The Music Box

Serge Koussevitzky said goodbye to Boston Friday and Saturday with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which will long be remembered by those privileged to attend. It was not by any means a definitive performance, however. There were the usual alterations, sacrificing the composer's intentions for Koussevitzky's idea of effect, and the physical limitations of Symphony Hall's stage forced the conductor to use a smaller chorus than is ordinarily employed. But Dr. Koussevitzky's interpretation of Beethoven's masterpiece was one which for sheer beauty and noble concept will seldom be approached.

Everyone participating--conductor, orchestra, soloists, and the Harvard and Radcliffe Glee Club--were on edge for this, the final program of Koussevitzky's 25th year with the Boston Symphony. The result was an intense, sincere performance, the kind that happens on the rare occasions when an orchestra players over its head. But no such playing would have been possible without the years spent by Koussevitzky in perfecting and refining the virtuoso orchestra which he inherited in 1923 from Pierre Monteux.

Koussevitzky's interpretation of the Ninth made clearer and even more awesome the strake simplicity of Beethoven's music. The opening bars of the first movement, just simple open fifths descending in the strings, were built up inexorably to the first statement of the theme by the whole orchestra in unison. It is a simple dominant-tonic progression, the first thing taught in an elementary harmony course. Simple means indeed, but nothing more overpowering has even been written.

Each movement has its own special fascination. The scherzo, probably the finest ever written, is a study in titanic contrasts. One moment the whole orchestra is playing the rhythmic theme louder than would seem possible, and suddenly nothing remains but a rollicking melody for woodwind quartet. Some critics call the third movement too long. They could not be more wrong. After hearing Koussevitzky's interpretation, I could only wish that the movement was twice as long as it is. But Beethoven knew the dangers of satisfaction, and he achieved just the right length.

I would have believed it impossible for double basses and cellos to play so softly and clearly as they did in the famous opening theme of the final "choral" movement. It is playing like this which makes ridiculous the claims of the Ninth Symphony's detractors that the melody is nothing but at "drinking tune." The Glee Club was obviously well trained by Professor Woodworth. They made no slips at all Friday afternoon, and the one minor error, Saturday, when, in one passage Kousse- vitzky cued them in a measure too late, was not their fault. The quartet of soloists included Frances Yeend, soprane; Eunice Alberts, contralto; David Lloyd, tenor, and James Pease, bass. Mr. Pease has a rather rough voice, and his intonation in the opening recitative was not very accurate. But the singing of the other three soloists was fine. The blending of the voices in the ensemble was especially noteworthy.

Koussevitzky opened the program with a spirited reading of Boothoven's charming First Symphony.

Countless Sunday feature articles are going to appear in the next few weeks on Dr. Koussevitzky's career in Boston, but he himself summed it up accurately in his short talk to the audience Saturday. "We have done a tremendous achievement," he said. "We have worked together and created the most perfect instrument that exists in all the world.

"We have helped many composers. We have developed two generations of young composers equal to any artists in the world. And it has been in these 25 years, and in Boston, and in Symphony Hall.

The stimulus Dr. Koussevitzky has given American music is immeasurable, and it is for this achievement, rather than for his interpretive ability, that, I believe, he will be remembered. His contributions to the orchestra will still be noticeable in coming years, and though these years will, undoubtedly be different, there is no reason to believe they will be in any way inferior.

Dr. Koussevitzky concluded his 25 year Tenn by thanking his public for the confidence they have shown in him. It was a confidence that was indeed well justified