It is SYMPHONY HALL Eighteenth public But it is not, except perhaps in externrehearsal of the Boston Symphony orchestra, Karl Muck, conductor; afternoon of als, in any sense reactionary. March 26. The program Borodin, sym- full of sympathy with modern thinking. phony in B minor, No. 2; Beethoven, songs It strives to voice the idea of mankind with orchestra, "Wonne der Wehmut,' "Freudvoll und leidvoll" and "Die Himmel quietly controlling the forces of nature ruehmen des Ewigen Ehre" (Miss Elena to its needs, rather than the idea of Gerhardt, soloiist); Reger, four tone poems for orchestra after pictures of Boecklin mankind being emotionally overcome by (first time in Boston); Brahms, three songs the magnificence of those forces. In a with orchestra, "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer," "Wir wandelten, wir Zwei" word, Reger forsakes that romanticism and "Auf dem Kirchhofe" (MissGer- which composers of the nineteenth cenhardt); Weber, overture to Oberon." tury made it their chief business to express. The performance was one of the master efforts of the season. Except for a short time in the closing portion of the second movement of the symphony, conductor and players were every minute at their best. The music interested the men and it stimulated them to their utmost. If there was a moment in the playing of the symphony when interpretation failed to touch the highest level, that is to be laid to the piece itself. For the last pages of Borodin's scherzo are far below the rest of the work in power. Inevitably, if strength of reading was to depend on quality of music, there would be a sagging at some point in the presentation of a Russian symphony, especially if it were, like Borodin's, of the nationalist school, and not a Germanized Russian composition, like one by Tschaikowsky or Rachmaninoff. For Russian art in its characteristic manifestations is pretty likely to have a spot of incompleteness or inferiority somewhere. Vast and audacious design and imperfect execution are what we find again and again. The Russians seem to have just a trace of perversity in their attitude to art. They will not allow it to be quite perfect, even when they can as well as not. It must have seemed strange to many listeners that the Borodin symphony in B minor, an older work than the "Pathetic" of Tschaikowsky, and perhaps a better, should only now get established in the repertory of the orchestra. Music is indeed an inexplicable form of expression, inasmuch as it can keep its message hid for a generation from a public that dearly likes to cultivate it, and can finally speak out, like the Borodin work on Friday, with irresistible appeal. Much experimentation and uncertainty in the program-making of the winter is atoned for by the impressive reading by Dr. Muck of this piece. The discovery of an old composer means more than the discovery of a new one. For an old one whose work sound's fresh is likely to be one with a genuine and lasting message. A new one is less of a certainty. If a Borodin symphony can give pleasure to a public that has been trained up on the entertainment of the Strauss and Debussy tone poems, it must have permanent quality. On an equality with the presentation of the symphony was the reading of the new group of tone poems by Reger. And here was no moment of falling off, for Reger is nothing if not a thorough workman. The four pieces, composed after pictures of Boecklin, are to be regarded as one of the modern forms of sym pliony. The noteworthy difference between the picture poems and a regular symphony is that the first member of the group is outwardly more like a slow movement than an opening allegro. But the difference is wholly of time, not of feeling or of form. The poem describing the hermit playing the violin is an intellectual meditation, not a sentimental one. It has a development which is quite in the manner of first movements and has no touch of romantic song, such as is characteristic of slow movements. The second poem, describing nymphs and monsters of the sea sporting on the waves, is clearly a scherzo, and altogether is the most imaginative and original of the set. The poem describing the "Island of the Dead" is unmistakably in the manner of symphonic slow movements, and the "Bacchanale," with which the set closes, is an allegro such as has been recognized as proper for closing symphonies since the time of Haydn. The more the music of Reger gets a hearing, the more the world must be conscious of new sentiments finding expression. Here is something as far as possible from the music of Wagner and Strauss. Reger's art, viewed superficially, could be regarded as a return to the ways of Schumann and Brahms. To complete the catalogue of excellencles in this program, the soloist acquitted herself with high honor. The conductor is severe in his demand that the concerts shall be wholly orchestral, with the result that singers sometimes are in the uninteresting position of presenting songs to a transcribed accompaniment. But the voice is the thing. And Miss Gerhardt brought a soprano voice of the purest tone and the most finished technique to the work of the day. HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephones S Ticket Office Branch Exchange Administration Offices Back Bay 1492 JOY Boston Symphony Orchestra THIRTY-FOURTH SEASON, 1914-1915 Dr. KARL MUCK, Conductor Programme of the Я эліт Eighteenth iss Rehearsal and Concert. ni lliw voy Jarw of es sosisisi oy diue WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE noioslaitse jooq bNOTES BY PHILIP HALEwol ort of basmo To all intending piano buyers, Steinert's offers unequalled advantages. Our stocks of pianos are not only the largest-they are the best in New England. You can make comparison here of a great variety of models and an amazing number of really famous makes of pianos. You can suit your preference as to what you will invest, for the range of prices is complete-from the highest which works of art command to the lowest you can safely pay and expect satisfaction. 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