Only One-Third of Glee Club Asked For Annual Pension Fund Concert

For the first time in over 25 years, the full chorus of the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society will not sing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at its annual Pension Fund concert this spring.

Charles Munch, conductor of the Boston Symphony, broke with a tradition long upheld by his predecessor, Serge Koussevitsky, when he asked only a third of the chorus to sing at the April 24 concert.

Munch's action, according to a spokesman for the Glee Club, may be the result of his dissatisfaction with the full chorus' work in last year's Pension Fund concert. Munch prefers to work with a smaller and more select group, the spokesman said.

Spokesman for the orchestra pointed out that the Symphony Hall stage is not large enough to accommodate the Glee Club's full chorus of nearly three hundred. In past years the stage has been extended at the expense of several rows of orchestra seats.

Glee Club officials expressed hope that this will not mark the end of the long tradition of concerts with the full Glee Club participating.

If Munch attends this Wednesday's Glee Club concert, the spokesman hopes that the performance will change Munch's mind.