FOURTH SYMPHONY CONCERT AT SANDERS

Thursday evening the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux conducting, gave its fourth concert at Sanders Theatre. Mr. Paul Kochanski was the soloist. The program was as follows: Massenet, Overture to "Phedre"; Bruch, Fantasy on Scottish Airs for violin and orchestra; Schonberg, "Verklarte Nacht" for strings alone; and Rimsky-Korsakow, "Night on Mount Triglav" from "Mlada".

The overture to "Phedre" made a brilliant opening to the concert. This work shows Massenet as a master; it is colorful and has the force which "Thais" lacks. In the quieter and more plaintive passages it does not become the perfumed music we are accustomed to associate with Massenet.

Mr. Kochanski was enthusiastically received. His tone, while light, was charmingly lyric, and the rapid and laborious succession of double-stopped chords showed what a fine master of technique he is. Why he should have chosen the Bruch Fantasy to play, we cannot imagine. It is far too long, and the accompaniment is so heavy that it completely drowns out the violin on many occasions. There is little evidence of any Scottish characteristics except when the folk tunes themselves appear. At times we are reminded of an inferir "Rheingold". The work, however, has always been a favorite with violinists as it is understandingly written for the instrument, and is not too difficult for the public to comprehend.

The Schonberg Sextette is an exceedingly interesting work although it fares better perhaps in its original form than as arranged for string orchestra. It, too, could well stand cutting in half. This music to Dehmel's erotic poem is morbid and depressing, like a sombre engraving of dark greys and blacks which has only two flashes of white to relieve the monotony. These flashes occur, one in the middle in F sharp major and at the end in D major, when a sound like the rustling of wings comes from the violins. We cannot overlook the finished playing of the orchestra under the skilled leadership of Mr. Monteux.

The concert closed with the best performance of the excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakow's "Mlada" given by the orchestra this season. Musically this work is not of as great importance as some of his others. The last pages are weak and had to be rearranged by Mr. Monteux, who besides made many cuts to good advantage. The scoring is curiously complex and difficult. The coloring and rhythms, however, are marvelous, and we are constantly hearing novel and piquant effects as in the trilling and warbling of the wind instrucments in the Cleopatra episode. It is interesting to note that the Rondo Infernale is a direct forerunner of the Katschei dance in Strawinsky's "Oiseau de Feu", and a good instance of the influence of master over pupil. Little wonder that "Mlada" is not well known. The scenic demands are enormous--from the Baltic to the Nile, as vast corps de ballet is needed to mime the spirits of the chief characters, and the score calls for a huge orchestra of some hundred men and such unusual instruments as lyres and flutes of Pan. However, the third act as presented in concert form, only serves to prove the Rimsky-Korsakow is one of the greatest orchestrators of the age.