Mason-Thomas Chamber Concert: 4th

“The Raff Quartet is excellent, well worked up and including many fine ideas; it is a work of great talent. The Adagio in G is charming, its theme a genuine song without words, and the subtle harmonies enwreathing it masterly in their surprises. The second movement, Scherzo, is attractive, with a neat little episode appearing first in D major and afterwards in B flat major. Altogether the Quartet made a most favorable impression.

The feature of the Soiree was, inevitably, the Quintet. Strong, vigorous, and full of health, it is a worthy example of Schumann’s broad and noble genius. To speak of the movements seriatim would require too much space; suffice it to say that the second ‘In modo d’una marcia, is the most captivating.

The final Quartet, an old favorite, belongs to the genuine, fresh, early Beethoven period, and there is in it but little of the breath and grandeur peculiar to the later works of the author.”