27
MUSICAL COURIER
March 2, 1922
Dame is rather attractive (to most of us) and its gargoyles are delightful (so are the grotesque sculptures^ on its portals and about the roof). But Ornstein made it dreadfully ugly in his Notre Dame and now Leginska has made it equally ugly in hers.
This composition lacks pretty nearly everything. It lacks inspiration, it lacks rhythm, it lacks continuity._ It is
ragged, discursive, detached, disjointed. And this is all the more surprising when one compares it with the second Leginska work on this program, the “Scherzo—after Tagore”:	“O mad, superbly drunk; . . . I know ’tis
the height of wisdom to be drunken and go to the dogs.” The only quarrel one might have with Leginska as to her setting of this theme is that it is not mad or drunken enough. It is, however, splendid. The opening motive or subject is one of the finest things it has been this reviewer’s pleasure to hear in modernistic music—and. it is carried through consistently, ruggedly, forcefully. It holds the attention and builds progressively on the emotions. It is vivid, delightful, intense. It obviously gripped the public that attended this concert, and again one may _ be permitted to ask why there was no encore? It was vigorously and insistently demanded.
Ornstein’s cello sonata, op. 52, was the final number, and it made a deep impression. With the exception of the last movement, which has the faults but not the virtues of modernism, it is one of the finest works that Ornstein has put forth. It is full of strength and fluency, the andante mysterious and deeply emotional, the scherzo finely melodic, with its original trio section, and the Finale . . . well, this reviewer finds it holds up badly with the rest. Its tonality is puzzling, while that of the other three movements is clear enough. It has, as has already been said, the faults but not the virtues, of modernism—and the faults
were delightfully played by Mr. Leopold and Carolyn Beebe. The first, “Hill Song” II, received its initial performance in America and, like all Grainger compositions, gained instantaneous recognition. The concluding number comprised two excerpts from Walter Damrosch’s opera, “Cyrano,” Roxane’s aria (beautifully sung by Miss Hoffman), and prelude to Act II, arranged for piano, organ, violin and cello, rendered with excellent tonal balance by Ruth Rapo-port, F. J. Sealy, Margaret Sittig and Carl Dodge.
Ethel Leginska and Hans Kindle.־
Leginska, as composer as well as pianist, and Hans Kindler, the gifted cellist, played a program of concerted music and solos at Aeolian Hall on the evening of February 23, before an audiencè that evidently loved modernism. Much to the delight of the writer of this notice, this audience gave Brahms less applause than any other composer on the program, from which it may be assumed that this reviewer does not find himself enamored of Brahms. Surely not. This cello sonata in E minor, op. 38, full from end to end of melody that is unlovely, was a bore, even when played by such excellent interpretive artists as Leginska and Kindler. The public did not seem to care greatly for it. It is not surprising.
The other old and accepted master on this program was the great Bach, whose unaccompanied cello prelude and fugue in C minor was played by Kindler in such a manner that the player was actually, and without exaggeration, accorded an ovation. Why he did not play an encore is one of those mysteries that the reviewer finds it impossible to solve. However, he did not, and the program proceeded with two piano solos by Leginska : “The Gargoyles of Notre Dame” and “Scherzo, after Tagore.” It is strange that Notre Dame should inspire composers to ugliness? Notre
fails to warm at least one auditor, no matter how often it is heard. Then for contrast came the Rimsky-Korsakoff suite, “Tsar Sultan,” less frequently heard than the “Scheherazade" and not quite so finished as that work; and to end with Goldmark’s “Sakuntala” overture, a work which also is aglow with warm coloring. The orchestra played excellently.
Oratorio Society: Eva Gauthier and Ernest Davis Soloists
To lovers of a capella singing, or in fact choral singing of any kind so long as it is good, the program offered by the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall February 21 was indeed a treat. It is not an easy task to train a body of singers for public performance, to say nothing of a program of real difficulty and one requiring all the fundamental requisites of choral work. However, let it be said first of all, whether the credit is due Conductor Albert Stoessel or to the society’s experience of years’ duration, the singing was fully up to one’s highest expectations and the program thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. It is indeed an experience worth while to have worked under a competent conductor and to see his efforts reap fruit in the form of enthusiastic plaudits from a large audience must be a genuine satisfaction.
Conductor Stoessel certainly put his youth and energy into the training of this choral body—and the demonstration was well worth while. Throughout there was fine balance of tone, the attacks were excellent and the shadings carried out successfully. The way each singer followed his every look and beat showed conclusively the interest all have in the society’s welfare. Mr. Stoessel deserves great credit for the fine results he has achieved.
The soloists were Eva Gauthier and Ernest Davis, both well known to the concert going public. The former was heard in a varied list of numbers, all of which she sang delightfully. Especially her lower tones were effective, and, it is needless to say, she was enthusiastically applauded and obliged to give encores.
Mr. Davis, who was in fine voice, contributed the incidental solo in “Music in the Mine” (Dett), a sort of negrolike number, with all the swing and rhythm of the popular “spiritual.” Mr. Davis seemed to catch the spirit of this selection and, as a result, scored such a success that he had to do it over again. He has a tenor voice of wide range and excellent quality, and it was to be regretted that he could not be heard also in a group of solos.
The complete program follows:
Sanctus—(From the Missa Papae Marcelli)...........Palestrina
Motet—Jesu Dulcís Memoria...........................Vittoria
Chorals ..............................................  Bach
The Oratorio Society
Kaddisch—(Hebrew)..................Arranged by Maurice Ravel
L’Amour de Moy.............................R. Vaughn Williams
(French 15th Century)
Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?—English...... .Arnold Bax
Air D’Admeto .........................................Handel
Plaisir qui passe
Un Humble Toit...........'............................Haydn
Le Tableau Parlant..................................  Gretry
Air DTsabelle Eva Gauthier
Music of the Russian Church:
O Come, Let Us Worship.......................Rachmaninoff
Laud Ye the Name of the Lord.................Rachmaninoff
The Beatitudes .............................. Tscherepnin
The Oratorio Society
Tryste Noel (First Time)......................Wintter Watts
The Little Shepherd’s Song (First Time).......Wintter Watts
Sorrow of Mydath...........................Charles T. Griffes
Les Petites Ophelies..........................Gabriel Pierne
Pastorale ....................................Igor Stravinsky
A L’Aube Dans La Montagne..................Deodat De Séverac
Seguidilla ...................................Manuel De Falla
Eva Gauthier
In These Delightful, Pleasant	Groves................ Purcell
Ballad of Trees and the Master..................Philip James
Sir Eglamore.......................Air by H. Balfour Gardiner
The New Dawn (First Performance)................Cecil Forsyth
Music in the Mine.............................Nathaniel Dett
Incidental Solo by Ernest Davis
Beat! Beat! Drums! ! (First Performance)......Albert Stoessel
(Set for mixed voices, trumpets and drums)
Leroy Shield was at the piano for Eva Gauthier.
FEBRUARY 22 Josef Hofmann
Josef Hofmann gave his third and last piano recital of the season at Carnegie Hall on February 22, and collected unto himself a holiday matinee audience and much applause. He played the ugly Beethoven sonata in C minor, op. Ill, but made up for it by a lot of popular favorites and numerous encores thoroughly suited to the public taste. How. well the people like the old time things and recognize them was evinced by the burst of applause which interrupted the opening bars of several of these encores. His program disclosed Grieg. Chopin, Hoffmann (with two Fs). Dvorsky (who is Hofmann with one F), Sternberg, Dillon and Liszt—all of which was played with the customary bravoura and force and occasional over-forcing of tone and excessive stamping upon the pedal—whether these are defects or merits one hesitates to say. They certainly lessened no whit the immense success the player scored with his audience. Paderewski does the same things—and is criticized by the press and loved by the public—so who will say what is right? It would be interesting to know what was thought of it by the various pianists in the audience:	Bachaus,
Rachmaninoff, Schelling, and numerous of lesser repute. A great artist, Hofmann, whatever his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities.
FEBRUARY 23
Thursday Morning Music League
The last concert this season by the Thursday Morning Music League was given on February 23 in the Magna-Chordia Music Chambers before a very large and interested audience. Ralph Leopold opened the program with a group of piano solos comprising “Sarabande and Gigue” (from partita in B flat transcribed by Harold Bauer), Bach; two dances by Beethoven-Seiss, and “Humoresque” by Rachmaninoff, with which he scored an overwhelming success. He was obliged to give an added number. Grace Hoffman followed with a group of songs by Horsman, Sibella, Grainger and MacFadyen, and later was heard in a second group by Farley, Hageman and Terry. She also won the hearts of her audience and responded with an insistent encore.
Two compositions by Percy Grainger—"Hill Song” and children’s march, “Over the Hills and Far Away”—
Founded 1895
T5he
CINCINNATI
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
EUGENE YSAYE, Conductor
Enjoying the Most Successful Season In its Interesting History
© Mishkin
Season 1922-23 Now Booking for
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A. F. THIELE, Manager
No. 12 Times-Star Building,	Cincinnati, Ohio