Philharmonic Society of New York Concert: 3rd

“The third concert of the New-York Philharmonic Society ([illegible] season) drew as large an audience as usual, on Saturday evening, the only effect of the storm being perceptible in the number of late arrivals. The late comers were allowed to crowd into the dress circle during the performance of the overture and the first movement of the concerto, to the great annoyance of subscribers who had seats in that part of the house. They should have been requested to remain in the lobby until the first pause in the music, as they are at the Thomas concerts. The programme was as follows [see above].

We can say little about the overture, for parts of it were entirely inaudible where we sat, and the hearing of the best was constantly interrupted by the nuisance of late comers. The placing of the overture at the beginning of the programme and the symphony at the end is an inversion of the usual order at the Philharmonic concerts, and upon the whole, at least under existing circumstances, the change is a good one. If any part of the entertainment must be disturbed by talking, and rustling gowns, and shuffling feet, and creaking doors, it had better be the least important part. On the other hand it must be confessed that for the perfect enjoyment of a symphony the audience and the performers should both be fresh. Perhaps it may be possible to manage things so that the whole concert can be given in quiet.

Mr. Mills chose one of the most difficult of piano-forte compositions, and covered himself with distinction by his brilliant success with it. There are other works which present greater technical obstacles than this concerto in F minor of Chopin’s, but there are few whose rare and recondite beauties so easily elude the grasp of even the most accomplished player. Mr. Mills has all the facile execution, the soft, clear, and elegant touch, and the quick poetic appreciation which are necessary for the interpretation of such incomparably refined and fanciful music. He played the same work at one of the Philharmonic concerts three years ago, and we had not forgotten how well he played it; yet his performance on Saturday even surpassed our expectations. Madame Urso, who has long been absent from New-York, winning laurels in Europe and on the Pacific coast, was cordially welcomed. She played the Mozart violin concerto with beautiful taste and great feeling, with a masculine freedom and certainty of touch, with every excellence in fact except a good tone. Her great defect is rasping, and that marred many of what would otherwise have been her finest passages.

The novelty of the evening was the Hirtengesang (‘Pastoral’) from Liszt’s ‘Christus.’ It begins with an exquisite melody for the reeds alone, in which an intricate structure is made to present all the effect of rustic simplicity, and then passes into a religious movement rich in the ingenious combinations wherein Liszt is so happy, and free from the eccentricities so characteristic of most of his work. It is from first to last a beautiful piece of writing, and the orchestra gave it a worthy interpretation. The performance of this piece was so good that it was rather remarkable that the symphony should not have been better. Schumann’s Symphony in C major is very difficult, abounding in strange variations of tempo and unexpected suspensions, and if we say that the orchestra played it fairly we give them all the praise to which they are entitled. They lacked unity of sentiment, vivacity, and spirit, and in that exceedingly touching passage which marks the transition in the second movement from the scherzo to the molto vivace they seemed to be feeling their way.”

“An excellent performance rewarded the subscribers to the Philharmonic Concerts who ventured forth to attend Saturday’s reunion—the third of the season—at the Academy of Music. The programme included [see above]. The interest of the occasion was naturally concentrated upon Mme. Urso’s contribution to the entertainment. Many years have gone by since the lady’s efforts were familiar to city audiences; as the period of her absence has undoubtedly been well employed, its length is not to be regretted. Mme. Urso’s tone is pure and sweet; the jarring sound of the G string, on the night we write of, is to be ascribed, we think to an injudicious cutting away of the bridge of the instrument, than to any lack of firmness in the fingering; her command of the keyboard, shown by a rare celerity and an unexceptionable precision of stopping, is absolute. A more intelligent, spirited, and finished rehearsal of Mozart’s pretty concerto in D than was enjoyed at her hands could not be expected. Mr. Mills played with a clearness and an elegance unsurpassable Chopin’s concerto in F minor. Neither this work nor Mozart’s ranks in point of conception or treatment, with the classics of the piano or violin; but while the freshness and tunefulness of the three movements of Mme. Urso’s task commended its subject to general attention, the grace and clean-cut ornamentation of Chopin’s composition made ample amends, thanks to the capital delivery of Mr. Mills through the medium of a perfect Steinway, for the palpable lack of grandeur in the lines and of fullness in the instrumentation. After Mr. Mills had ended, the orchestra interpreted a ‘Shepherd’s Chorus,’ from Liszt’s ‘Christus.’ The ‘Hirtengesang,’ in its proper place, may be profoundly significant; detached from the context, it is only to be mentioned as the most thinly-scored number bearing Liszt’s name. With Schumann’s magnificent Symphony in C major, in which vigorous and brilliant, and piquant and elegiac passages are combined; and with the overture to ‘Oberon’ frequenters of Philharmonic concerts have long been acquainted. The violinists of Mr. Bergmann’s orchestra are wholly unequal to delicate work on the high notes, and even the sostenuto tones they produce from the E string are the result of scraping rather than of good bowing.”

“This brings me to the third Philharmonic concert, which came on Saturday evening, Jan. 18^th. It opened with Weber’s overture to Oberon, a piece just good enough to be enjoyed without requiring sustained attention. Then came Mr. S. B. Mills, the pianist of the evening, and of course he played Chopin’s Second Concerto, which is the regular thing for him to do. He rendered the entire work with extraordinary delicacy and precision, and, I think we may say, with patience considering the badness of the orchestral accompaniment, which must have been torture to him. In spite of this drawback his treatment of the work, and especially of the famous Adagio, was such as to gain the applause alike of critics and connoisseurs. The next piece was the Hirtengesang (for Orchestra) from Liszt’s new Oratorium ‘Christus,’ concerning which the less is said the better.

Mme. Camilla Urso followed with Mozart’s Concerto for the Violin in D, opus 121. This lady has no laurels to win here, as there are few violinists among the many who have visited New York, who are as well known and as highly esteemed as she. I have heard no violin playing, since Sarasate left us, which satisfied me so thoroughly as hers. She is the soul of Poetry, and the tone she draws from her instrument is of marvelous sweetness. If everything necessary to perfection could be combined in one player, I should desire her bowing to be stronger; but that, with her, is a physical impossibility.

The second part of the programme was entirely occupied by Schumann’s magnificent Symphony in C, which some people (and their number is increasing yearly) think is the greatest ever written. I am content to consider its positive rather than its relative grandeur, and wish I could praise the rendering as highly as I can the work itself. Truth, however, compels me to state that it was indifferently played, and many of the most beautiful passages were so rendered as to be scarcely intelligible.”