June 22, 19 22
MUSICAL COURIER
38
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
plished the elaborations as to roulade and phrase and all that sort of thing, in correct technical style, and yielding throat that gave fluidity to the fast moving phrases.—Wilkes Barre Times Leader.
Mrs. Hagar was soloist recently at the first public concert given by the chorus of the West Philadelphia Musical Association and, according to The News, immediately reached the hearts of the audience. The same paper further stated:
Repeated encores attested to her meritorious rendition of several beautiful numbers. Her rendition of the Polonaise from “Mignon” particularly displayed her rare ability in coloratura work. This charming singer has well earned the reputation of being Philadelphia’s foremost coloratura soprano.
On June 18 Mrs. Hagar opened the summer series of symphony concerts on the Steel Pier, Atlantic City, N. J., and the following evening she sang for the Master Car Builders in convention in that city.
Grainger Receives Warm Tribute
Percy Grainger scored one of the biggest triumphs of his entire professional career recently when he appeared in Los Angeles, Cal. Bruno David Ussher in the Los Angeles Saturday Night, April 29, 1922, writes as follows:
After leaving Percy Grainger’s momentous piano recital I had in mind to start this review with an analytical attempt trying to show why Grainger is a great pianist, a truly great pianist. Grainger’s playing inspires, and I realize now that it would be ludicrous to theorize on his “greatness.” He verily inspired a large audience, not only a few besides myself who always went away musically and personally uplifted. He fully doubled his program, I think, so intent was the desire of hearing him play more. Of course, he gave pleasure, but he did more. He helped us to a vision, helped to hear more between single tones and between single chords than we have heard for a long time. He helped us to realize again what piano playing is, and how music for the piano can sound. (Just as Kreisler or Ysaye is a revelation on the violin.) Truly, Grainger does bring back to us that unalloyed vision of music for the pianoforte. Listen to his Bach. Why we do not hear more Bach generally I have never been able to fathom. I know that there are few who do have the Bach style Grainger seems to possess, as it were, second nature to him. Lo.
Heinrich Gebhard Wins Warm Critical Praise
Heinrich Gebhard, the excellent pianist, continues to stir the admiration of exacting critics with his fine technic and interpretative abilities. Whether as soloist with symphony orchestra, in recital, or as an ensemble artist, Mr. Gebhard’s playing invariably calls forth praise of an unusual nature.
HEINRICH GEBHARD
EDWIN HUGHES
THE EMINENT AMERICAN PIANIST
Management: RAOUL BIAIS	New York City	Personal Address:
1425 Broadway	Steinway Piano 316 West 102od Street
Coach and Accompanist to
MARTINELLI
for six years
Studio: 2231 Broadway, New York
Phone Schuyler 6598
ROXAS
Vocal Coach
E
M
i
L
I
О
HENRY F. SEIBERT
CONCERT ORGANIST
Trinity Church,.......Reading, Pa.
Allen McQUHAE
Tenor
Management MUSIC LEAGUE OF AMERICA 8 East 34th Street, New York
MRS. EDWARD MacDOWELL
Programs of MacDowell Music
Proceeds of these recitals revert unreservedly to the MacDowell Memorial Association.
Address: PETERBORO, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
STEINWAY PIANO
John BLAND TENOR
Master of Calvary Choir	VOICE PRODUCTION
ARTHUR R. HARTINGTON, Assistant
20 East 23rd Street, New York. Telephone 328 Gramercy
SOUSA AND HIS BAND
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA, Conductor
Now Booking Season 1922-1923
HARRY ASKIN, Mgr.
1451 Broadway	New York
© Pitie MacDonald.
PERCY GRAINGER
his Bach is not only ecclesiastic, it is heroic. And what is the “heroic” quality but a more brightly-burning spark of the divine in man ? And that is why Grainger inspires. Because he has the vision. His Bach playing is pianistic perfection.
One may take technic for granted with him. One can but smile at his manner of playing octave runs. But that element alone does not make his Bach ring true. Consciously or not, he plays Bach, with an “organ-instinct,” especially in this instance, of the D major Prelude and Fugue for organ, arranged for piano by Busoni. It is not merely that Grainger in everything he plays and does has intuitive sense of the fitness of contrasts. But you need little imagination to hear in piano playing of Bach the reed and string and brass stops and the pedal basses that constitute an organ. There is in his playing a faculty of organist-like registering as to tone color which is “inspiring,” to employ that uplifting phrase again. To certain amateur gardeners the hoe is a dangerous instrument. So is the pedal to certain professional pianists. Again, as if sitting at an organ console Grainger uses the pedal as Bonnet would use the swell. No chord phrase is blurred, no passage befuddled, when he presses it. And so, whether he plays Chopin, Brahms, Liszt or his own works. His technic, its evenness and endurance, his rhythmic virility, the vitality of his melody playing however subtle in shading. And his phrasing! There is a law of physics as applied to architecture, and to shipbuilding wihljch I cannot recall exactly, but it runs to the extent that in high buildings or long ships, allowance is made by the architect $or freedom of pendulum, which the entire structure must have, else the motion of the earth, the force of the waves would splinter these structures. This inherent resiliency is embodied in Grainger’s phrasing.
Why? Because he does own a sense of musical architecture, of musical form, which gives him a clarity of conception, which is vision-like, hence inspiring to us. To say that he is a poet at the piano would suffice. Strong as his musical individuality as a player or composer is, its charm is evanescent and therefore, fully expressed by this little word so full of meaning. Only of two more among his program numbers would I speak, as what I have said applies to his entire art. I refer to his playing of Paganini• Variations by Brahms. Again that sense of structure. Again that poetic grasp of their message, sending these series of thematic developments out to his audience, not as bits of thematic jugglery, but as poetic units, each of them a poetic ego. Yet one more feature of his program. Few players create such stirring notes of the bass as he does, yet notes of unimpaired beauty and clarity of sound. And true to the same principle he literally “draws” .a singing quality from the piano in his Chopin, a quality which once more opens up a new vision of piano playing.
Even a Grainger review has its limitations as to space under' the autocracy of the editor. Just so much then of his arrangements! of folk-song and folk-dances. They are gems in music, uniting the singing-love of the people with the highest standard of technical׳ means in music. They are inspiring again because the form does not predominate the contents, the message of folk-music. To hear him play them reveals their simplicity and charm, for under his fingers the elegy of Ireland or the buoyant skirl of the Highland bag-pipes speaks from the heart of one people to that of another. Thus, Grainger is a universal musician, one who through the power of his individuality is among the few who claim that yet unconferred degree of “doctor humanis causa.”
Greta Masson Delights Engelwood Audience
When Greta Masson, soprano, and Maurice Dambois, cellist, gave a joint recital at the Woman’s Club of Englewood. N. J., not so long ago, they both scored an emphatic suc-
Thus, after his recent success as soloist with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, James H. Rogers, critic of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote:	“Mr. Gebhard played the ex- ,
tremely difficult piano part of the Pagan Poem with assurance, with abundant spirit and with clear appreciation of its musical values. It was a notably fine performance .	.	.
Mr. Gebhard was stormily applauded, and after several recalls he played an added number.”
After his annual recital in Jordan Hall, the reviewer for the Boston Transcript said:
Heinrich Gehhard’s programme in Jordan Hall last evening, not only served well to display his ripened and distinguished powers, hut it set forth interesting music in a fashion worthy of imitation.
. . . Schumann’s Fantasia contains many of the composer’s typically romantic pages, and into the spirit of these Mr. Gebhard entered with the spontaneity which one always associates with Schumann, the pianist gave so much vitality to the important pages.
. . . Where the adjustment is so delicate, the player can more easily make or mar all by his insight or lack of it. Here again the composer was fortunate in the sensitive and discerning interpretations of Mr. Gebhard. ... In Dehussy, Mr. Gebhard recreated the poetic and colorful sonorities designed by this Frenchman. . . . Mr. Gebhard was among the first to appreciate this music and he plays it with the intimacy of long and sympathetic acquaintance. How refreshing to hear a waltz played without the rhythmic distortions which so many players mistake for expression. Mr. Gebhard happily knows that the sentiment of a waltz is its delectable rhythm and needs none hut the natural fluctuations of tempo. The syncopated first section, for example, was not made to sound like two-four time, hut maintained the piquant cross-accents without loss of rhythm.
The critic of the Christian Science Monitor, covering this same concert, wrote:
It was a pleasure to hear a piece by Bach in its original form and it was also a pleasure to hear Mr. Gebhard play it with warm tone and musical feeling, not in the dry, unemotional manner which so many pianists think to be appropriate of the music of the Leipsic cantor. More of this music would have been both welcome and novel and played in this way would have been a. revelation to many. The pianist’s conception of the great Fantasie was restrained and well-proportioned, the chords of the march were resonant without harshness and the mystical beauty of the last movement was well brought out. . . . The remaining pieces were played in Mr. Gebhard’s accustomed style, with grace and proper poetic feeling. Mr. Gebhard’s playing has so long been familiar that it scarcely requires a detailed analysis. He is a musician whose artistic powers are constantly ripening, and at each hearing it is a pleasure to note his musical growth. His programs always contain a well-balanced selection of the new and old, and reveal a catholic musical taste. His interpretations are always sane and free from obtrusive mannerisms. He is a sincere artist, striving to reveal the beauty of the music which he plays, little concerned with the externals, which are, unfortunately, the end and aim of many virtuosos.
Mr. Gebhard has long ׳been recognized as a superb ensemble artist. After a recent appearance with Jean Bedetti, the solo cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philip Hale stated in the Boston Herald: “The accomplished Mr. Gebhard played delightfully the piano part of the sonatas, with unerring proportion and aesthetic intelligence.” Commenting on Mr. Gebhard’s playing at this concert, Mr. Olin Downes wrote in the Boston Post:	“He, too, has long
since mastered his technical problems, and he played with a discreet sense of values often lacking in even the most distinguished pianists. .	.	. This was a concert by per-
formers who were musicians first and virtuosi afterward.”
Praise of an equally enthusiastic nature followed Mr. Gebhard’s performance of Franck’s beautiful piano quintet with the Burgin string quartet of Boston. Thus, Philip Hale declared that:	“Mr. Gebhard is more than a ‘sound’
ensemble player; he is neither assertive nor obsequious, and he has regard for beauty of tone.”
Emily Stokes Hagar Enthusiastically Received
Appended are some examples of the manner in which the press registered the success of Emily Stokes Hagar after her appearance with the Concordia of Wilkes Barre:
Emily Stokes Hagar was enthusiastically received. Miss Hagar is a coloratura soprano. She revels in vocal technics. Trills and florid cadenzas, notes well above the staff and all passages requiring dexterity, Miss Hagar disposed of with ease and grace. Her voice is clear, under marvelous control and possesses unusual avidity for high notes. In her later songs—songs of a smooth legato character—Miss Hagar’s voice revealed a mere appealing loveliness.—Wilkes Barre Record.
In the “Song of the Open” she soared easily to the high C. —Wilkes Barre Evening News.
Miss Hagar as to stage presence and manner, is winning. . . Her technical equipment was adequate and, in fact, she accom-
For Available Dates Tour Direction	N
C. H. FALK	'
96 Fifth Ave., Room 20, New York	»
or Wolfsohn Bureau, New York	T
J
U
L
E
S
Harpist
Management:
WALTER ANDERSON
Annie Louise
DAVID
Phone: 1212 Bryant	1452 Broadway, N. Y.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Organist and Director of Music, Euclid Ave. Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio.	.
Director, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, Berea, Ohio.
CONCERT ORGANIST—PIANO AND ORGAN STUDIO
For Recitals or Instruction Address, Berea, Ohio
Piano Studio, 707 The Arcade, Cleveland, Ohio.
F L O R E IM C
E	Chicago Grand Opéra
Management: National Concerts, Inc., 1451 Broadway, New York.
SMcCORMACK
EDWIN SCHNEIDER, Accompanist
Manager: CHARLES L. WAGNER
D. F. McSweeney, Associate Manager,
511 Fifth Ave. (Postal Life Bldg.), New York. Steinway Piano Used.
ROMUALDO
SAPIO
Vocal Teacher
Formerly conductor Metropolitan Opera, New York, and European theaters. Coach to Mme. Adelina Patti, Calve¿) Nordica and other celebrities.
CLEMENTINE
DE VERE
Prima Donna Soprano
From Covent Garden, London, Metropolitan	Opera, New
York, etc.	Available for
Opera, Concert and Oratorio. Also:	VOCAL TUITION
Address: 19 Riverside Drive, N. Y. City Phone Schuyler 8399
LEON RAINS
VOCAL INSTRUCTION
Studio: 292 West 92nd Street -	- New York
Telephone Riverside 9486