Philharmonic Society of New York Concert: 6th

Includes program.

Remarks on the forthcoming program.

“The representative instrumental society of this city closed their thirty-third season last night at the Academy of Music with a concert that was generally unexceptionable, both as regards the selections and the performance. The programme was the following [see above].

The pianiste claims the first attention, being a young American artiste and making such a success in that line as has not been known in the Academy since the days of Rubinstein. The concerto in E flat of Liszt is one of the most charming of that prolific master’s works. It abounds with difficulties sufficient to scare any one who has not received inspiration beneath the tutelage of the greatest pianist of the age and who does not possess the strength and will, united to poetical feeling and dashing style, necessary to give such a grand work the required effect. Miss Rive created quite a sensation by her rendering of this concerto. An electric touch, capable of evoking the thunder of the grand piano as well as giving its softest whispers of sentiment, wrists of steel that seem devoid of weakness even in the most fatiguing passages, a true, artistic intelligence and a thorough appreciation of every idea of the composer—such were the characteristics of Miss Rive’s playing. We have had so many pianists, leaving aside the Titanic Rubinstein, in this city that it is an event of the greatest musical importance to be able to chronicle such a grand triumph as that which Miss Rive achieved last evening. Miss Borie, a very commendable singer, made too ambitious a selection when she essayed Beethoven’s ‘Ah, perfido!’ The race of artists who could successfully cope with such music is unhappily all but extinct. The lamented Sterndale Bennett, whose recent death has left such a blank in the English musical world, was commemorated fittingly by his fantastic, Mendelssohnian overture to ‘Paradise and the Peri.’ The impassioned overture of Schumann to Byron’s wondrous poem, ‘Manfred,’ can only be designated as a tone poem. As a critic once said, ‘let such a requiem be held for me when my heart is broken.’ It is the Anglicized form of Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ with grievous tone waves and cries for salvation in a storm-tossed heart. The immortal Fifth Symphony of Beethoven and the eccentric overture of Hector Berlioz were given with exceeding expression and effect. The last concert of the Philharmonic Society was its best.”

“The New-York Philharmonic Society closed its thirty-third season on Saturday night with the most interesting concert of the series, and we hope it has recovered by this pleasant finale a good share of the reputation which it lost by various untoward incidents of the year; we must all observe with pleasure any indication of the prosperity and vitality of this venerable organization. Under Mr. Carl Bergmann it has done great service in the cause of true art, and it is not the fault of that accomplished conductor and sound musician if it sometimes falls below the standard of excellence which its own performances have taught us to recognize. The trials of the past Winter will perhaps rouse it to a [illegible] of certain obvious faults of management, and the next subscription we hope will be more satisfactory than the last. The programme on Saturday was as follows [see above].

In the two most familiar of these selections, the ever welcome Schumann overture and Beethoven symphony, the playing, though not all that we could have wished it to be, was heartily enjoyed. We missed precision of attack and unity among the strings, but, on the other hand, the great masses of the orchestra moved with a grand dignity and impressiveness which made us forget many of the technical imperfections. Mr. Bergmann’s readings of these works is always clear and sympathetic. In the gorgeous Berlioz overture also the performance was creditable. The best playing, however, was in the charming overture of Sterndale Bennett’s, a gem of delicate and poetic melody which has been too long unknown in America. It is a work which reminds us of Mendelssohn at every bar—not by imitation in its themes, but by a similarity in its refined and gentle spirit. Its texture is beautifully finished; its coloring is bright and charming; and it betrays the constant presence of that sense of [beauty?] of form which in Mendelssohn was not so much the result of art as of an almost infallible instinct.

Miss Borie has not a large enough voice for such a piece as the ‘Ah perfido,’ but she sang with intelligence and taste, and showed a very good style. The success of the other lady, Miss Julia Rive, was complete. She is very young, and comes to us from the West. Her education was acquired abroad where she studied under Liszt. Her interpretation of the beautiful concerto in E flat was a surprise and delight to the whole house. It was clear, forcible, elegant, and wonderfully spirited. Its difficulties disappeared under her admirable technique; its brilliancy was fully displayed, and little or nothing of its poetical charm was suffered to escape. Of Schumann’s ‘Carnival Strains from Vienna’ she played only one part—the first of the five movements or Fantasie Bilder embraced under that title; but being recalled by a storm of applause she gave an astonishing performance of Liszt’s 2d Hungarian Rhapsody which fixed her position among the best of our female pianists. If her execution of this piece lacked some of the irreproachable precision of Miss Mehlig’s, it almost equaled on the other hand the fire and passionate abandon of Miss Topp’s. No pianist since Rubinstein has made a more brilliant debut in New-York, and no young player whom we remember has given finer promise of greatness.

The programmes of the season just closed have been changed a number of times in the course of the Winter, and an unfortunate appearance of indecision and inefficiency has thereby been given to the management; but it will be seen from the accompanying list that some excellent work has been done [list of programmes for the season’s six concerts].

The most conspicuous fault in these concerts was the abundance of vocal music which was neither very interesting in itself nor very well executed; and we might also complain that no regular plan appears in most of the programmes, and that the proportion of really great works is too small.”

“The sixth concert, and the last to be given by the Philharmonic Society this season, occurred at the Academy of Music, on the evening of Saturday. It was one of the most worthy, if not, as a whole, the most interesting of the series, for it brought before the public a young artist of uncommon talent, Miss Julia Rivé, who was the pianist of the occasion. Miss Rivé’s performance was a great surprise, and well-nigh a revelation. The debutante was not even introduced as about to have her first hearing before the New-York public, and the astonishment was the livelier when the full measure of her talent was ascertained. She produced a favorable impression from the very outset, and the impression deepened as she progressed, and was asserted when her work was done by a tribute of applause bordering more closely upon enthusiasm than any paid to an artist by a Philharmonic audience in a good many years. Miss Rivé is a young lady of American birth, we believe, and of foreign parentage. She studied under Liszt abroad, and has been heard in Cincinnati and in other Western cities. That no testimony to her talent should have come hitherward in advance of her visit is a trifle puzzling. Without instituting too close comparisons, we think we can fairly say that she approved herself one of the most finished pianistes we have had in the local concert-room, and a player second to none in sensibility and natural taste. Miss Rivé is not merely a mistress of technique; she feels the music she reads, and her feelings find expression by methods thoroughly refined and correct. Her touch has abundant force and unerring precision; her runs are deliciously fluent, and their crispness of definition is exceptional, Mme. Schiller’s being quite inferior to them in respect to the clear-cut tone of every note struck upon the key-board. Miss Rivé’s command of the mechanical difficulties of her art leaves nothing to be desired. Her scales are faultless, her trills untiring, and her arpeggios unsurpassable in their harmonious effect. Sometimes we were led to believe that, in her struggle with the obstacles which Liszt and the modern writers have sedulously gathered in the pianist’s path, Miss Rivé does not quite realize the exceeding worth of the purely vocal tones which can be summoned from the instrument; but again the clever management of hand and foot, resulting in very nice shading, showed that mere mechanism was by no means the only characteristic of the performer’s style. Miss Rivé played thrice during the evening. She first interpreted the E flat concerto, by Liszt, a remarkably well balanced if exuberantly fanciful composition, in which delicate and brilliant execution can charm and move notwithstanding the orchestral accompaniment. The elaborate arabesques of the scherzo-like division of the concerto, in which the violins are muted and the strings often speak daintily without the bow, come forth with peculiar grace and sparkle from the Decker grand at which Miss Rivé was seated, and in the fiery and fatiguing finale the strength of the lady did not for an instant flag. In Schumann’s ‘Faschingeschwank,’ the excellence of Miss Rivé’s technique was even more plainly demonstrated, and although three recalls after the concerto failed to secure a supplementary number, Miss Rivé had at this stage of events to reappear. Her rendering of the best known of the ‘Rhapodies Hongroises’ was really her most admirable effort; no pianist in the past decade has rendered this exacting and showy piece with as happily-proportioned intensity, dash, reserve and correctness. It will be inferred from a record of these incidents that Miss Rivé’s début was, so to speak, the sensation of the evening. The programme, however, was not unsatisfactory in other respects. To assign to a vocalist of such slender resources as Miss Borie Beethoven’s ‘Ah! perfido’ was, of course, sheer folly, and only a mediocre recital of that highly dramatic air was to be expected. The instrumental selections supplied more unalloyed gratification. After Schumann’s vigorous and appropriate prelude to ‘Manfred,’ Mr. Bergmann’s men performed, in homage to the memory of the lamented composer, William Sterndale Bennett’s overture to Moore’s ‘Paradise and the Peri,’ a succession of sweet and smooth tone-pictures, not marked by profundity of thought, but not distorted by devices frequently resorted to in an ambitious effort to impress by incomprehensibility, for lack of original or forcible ideas. ‘Paradise and Peri’ was played with decided taste and sentiment by the band, and Berlioz’s overture, ‘Les francs juges,’ with which the second part of the programme began, and which formed about as vivid a contrast to Bennett’s composition as could be imagined, was handled with just as much skill. The orchestra was not up to its usual standard throughout Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and in some portions of the immortal score the execution was actually slovenly.”

“The sixth and last concert of the Philharmonic Society of the present season was given at the Academy of Music on Saturday evening. The first piece on the programme was Schumann’s overture to ‘Manfred,’ which was exceedingly well performed. The violoncello passages especially were rendered in the most satisfactory manner. Miss Annie J. Borie then appeared, and sung Beethoven’s ‘Ah Perfido’ very charmingly. She possesses a strong, full and rich soprano voice, that should be more frequently heard in the concert room.

Liszt’s piano-forte concerto in E flat was then played by Miss Julia Rivé, a lady who has recently returned from Europe, where she has been studying very assiduously, judging from the artistic way in which this difficult work was executed. At its close she was most unanimously recalled, and after playing Schumann’s ‘Faschingschwank’ was applauded so highly that she gave Liszt’s popular ‘Rhapsodie Hongroise,’ No. 2, in C sharp minor.

The shake in ‘Lassan’ being prolonged and gradually increased in power of tone and then similarly diminished and led onward to the return of the melody, also played with a very liquid and fascinating quality of tone, was greatly admired. ‘Friska’ was given at full speed, and with considerable brilliancy. The upper notes of the piano-forte were excessively bright, and therefore more effective in this piece than in some parts of the concerto where greater fullness is desirable. Miss Rivé has won golden opinions by her clever performance.

The orchestra played Dr. Bennett’s Fantasie-overture, ‘Paradise and the Peri,’ in a manner reflecting great credit on all concerned. Here again the cello players distinguished themselves in the passionate plaints that precede each scene. The overture by Berlioz, ‘Les Francs Juges,’ with its gorgeous orchestration, which followed, stood in marked contrast to the classic coloring of the work by Sterndale Bennett.

A magnificent rendering of Beethoven’s fifth symphony closed the concert. It is to be regretted that this grand orchestra, now in full working order, will be disbanded until next season, for by constant concerted practice so very much may be accomplished in an artistic sense.”

“The last public rehearsal of the Philharmonic Society took place at the Academy of Music on Friday afternoon, the full programme of the concert on Saturday evening being given. The interesting feature of the recital was the successful appearance of Miss Julie Rivé, who rendered Liszt’s concerto in E flat, with orchestral accompaniment, and a work by Schumann for the piano. Miss Annie J. Borie [illegible] scena and aria ‘Ah Perfido,’ by Beethoven, with orchestral accompaniment. The remaining numbers of the bill including Schumann’s overture ‘Manfred,’ Bennett’s overture’Paradise and the Peri,’ Berlioz’s overture ‘Les Francs Juges,’ and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, receiving an interpretation from the orchestra, under the conductorship of Carl Bergmann, the concert presenting one of the best bills of the Philharmonic’s season.”

“I give the programme [see above].

The orchestra, it seemed to me, did not play as well as usual, for there was a terrible blemish in the performance of the first movement of the Symphony, caused by one of the violins coming in some measures ahead of time.

The best feature of the evening was the pianoforte playing of Miss Julia Rive, a young lady who I believe has but recently returned from abroad, where she has finished her studies under Liszt. She has played at concerts in some of the Western cities, and I have heard enthusiastic accounts of her from there, but I hardly anticipated the very favorable reception which awaited her here. It is not too much to say that this young lady, who came to us so quietly and modestly, achieved a great artistic success upon her first appearance. She played the magnificent concerto of Liszt’s from the first note to the last without a slip or a blemish. She not only gave a correct reading of the piece but a poetic rendering. Her playing was not that of a prize pupil but of a mature artist. She made light of the immense difficulties which invest this piece like a hedge of thorns, and she did this without the slightest sign of self-consciousness or of being conscious of anything save the music

The Schumann ‘Fantasiebilder,’ her second piece, was a little too good even for a Philharmonic audience; but her playing was appreciated to the extent of an encore, to which she responded with Liszt’s second Hungarian Rhapsody, which she played with such effect that there was a furor in the audience and even orchestra and conductor joined in the applause when, at the close of her performance, she was recalled time after time to the stage. You will certainly hear much of her in the future.”