The programme yesterday at the Lyceum was well chosen and of considerable variety and once again there was a full attendance. The Orchestra output throughout the evening maintained a consistently high standard and requires little comment other than praise. Siegfried thus journeyed to the Rhine in a traditional and satisfactory nianner. Somehow there is definitely more body to the orchestra this year. Brasses in Wagner were mellow and well-trained.
Tommasini earned the respect of the musical world with his Diagoileft ballet "The Good Humoured Ladies," based on music by Domenico Scarlatti. His transcriptions are faultless in taste. The three sonatas played by the orchestra amply proved ili They form three of the five which go to make up the above work.
By the way, Maestro, when do we get the promised "Chian di Luna'?
Beethoven's Fifth was played with great spirit and solidity, though there Was a leaning towards stridency of the brasses in the Finale, and tempo became bustling now and again which was particularly noticeable towards the end of the first move ment when rhythmical clarity faded. The highlights were the Scherzo, the contrasts of which were excellent and the Finale for its crescendos and tonal uprightness.
Mme. Lechtenberg-Beauharnais played the first performance in Shanghai of the elsewhere relatively little-known Scriabin Concerto for piano and orchestra. Scriabin has written meditative work of great beauty Which differs greatly from the recognised connotation of the piano concerto in that it is devoid of so many of those spectacular and refulgent effects, the main object of which is to dazzle the public with the undisputed technical brilliance of both composed and executant, The concerto is numbered Opus 20 which places it among the works of the first period of Scriabin and thus redolent of Chopin. although this likeness c&nnot be carried to the orchestra Chopin's orchestra was purely utilitarian, providing merely an accompaniment to the all-important solo instrument: Scriabin's orchestra has already at that early stage a sense of form and colour which lay a sure foundation for the intricacies of his later symphonic works. The Work im question is in the conventional three movements, though the second is replaced by a charming theme and variations The key employed is a return to uni-tonality: F sharp minor/major final assessments of the.music of Scriabin, he has often been charged with the employing of certain har-menic formulas to monotonous ends and in this connection, the first move ment of the concerto is certainly restricted in melodic development. Throughout the work, also, strong textural contrasts are absent.
Mme. Beauharnais gave a note-perfect performance, without music at the piano. Her technique appears ample for all occasions but one might wish for a greater degree of ascendency over th orchestra in those Passages when the piano is given the greater weight of melodic and musi cal content. In these passages, her aving became too deferential. The variations, with their rhymical difficulties, were played with great ele-To grind an old and well-worn axe: Mme. Beauharnais would undoubtedly have been happier on better piano, The orchestra's contr: bution im the concerto was well-balanced and sensitively felt throughout.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.