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30 WILMETTE .LIFE December 27, 1929 Music News and Events W aIt.er Gtese k tn g, o o Great Artist, C ailed Much. Underated \\'alter Gie seking should have the be nefit of a wider reputation as a great piani st. thinks Emile Vuillermoz, famous Paris critic. In his appearances in Paris he is not enjoying the reputation he deserves, thinks Mr. Vuillermoz. "Here is the man who, from !he purely piani ::rtic point of view, has gone furthe :' t in technical finish," says the critic. "Here is the ace of the keyboard " ·ho is greater than greatest. Xo one el e at the present time-I say no one-is capable of accomplishing, from the professional point of view, ft.·at s equal to those performed by this conjuror o f the piano." He dor not call Gieseking an aerohat of the piano, though, rather saying that he has pushed the refinement of the pianistic art furthest and that he is an interpreter of lofty musicality; that he i~ a complete artist, who ob- Iberian-American Festival tains the most flattering successes. M. Wins Plaudits From Critic V uillermoz gives a picture of the pianIn the recent Iberian-American SYm ist: "Gieseking· installs himself before hi s instrument with the simplicity of a phony festival held at Barcelona, congood workman at his bench. His hands sisting of four concerts, a good deal of take possession of the keys with a symphonic mu sic was played, one fea sort of quiet greed . They do not leave ture being the performance of many them again until the end of the con- works hy composers from Latin America. Jose Suhira, Madrid corresponcert. "This artist proves to us that one dent for the music section of a recent can obtain all the most extraordin.ur issue of the Christian Science Monit or, effects of tone and accent without hav- reports that the fe stival had been oring recourse to desperate flappings of ganized at the International Exhibition the elbow, distortions of the shoulder, by the American deputa.t ion upon high lifts of the forearm and pigeon- broad., generously comprehensive lines. flight playing. He does not think it Not every composer belonging to Spanu seful to attack a note by first of aU ish or Portuguese America was reprerai sing his hand to the height of his sented, and not all the works played eye . For him, the tone of a chord were most representati,·e of the comresounds very well without accompany- posers included, he said, but he grants ing it in the air with a pretentious ges- that the program bo're testimony to ture. As soon as he establishes his the existence of interesting arti stic contact with the keys, he does evc::ry- movements, and that a great \'ariety thing not to interrupt it. That seems of tendencies was displayed. an essential condition of the transmission of his intentions. Wagnerian Operas Enhance "The result obtained defies d.escription. This pianist, who seems to make Current Season'a Offerings no effort of articulation, achieves unDevotees of v\'agnerian opera are imaginable delicacies of touch. The awaiting with keen anticipation the apmost difficult and the most lengthy pearance in Chicago during the v.-eek passages seem always to be but a of Februarv 2 to 8 of the German Grand chord carelessly arpeggioed by a hc1nd Opera con1pany. This group, und.e r proYid.ed with twenty fingers. He is a the direction of S. Hurok, wilt present pianist who could make the hearing of the following \Vagnerian n1asterpieces: a quarter of an hours' scales or exer"Das R h e i n go 1 d/' "Siegfried." cises of Czerny or Clementi exciting. "Tristan und Isolde," "Die \Valkuere." He would gi,·e a pathetic appeal to a "Goetterdaemmerung," "Der Flieg-ende hearing of the Carpentier method, for Hollaender." he obtains fifty different effects from Mozart's "Don Juan" is also scheduled a simple staccato and one hundred in the repertoire of this second Amerivaried nuances in a legato. He begins can tour of the German Opera coma grad.ation from less than pianissimo pany. and carries it to the inaudible. In The Chicago appearance of the sweetne~s and softness, he achieves opera company is sponsored by Bertha paradoxical conquests. In the whole of Ott, Inc. my career as a listener I have never heard the piano played in such a way." Motion' and Lusk's arrangement of a 'Canson-Meditation' by Cottenet which brought demands for .encores." Prof. W. Ballou 111 the Fargo (N. D.) Forum said: "Lusk's hold on the audience was established in the very first group. His own arrangement of the Cottenet 'Chanson-Meditation' has genuine charm, and as an enthusiastic recall, he played Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois splendidly. Among the violinists heard here, Milan Lusk has remarkable personal qualities-especially, directness and force. This appears significantly in the Mendelssohn concerto about which his program was huilt. It is a notoriously trying test to m:tke this stand-by of four-score years and try to freshen a concert audience's interest in it. That is what he does; and he d.oes it by his qualities of directness and force The first allegro has not been played here with such pas sion, and the second allegro, too, taken at its required speed, was singularly vital." Civic Orchestra Presents Declares T oscanini First Concert January 26 Starts Prematurely · The first of this sea son's concerts bv the Chicago Civic orchestra v;ill be g-i,·e n at Orchestra hall Sunday afternoon , January 26. Frederick Stock is the mu . ical director, and Eric De Lamarter, the conductor of this organization. Soloist s of brilliant talent v;ill be g inn participation in the se program s. Three other concerts by the Civic orche stra are scheduled as follow s : February 23, March 30, and May 4. The final appearance will mark the annual festi\·al of the Chicago Music association. There will be no concert in April. on Tour of Europe Arturo Toscanini~s 'grand tour oi Europe with the New York Philharmon ic-Symphony orchestra may be a little pre -mature, thinks Winthrop P . Tryon, music critic for the New York notes of the Christian Science Monitor, in a recent issue of the paper. Yet he think s it is a good thing, and suggests ~ hat Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony orchestra follow Toscanini's example, and that Leopold Stokow. ki do likewise with the Philadelphia or chestra. Mr. Tryon bemoans the fact that the rep~rtoire of the Philharmonic-Sym phony orchestra includes works that French, Swiss, Italian, German, Austrian, Belgian and British orchestra s have in their ordinary repertoire. He say , "They are, as far as I know, to pla y very little American music. Indeed, does much exist that they could, tried they ever so hard, set forth in an in teresting light? No; they ought to wait until some time in the twenty first century before starting out to pu sh upon listeners in Paris, Milan, Yienna! Berlin and London the pretenstons o t Now \ · ork art. Putting to sea in th e year 1930, they undertake the Yoyage prematurely." Ruth Page, Dancer, in Recital Sunday, Dec. 29 Ruth PaRt\ premiere danseuse of the Ra,·inia and Chicago Civic Opera companies, will be seen in joint recital \\'ith Frank Parker. d.iseur, Sunday afternoon, Decelllber 29, at 3 o'clock in the Civic theater. Bertha Ott has arranged this appearance. "Twelfth Night" Is Next Attraction by Shakespeare Cast Turning again to lighter things, Fritz Leiber and hi s company now in their eighth week at the Chicago Civic theatre, under the auspices of the Chicago Civic Shake pcare society, will offer to their patrons for the week commencing Monday evening, December 30, Shakespeare's delightiul though seldom given comedy, "Twelfth Night." Goodman Players to Present "Ivanhoe" at Highland Park School The Goodman Players of Chicago arc to present Sir Walter Scot.t's "Ivanhoe" in the Elm Place school, Htghland Park, Thursday afternoon, January 2 ~t 2:30 o'clock, under auspices of the Htghland Park \¥oman's club. The program has been arranged under the direction of the Literature committee of the Fine Arts department of the club. This play is from Sir \Vatter Scott's novel, one of the classics in fiction literature, a romance of the days of chivalry when Richard the lion-hearted rode to the crusades. The fascinating tale has been made into a play by Muriel Brown, and during its run at the Goodman theater, in the Art institute, Chi cago, it has proved an attraction of su perlative Yalue, delighting both children and adults. Tickets may be secured from Mrs. George Hutchinson, Highland Park 996 ; Mrs. Irving Stieglitz, Highland Park 153, or Mrs. Nathan Klee, Highland Park 2525. Lusk Wins Audiences on Extended Recital Tour began in Texas in l\ovember extended a . far north a s Moorehead, Minn., where h~ played on December 12 on the Artist course nf the Concordia college. Hi · playing made a deep impresion and was much enhanced hy the exquisite acc ompaniment of Katherine Hoffman. former accompanist for Schumann-Heink. The spontaneity and vern: of their perfo rmance evoked much enthu!.ia sm from a discriminating audience. The Moorhead Daih· News remarked on the "fine playing" displayed by Lusk, esvecially · "in :\'ovacek's 'Perpetual Dux and Piatigorsky Are Next Music Club .Artists ~f u~ic cltth Artist - Recital series will he ~Iilan Lu k, north shore violinist, gh·en 1\londay eyening, J anuar~· 20, whose concert tour of the Southwest when Claire Dux. soprano, and Gre~or The fourth of this season's \Vinnctka Piatigorsky. cellist. present a joint program. The Music cluh regards itself as singularly fortunate in having ~ecured these notahle artists for the initial concert in 1930. This final concert of the series is scheduled for March 24. when the sensational Russian pianist Vladimar Horowitz, will be the artist. Ruggiero Ricci, violinis t, will appear in recital at the Studebaker theater Sunday afternoon, December 29, at 3 :30 o'clock. The program is sponored by Bertha Ott Inc. Mr. Leiber will add . to the growing list of his accomplishments by hi s rendition of " .M alvolio" which as every student of Shakespeare well knows, is one of the most interesting creations of the great dramatist. It gives him added opportunity to reveal his abilities as a comedian ; his touch Is light and his clowning cc,nsistcnt; Miss Vera Allen will portray the role of Viola and should do it we11, \\'hile Miss Virginia Bronson will be seen as Maria and Miss Kathryn Collier will get her first real chance as Oliva. Louis Leon Hall, who knows Shakespeare from cover to cover, will portray Antonio. the sea captain and will be ably assisted in the comedy clement by Lawrence H. Cecil as Sir Toby Belch, while the other members of this now popular organization will enact the roles best suited to their talents. Only four more weeks remain of this Shakespearean festival as follows: \Veek of January 6, "Richard III"; week of January 13, "As You Like It"; week of January 20, "King Lear," which has not I. 0. 0. F. Will Install been done in years and should prove an New Officers January 3 attractive offering; week of January 27, Installation of newly elected officers of a repertoire of all that has gone before, Wilevansbrook Encampment, Ko. 177, with a change of play every performance. I. 0. 0. F., will take place Friday evening, January 3, in the lodge halt at WilArt League Will Hear mette, it was announced this week. The lodge jurisdiction extends throughout the English Art Authority north shore communities. Dr. Charles G. Obermeyer of Lond,Jn Officers who will assume office at the and South Africa is to lecture hd ore time include James Fairbairn, chief the Xorth Shore Art league January 22 patriarch; Alex H. Hardie, senior warat \Vinnetka Community House. His den ; \V. vV. Cooksey, high priest; Harry subject will he "Art ai1d Life and the \Vood, junior warden; Homer G. Cazel, Approach to Modern Aesthetics." Dr. scribe; and Nash Cazel, treasurer .· Obermeyer received his Ph. D. rlcgree A playlet entitled "Her Husband's from the University of London and from First \Vife," was scheduled to be prethere went as professor to the Univer- sented by members of Wilevansbrook sity of South Africa. He is a noted Encampment Friday evening, December art critic. 20.