Philharmonic Society of New York Concert: 1st

Forthcoming season.

Novelties to be performed; ticket sales; financial statement for last season.

Forthcoming season.

“The Academy of Music was crowded last evening from parquet to dome. The time-honored society commenced their thirty-first season under the most favorable auspices. They made a hit in engaging the best soloist who has ever appeared at their concerts. The name and fame of Rubinstein could not fail to attract every one who loved music. He was in his most inspired mood. His own concerto, No. 4, in D minor, to which we have alluded in detail after his first concert in this city, formed the piéce de résistance of the evening. Never before during the season did the great pianist stand forth in such colossal proportions. With an orchestra of trained veterans and a conductor who reflected every phase of the composer’s ideas, the performance of the pianist became a labor of love. The delightful andante in the second movement, in which there occurs a tender dialogue between the piano and the clarionet (Mr. Boehm played the latter instrument like a thorough artist), was worthy of a special mention in the programme. Then in the stormy finale the wonderful power of the pianist was revealed to its fullest extent. One would think that amid the hurly-burly of one hundred instruments a pianist would be swamped. It was far otherwise with Rubinstein. The piano beneath his magic touch became the commanding spirit, and the listener forgot strings, reeds and brasses in the overwhelming tone of the magnificent instrument that poured forth phrase after phrase of the wondrous work.

The second selection of Rubinstein was not a happy one for the occasion. ‘Les Preludes’ of Chopin consist of twenty-four petites, characteristic themes, somewhat like the ‘Carnival’ of Schumann, more poetic certainly, but nevertheless equally fragmentary. Rubinstein played four or five of them, but they were so different in character that even he could not reconcile a musical mind to such a mosaic pattern in a work of art. At a Philharmonic concert we like to hear a work which is founded on one grand conception and not a set of heterogeneous ideas loosely strung together. After ‘Les Preludes’ came two works, the performance of which alone is sufficient to place Rubinstein in the very first rank of musicians. These were the ‘Erl King’ of Schubert, and the march from ‘The Ruins of Athens,’ by Beethoven. We have already spoken in the most ample terms of the wonderful illustration of Schubert’s romantic song by the Russian pianist. It must be heard to be fully appreciated. The wild terror of the child, the anxiety and affection of the father, the seductive wooing of the spirit daughter and the threats of the Erl King were photographed with a startling distinctness that made the work as rendered by Rubinstein one to be remembered for a lifetime. In those marvelous triplets the quick hoof strokes of the faithful steed could easily be recognized. In the selection from Beethoven the pianist gave such a specimen of diminuendo that few would be willing to credit the instrument with possessing, and more than that, he produced an effect similar to that of a military band passing outside and disappearing in the distance. The audience cheered and cheered again, and for the moment the Academy became a scene of intense excitement.

The orchestral works consisted of the ‘Tannhauser’ overture, the overture ‘Princess Ilse,’ by Erdmannsdorfer, and the immortal Seventh Symphony by Beethoven. The symphony was superbly played; especially the never-to-be-forgotten scherzo. The orchestra responded faithfully to the direction of the conductor, and, inspired doubtless by the presence of Rubinstein, they did better than ever we have known them to do before. The new overture by Mr. Erd, &c., does not improve on acquaintance. The composer is undoubtedly familiar with all the new forms of instrumentation, but his ideas are conspicuous by their absence. It would take a great deal of unnecessary study and research to find out what he is driving at in this overture. Better have dropped it from the beginning from the programme.”

“For the opening concert of the thirty-first season of our excellent Philharmonic Society, on Saturday evening, there was an audience of unusual size filling all the seats and occupying nearly all the standing room; while the applause was much more vigorous and frequent than it commonly is at these staid and decorous entertainments. For this a reason is, no doubt, to be found in the presence of Mr. Anton Rubinstein, whose playing aroused a great deal of enthusiasm; but the rest of the concert was well worthy of admiration, both on account of the programme and the manner in which it was executed. The selections were as follows [see above]. 

We do not expect, at the earlier concerts of the season, the same perfection of playing which the Philharmonic Society gives us later in the Winter. There are certain graces of execution which can only be obtained by an establishment of close sympathy among the players, the result of constant practice together, [illegible] the leader, and in the [illegible] kinds of music. A good [illegible] of what is gained every season is lost during the [illegible] vacation, when the band scatters, and its individual members do rough and careless work until Mr. Bergmann calls them together again. [Illegible] the performers on Saturday calls for very little adverse criticism. The ‘Tannhäuser’ overture was beautifully done, some of the pianissimo passages especially meriting the highest praise. The Symphony was not rendered with as much spirit, brilliancy and flash as Mr. Thomas’s orchestra the week before at Steinway Hall, but it was finely given and the allegretto was delicious. The overture by Erdmannsdorfer is a new work, never before performed in this country. It has merit, but [illegible] very extraordinary kind, and hardly fulfills the expectations we formed of it at the first rehearsal.

Mr. Rubinstein’s D minor Concerto is the same work which he made his first appearance in the United States, and the same we believe which he is [illegible] to play at his debut at every [illegible]. He has written things which please us more, as a whole, but nothing perhaps more beautiful than the [illegible] movement, and nothing which he plays more liberally [end of sentence illegible]. [Illegible] a fitness of touch, his tremendous force, dazzling brilliancy, are all [illegible] here. On Saturday he seemed to be in his grandest vein. Whether it was the great audience, or the [illegible] orchestra [illegible] intent upon his tones that [illegible] him, it is not worthwhile to guess; but he played magnificently, and when he had finished the members of the band rose to their feet and joined the people in front in enthusiastic applause. He played Chopin’s ‘Preludes’ with wonderful sweetness and still more [illegible] power; added to them the ‘Erl King,’ which was not upon the programme; and being recalled gave his celebrated interpretation of Beethoven’s march [illegible] ‘The Ruins of Athens.’”

“The Academy of Music was filled in every part on Saturday evening, when the first Philharmonic concert of the present season occurred. The announcement that Mr. Rubinstein would play exerted a powerful influence upon the numbers of the audience, as the gentleman’s performances afterward did upon their sentiments. In spite of the unsatisfactory programmes of last season, the subscriptions for the present series of entertainments were, it is true, as large as ever. But the crowded condition of the house, on the occasion we write of, offered an unusual spectacle, and was only attributable to the presence of the eminent pianist. The orchestral selections were not of marked interest. Surely a less worn overture than ‘Die Tannhäuser’ might have been chosen, and surely, too, a less perilous experiment might have been tried than interpreting Beethoven’s seventh symphony a week after the delivery of that magnificent work by Mr. Thomas’ orchestra, with which Mr. Bergmann’s men cannot be expected to cope. Nor are the responsible parties to be congratulated on the one novel element of the bill. Erdmannsdörfer’s overture, called ‘Prinzessin Ilse,’ and divided into two parts, an andante and an allegro, is as pretentious a specimen of programme music as was ever listened to, and one of the most tiresome. Mr. Bergmann’s talent and industry as a conductor insured a capital interpretation of all these numbers, but we cannot compare the rendering of the symphony to that exposition of the masterpiece already alluded to. Happily, Mr. Rubinstein’s compositions atoned for all weaknesses of selections and recital. The cordial greeting of which the eminent artist was the object, and the enthusiastic applause which the assemblage and the members of the orchestra bestowed upon his efforts were not without effect. Mr. Rubinstein’s execution was never fraught with more significance than during the delivery of Chopin’s ‘Preludes,’ and the reading of his own concerto in D minor quite surpassed, thanks partly to the excellent orchestra, an already admirable interpretation of the composition on the night of his first appearance in this country. Mr. Rubinstein supplemented these works by his arrangement of the march from Beethoven’s ‘Ruins of Athens,’ in which, with the wonted aid of a splendid Steinway, a decrescendo equal, in its gradation to silence, to that produced by a string-band, is wrought by a touch as marvelous for its delicacy as for the might.”

“The annual opening of the Philharmonic season has been an event of importance for many years past. In spite of the storm on Saturday night the Academy of Music was filled to its utmost capacity, and many who were in attendance had evidently been prepared for a performance of great excellence by the success of the rehearsals. Doubtless the appearance of Anton Rubinstein attracted many persons in the audience, and such were not disappointed in the selections chosen by the great pianist. The following programme was given [see above].

So great was the favor with which the performance of Chopin’s ‘Les Preludes’ was received, that Herr Rubinstein in acknowledgment played the Transcription by Liszt, from Schubert’s ‘Erl King,’ and being again vociferously encored, introduced Beethoven’s beautiful march from ‘The Ruins of Athens.’

The orchestral performances were as excellent as usual. Both Wagner’s wonderful overture and the new work of Erdmannsdörfer were rendered with good effect. It seems hardly necessary to speak of Rubinstein’s three numbers. They were made familiar during his early performances in this country. He never played the weird transcription from Schubert more grandly than on Saturday night, and the ‘March of the Janizaries’ was as glorious as ever.”