THE MUSIC BOX

A small house of hot weather concert-goers enthusiastically received the first of a series of summer concerts by a small group of players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra Sunday afternoon in-Sander Theatre. The 15-piece orchestra opened this all-Mozart program with the light and sparkling Divertimento in D. Major (K. 251), directed by Boris Goldovsky with athletic gusto. Mr. Gold-ovsky's conducting technique shows in many respects the influence of Kousse-vitsky, with the addition, however, of more vigorous motion of the hands in lnd cating the smaller nuances. Fornand Gillet distinguished himself in several difficult oboe, passages, but Mrs. Goldovsky's rendering of the three Mozart arias was somewhat less than Brilliant. Her voice, though warm in tone, was lacking in firmness at times, and seemed strained on the high notes. The extreme range of the first aria, however, (low A to high C) may account for some of this difficulty. Richard Burgin, concert master of the Boston Symphony, demonstrated his remarkable precision and control in the "Haffner" Serenade in D major (K. 250), although two of his cadenzas seemed some what too romantic for a Mozart concerto.

The soloist and conductor changed places after the intermission for the performance of the Piano Concerto in G. major (K, 453), which Goldovsky performed with delicacy and restraint, although it seemed to me that the orchestra at times tended to drown out the soloist, and the horn due muffed each of their sole entrances.

Some 40 members of the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society accepted the invitation of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to attend the opening concert ad helped fill the first floor of Sanders, but future concerts (of this series, in which they will take part August-15.16) will probably have to be better attended by the Cambridge public if these concerts are to be a financial success.