MUSIC
THE PROMENADES
THERE was nothing to be done but to swoon at the Queen's Hall on September 23rd, and it was sad to watch the promenaders swaying to and fro, with no means of taking up a more aesthetic and reclining pose. I, in my well-sprung seat, could swoon and swoon again, first to Elgar's "Sea Pictures," then to the sweet breath of Delius' Matins and Evensong, then, perforce, to the sultry sounds of Raehmaninov's Pianoforte Concerto (No. 2), which were 'relieved a little by Miss Irene Scharrer's precision, and finally to the fluent and sensuous music of Dohnanyi's Orchestral .:Suite (Op. 19).• This work was finely played, so finely that we easily forgave a slight blemish in the horns at one point. Dolumnyi cannot be said to continue in this Suite as well as he begins, but he always compels admiration through his easy control of tonality. He knows the country of "Equal Temperament" so well that he can always leave the beaten track without fear to exploit new ways and discover new points of vantage ; and, having discovered, he swiftly returns at that moment when you think him most distant and irrevocable.
I confess that I attended this concert chiefly to hear Mr. Gordon Jacob's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. I hardly know what I expected, but I was disappointed. It was all very much like the student-music one hears at a Patron's Fund Rehearsal at the Royal College of Music. Those rehearsals are admirable in purpose and achievement alike ; but we are not justified in asking a promenade audience to stand by while young composers experiment with the orchestra.
BASIL MAINE.
Previous page
