Concerts Reviewed

November 26, 1946 (Salle Pleyel, Société des Concerts)

Symphony no. 92 in G major, Hob. 1:92, Franz Joseph Haydn

Siegfried Idyll, WWV 103, Richard Wagner

Symphony no. 9 in C major, D. 944, “'The Great,” Franz Schubert

November 29, 1946 (Salle Pleyel, Concerts Lamoureux)

Overture, Sir William Walton

Pamir, suite, Claude Delvincourt

Prélude, adagio, and choral varié sir le “Veni Creator” op. 4, Maurice Duruflé

Psaume LVI, Jean Rivier

Concerto, Edmund Pendleton

December 1, 1946 (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Société des Concerts)

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Claude Debussy

Symphony no. 41 “Jupiter,” C major (K. 551), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” (K. 525), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony no. 7, A major, op. 92, Ludwig van Beethoven

December 2, 1946 (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Quatuor Calvet and Trio Pasquier)

Petit Trio, Jean Françaix

Quartet, Darius Milhaud

Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Albert Roussel

String Quartet, Maurice Ravel

“You don't know,” one of the musicians for the Société des Concerts told me, “what a joy it has been to work, to play under the direction of Bruno Walter. His technique is limitless, his love for music absolutely selfless, and he exudes something so irresistible, so lovable, in the seventeenth-century sense of the word. The rehearsals went by too quickly. And yet, God knows we are saturated with music.”

The audience was not mistaken; Bruno Walter must have felt the quality of the enthusiasm he inspired. Why is Haydn so rarely performed? His music is among the most beautiful there is, of such admirable invention and freshness. And what a benificent influence it exerts, so simple on the one hand, so learned on the other! Who will ever be able to explain why such a great musician should be so neglected?

Marvelous concert on Monday at the Champs-Élysées: Calvet Quartet, Pasquier Trio. The acoustics of the hall are exceptionally good, everything there is favorable: the proportions, the arrangement. One might worry, however, that the setting was perhaps a bit large for a string quartet, not to mention a trio! What were Roussel's trio, Milhaud's quartet, and, especially, the little trio by Jean Françaix going to do in it? We maintain, in spite of all our experiences, a disarming naïvety. We continue to confuse sobriety with poverty, power with quantity. Has Erik Satie's lesson served no purpose, and what of Fauré’s, or Stravinsky’s?