sang well and was
much appreciated.
In February this orchestra is to have the
assistance of Heinrich Gebhardt, that most
excellent young pianist of Boston. It would
be preferable, of course, to hear Gebhardt
with the Boston symphony, for that is
where he belongs.
The Rubinstein Club gave one of the
concerts for which it is well known. Un-
der the firm baton of W. R. Chapman, the
ladies sang in a highly commendable way.
Some of the selections were not what a
classicist might ask for, but they were well
done. It is a pity that Armande Lecomte
was not the only soloist, for he was most
enjoyable and upon this occasion sang ex-
tremely well. He has a fine, pure baritone
of great range, and his style is good; that
his ease, stage presence and personality
are faultless will be understood from the
fact that he is an opera singer from the
Italian opera houses, and he is an artist.
Scognomillo, 'cellist, and Massimi, tenor,
also took part. The concert occurred in
the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom.
At the same hour in the small ballroom
a concert was given by Mr. and Mrs. Del-
haze-Wickes, at which they had the assist-
ance of the Kaltenborn quartet. Mrs.
Delhaze-Wickes is a pianist of real merit
and in all of her work was convincing and
authoritative. Arthur Donaldson Wickes,
violinist, was agreeable, but of less impor-
tance than the pianist.
December was replete with recitals
not of an ordinary nature, but by the very
best artists and they were appreciated as
such. The month was also notable for
presenting one of the finest pianists that
the present day has to offer. Harold Bauer
made his initial appearance in New York
as assisting artist with the Kneisel quar-
tet. The concert was one of the most de-
lightful of the season presenting as it did
Kneisel and Bauer in the Kreutzer Sonata.
The reading was one rarely temperamen-
tal. In some of the great climaxes the
pianist had a tendency to dominate, but so
artistic, so clearly defined was every phrase
and such harmony of thought existed be-
tween the two interpreters that this flaw
only served to accentuate the rest of the
perfection. The Schumann quintet was
as near perfection as the hand of man ever
gets. So much for the Kneisel quartet.
When Bauer appeared in his own recital
he was no stranger, but few were prepared
to hear an artist of such quality. His open-
ing number was the Beethoven Sonata
Opus i n , which, to be perfectly truthful,
is wearisome and heavy. He was no more
interesting in this than other artists are,
but in the balance of the program he re-
vealed the rich coloring, the delicate shad-
ings, the dignified, masterful conceptions