Boston Symphony Orchestra

G. Wallace Woodworth and his Cambridge Choristers are in Symphony Hall this weekend. Together with the Boston Symphony, they presented a well-varied program yesterday afternoon that at times verged on the spectacular.

Professor Woodworth first conducted the orchestra in Mozart's seldom performed Symphony No. 34. Written in the happy key of C major, the work is never profound but rolls smoothly and joyously through its three movements. Woodworth may not be the world's greatest interpreter of Mozart, but his conducting was precise and good-humored, and the orchestra, which hasn't played the piece in ten years, responded perfectly.

Richard Sogg '52, stole the show in the first B.S.O. performance of Vaughn Williams' Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune. This is the same work that created such a tremendous impression when played by Harvard and Radcliffe musicians in Sanders Theatre last month. Sogg handled the pyrotechnics of the piano part with understanding and showmanship. He didn't sound quite as exciting as he did last month, but that might have been due to the more vital orchestral accompaniment, or to the less brilliant tone of the Baldwin piano. The Radcliffe Choral Society and Harvard Glee Club were perfect in their attacks, and luminous in tone quality. If their enunciation had only been a little better, the performance would have been flawless.

Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is a remarkable piece of dramatic music. Its text is a Latin version of a French translation of the Greek tragedy. Stravinsky's music, sometimes wildly discordant, sometimes quietly lyrical, provides a straightforward yet imaginative setting of the theme. The dissonances all mean something--they usually occur at especially dramatic moments (as when Oedipus first realizes that he has killed his father and married his mother) and the result is terrifying. Wesley Addy, beautifully narrating in English, made each section comprehensible; the Orchestra and Harvard Glee Club sounded positively fierce. As for the soloists, only Paul Tibbetts failed to impress me. Because he had to sing way below his normal baritone range, there were many times when his volume was woefully inadequate.

The program will be repeated tonight. Tickets will be hard to get, but well worth the trouble.