35 MUSICAL COURIER January 12, 1922 Remarkable Russian” ROSING, Photo by Morse )lies climax. To gain these ends he uses unashamed vhat the vestal virgins of song call vocal tricks—the alsetto, for example, or the long-sustained note, ;welled, diminished, melted almost inaudibly into the lir. He uses them, however, not as display in shallow jaili-Curcian or Tetrazzinian fashion, but to achieve i discoverable point in his vocal design. Above all jlse, Mr. Rosing would color his tones and impress ipon his hearers the personage, the passion, the pic-ure of music and verse as they have stirred his ;pint. If the accepted arts of song will so serve him, ie uses them expertly, effectively. If they are less uable he chooses his own means, employs them m !is own way. He hesitates no more over a merely hyihmed “song-speech” or glorified “parlando” than ie does over face and body aflame, no less than his .ones, upon the audience. Again out of Russia comes ‘the new singing.” Blessed land, whence always here is something new! To such pitch has Mr. Rosing carried characterizing purpose and projecting power that the listener forgets the song in the singer. A more personal concert than that of Tuesday Boston has not heard for many a day. Not even Chaliapin’s were more pervaded by a single spirit. All these pieces—of the folk of “oppression and suffering,” of "love,” of “humor and satire”—Mr. Rosing had schemed and assorted into a programme “The Soul of Russia.” For most of us listeners, the singer himself was “The Soul of Russia”—and also his own soul released. With his tones he characterized and in them Dargomyzsky’s drunken, suspicious miller, Borodin’s fantastic figure of conceit. Rubinstein’s prisoner with straining eagle beside him, the peasant whining for alms, the peasant vaguely, noisily elate—all took life voice, mood, individuality. The hearer heard, saw, knew. Little need had Mr. Rosing of grimace or gesture—save as these means better heated his own inner fires. He was quite as graphic when he merely stood and sang, with body tense and hands as tensely clasped. With his tones he pictured—and the listening ear opened the seeing eye over the blank horizons of endless steppe—into the snowflakes curling, curling in Grechaninov’s fall of rhythmic figures—into the rain which the peasant craves; along with the tourist of Glinbra’s ironic journeying. Various the scene, yet always the truth, and also the vision,' in this tone-picturing. Least of histrionic alloy is there in Mr. Rosing when he so sings in pure metal of the singer. Again the tones were the voice of passion and then, most of all, he penetrated his hearers deep with illusion. The delirium of the starved peasant crying to his barren lands, rose to tragic immensity wringing the withers of the soul. To might and majesty—the great cry of the heart of a race assembled, multiplied, released—rose Grechaninov’s invocation to Russia. Out of himself as much as from music and verse, Mr. Rosing made these magnificences. Let the body, the head, flung back almost in contortion, the tone like to catapult in descent upon the audience, the swift turn, the sudden gesture go for the accessory histrionic means they sincerely are. It is the transmitting, the impassioning power of Mr. Rosing that conveys such sensation. Intimacies no less than splendors his tones also command—the ache of lover’s longing remembering even in the chaste voice of Rakhmaninov, the pang that is both the joy and pain of lovers’ fleeting ecstasy. In this speech of song go also the ironies, the mockeries, the little thoughts and moods and impulses half felt, oftenest barely spoken. There is rhetoric in such singing but an honest, living rhetoric. Infinitely more are the imagination, the passion, the power. Backwaters in the instincts of the listeners stir and heat to such molten candors.—Boston Transcript, Wednesday, January 4, 1922. ROSING, REMARKABLE !RUSSIAN A Singer Bearing Personage, Picture, Passion in His Tones—Again the Expressive Arts of Song. HEREABOUTS the Russian background to Vladimir Rosing is for the present impenetrable. To see him on the stage of Jordan Hall, last evening, at his first concert in Boston—two more are to come on Monday and Wednesday evenings of next week—was to discover him as altogether Russian. His brown aquiline face, with arching eyebrows and forehead, wears an unmistakable Slavic physiognomy. His short and sturdy body, swaying as he walks, bears out the impression. His ease with English in occasional and brief “forewords” to the audience, proved his Russian gift of tongues; while as soon as he had sung a piece or two, his Russian range, intensity and candor of emotion stood clear. Most of us in the Western World heard first of Mr. Rosing when—exile escaped from his own country—he descended a year or two ago upon British concert-halls. There he won quickly no little note, no small public; while discriminating-reviewers worthy of trust, warmly yet persuasively praised him—Mr. Newman, Mr. Colles, Mr. Langford. Often and with admiration, the major cities of Britain heard him as singer in his own concerts, as “assisting artist” to orchestra. Once and again, he even tried his fortunes in opera. Now Mr. Rosing is venturing the United States. Last month New York knew him; the reviewers—for the most part a village-folk to be matched in provinciality only in petty German cities —were negligent and negligible; but stirred audiences heard, applauded and waxed in admiration. Now comes the turn of Boston. To its credit be it said, a numerous audience listened raptly, clapped genuinely; while the company was promisingly divided between Russians and Americans. At the least, a few here, if not in New York, were aware of the coming of an unusual, an engrossing singer. Mr. Rosing’s voice is a tenor. Heard in stripped song, with neither characterization nor outpoured passion to cloak them, his tones are of clear Italian quality, even as Russian music, in lyrical flow in the opera house, often becomes Italianate. By this token, Mr. Rosing sings vibrantly, elastically, freely, clearly, yet now and again with a perceptible “whiteness,” with play of that plaintive note which in Italian song— and at passing moments with him—easily becomes nasal and wiry. Evidently he is a well schooled and thoroughly practised singer. When he believes that pure song is voice to the music in hand, he sings with clear regard for well-shaped transparent tone, sustained line, warm, felicitous Italian phrasing, adept modulation, spun transition, plastic progress, apt climax. Upon few pieces, however, did he choose yesterday to ply these abilities. Yet always he sang with keen sense of vocal design and from full and ready vocal skill. Usually, Mr. Rosing prefers to make his song an insistently expressive art. In his tones he would define and project character; summon picture and vision; evoke and convey passions of the mind, the soul, the body. And he would do all these things to the utmost. For such purpose, he bends or breaks rhythms, chops or fuses phrases, zigzags the melodic line, sharply changes pace or accent, emphasizes contrast, multi- Management: ANTONIA SAWYER, Inc., Aeolian Hall New York AEOLIAN-VOCALION STEINWAY PIANO Malkin’s “Hat in the Ring” Manfred Malkin, one of the most versatile pianists of the day, has “thrown his hat in the ring,” this time entering the concert field with the determination to win universal recognition as an artist of the foremost rank, which he deserves, and which has already been given him by a great MANFRED MALKIN number of his admirers. His announced two recitals in Carnegie Hall, New York, created a genuine interest among students, music lovers and artists. At the first recital, January 9, he played: organ prelude and fugue, A minor, Bach-Liszt; sonata, op. 57, Beethoven; romance, F sharp major, Schumann; prelude, B minor, Mendelssohn; “The Little Shepherd,” “Golliwog’s Cake Walk,” “La Danse,” Debussy ; “Carnaval,” Schumann. The second recital, March 13, will be devoted entirely to Chopin’s works. He is also to fill dates in other cities, and a tour for next season is being arranged, also appearances as soloist with orchestras. Mr. Malkin has been spoken of as one of the few great artists who play equally well Bach and Debussy, Beethoven and Chopin, and also Schumann and Mozart, thus fully justifying his reputation as a most versatile artist. Helen Moller’s Begins Dance Recitals In her new “Little Theater,” atop the Lexington Opera House, Helen Moller opened her series of dance recitals January 5. The initial program was given entirely, with one exception, by Miss Moller’s pupils, and, as in past years, it was a treat indeed. This one exception was the “Elegy—Unknown Grave,” presented by Miss Moller herself with all the fine terpsichorean art for which she is known. She was recalled numerous times, but would not repeat it. The star of the evening was the little tot who danced to Nevin’s “Narcissus.” Those who attended these dance evenings last year will quickly recall her. There were other delightful numbers also, danced by the older girls, and each in turn was heartily applauded. The complete program follows: Dawn ...................................................... Nevin Serenade ................................................. Drigo Autumn ................................................ Moszkowski Liebestraum ................................................ Liszt Gavotte ................................................... Mozart Souvenir ,.............................................. Drdla Valse Petite ............................................ Herbert Reflections in the Water................................ Debussy Morning ................................................... Grieg Ase’s Death ................................................ Grieg The Swan ............................................. Saint-Saëns Etude ..................................................... Friml Etude ................................................. Chopin The Greek Run ............................................. Grieg Narcissus ................................................ Nevin Spring Voices ...................................... Strauss Llebesfreud ......................................... Kreisler Musette .................................................. Gluck Rondino .............................................. Kreisler Etude .................................................. Chopin To a Waterlily ..........................................MacDowell Valse ................................................... Chopin Minuet ................................................. Mirovitch Elegy—Unknown Grave ..................................... Massenet Butterfllies to Fountains ............................. Chopin Pan .................................................... Jarnfelte Bacchanal ............................................. Vieuxtemps Jean Stockwell was the violinist and Max Liebling the pianist. Alice Spaulding Pupils in Xmas Play A very attractive and enjoyable little Christmas play, consisting of song, speech and dance, was given by the pupils and Music Club members of Alice M. Spaulding, at her Manhattan studio, 234 West 74th street, on the afternoon of December 28. The Christmas Fairy was Edna Wolff; Bonbon Fairy, Elsie Mansbach; Jack Frost, Jack Darley; Little Popcorn, Rosalie Klein; Little ;Mother, Gertrude Gurvitch; Christmas Tree, Bella Lieberman. Others taking part were Lilly Lieberman, Lilly Tanzer, Alfred Mansbach, Bella and Freda Bernstein, and Beulah Bandes, assisted by Agnes May Martin. Bachaus in Third New York Recital Bachaus gives his third piano recital at the Town Hall on Saturday afternoon, January 28.