4 JULY 1846, Page 19

MUSIC.

MOUTH PHILHARMONIC CONCERT—JUNE 29, 1846.

PAST I.

Sinfonia in E Flat (No. 8.) Haydn. Arie, " Liebe tat diee Bliithe," Herr Pischek (Faust) Spohr.

Concert Stuck, Ilan , Madame Pleyel C. M. von Weber.

Overture, A dlidsu our Fight's Dream . • Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

PANT n.

Sinfbnla In C Minor Beethoven.

Duero, Jena Grabmal," Miss Birch and Herr Plachek (Agnese)

Concerto 'Violin, Signor Camillo wort Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Becit..f " La Notte fbgge," SPOIL Aria. 1." 81,10 sento," Miss Birch, (Ruda) Overture, Der Freysehilts C. M. von Weber.

Conductor, Mr. Costa.

THE concerts terminated with that kind of effort at a brilliant winding-up which it is hoped may influence the subscription-list for the next season, when, the subscribers have forgotten the prevailing economy manifested in the engagements during the present one. On this ground there is certain- ly little cause for satisfaction. The singing, in general during the past season, has been of a description inferior to any we recollect at the Philhar- monic, while of executive instrumental talent in the solo and concerto the orchestra has been throughout singularly barren. Appearances in this capacity have been chiefly those of old stagers, annual concert-givers, the limit of whose powers is too well known for us to expect from them any- thing in the shape of surprise or novelty, with some few previously introduced and familiar at the Musical Union, the Beethoven Quartet Concerts, and even at M. Jullien's Promenade. Did we not know that musical mechanism is a very thriving business industriously cultivated in Germany and France, with composers in its service expressly devoted to showing its wonders, we might almost fancy that foreign professors had ceased to settle on our shores in the spring. Regent Street, however, exhibits its annual importa- tion of quaint beards and trimmed mustachios,—insignia of foreign prac final talent, whose heroes have rather sought the patronage of Mr. Bunn or Mr. Ella, or the private concert-giver, than that of the Philharmonic, which of old first introduced their brethren to a British public. Exhibitions of this sort, which used to make part of almost every concert, were, we admit, not always favourable to good music: but they filled the intervals between the symphony and overture with excitement; they quickened the pulse of the hearer, and left him well informed as to the extent of human ingenuity current in the handling of instruments. They were to the musical ama- teur what quotations of prices and stocks are to the merchant and banker. We could well estimate how the art rose or fell with each successive ap • pearer—who was actually up to the mark, or who below it, to a fraction. The attempt to make up for the general want of attraction in the solo per- formers, by producing compositions of a somewhat rarer character than usual, has partly succeeded; and it must be admitted that, with its means, the season has been ably conducted: but, considering the extremely crowd ed auditory and the expensive subscription, the means should have been greater and the engagements more liberal.

With regard to the last concert no fault can be found. The programme is a model in its kind: good music, the celebrities of the Metropolis, Men- delssohn's first appearance as concerto violin composer, and Sivori's mode of interpreting the composition, form an unusual combination of attractions. And the music was in a measure what the bill promised; much of it was beautiful, though much was still fertile in critical objection. The Sym- phonies and Overtures of the evening generally were injured by an ex- cessive rapidity of time in the allegros. Costa—who is well known to b • "a fast man "—whether as a last occasion of the display of his orchestra, or from being in extraordinary humour to push on, made them play at a. rate verging on the impossible. Mendelssohn's Overture was ludicrous in parts, from the inaccuracy of the ensemble and the despairing efforts of the sexagenarians. Beethoven's Symphony was also taken too fast in every movement except the scherzo. It is much to be regretted when the great model works of instrumental music fall under the influence of this vice of the age. Amply sufficient for their effect is the fine thought they contain, if allowed its due expression: to seek for extraneous charms, is to ruin the compositions. In pianoforte music, and in so great a celebrity as Madame Pleyel, due licence is to be allowed to the powers of fingers, be it merely for curiosity's sake to ascertain what can be done. The opinion we expressed on this lady is confirmed by two of her attempts in the classical style which we have lately witnessed. Mechanism is her forte—not music. It is impos- sible to conceive a worse style than she has adopted as expressive; it being deficient in every inflection of genuine sensibility. The first part of Weber's Concert-stfick in F minor fully proved this. The beautiful and intelligible melody was delivered in a series of knocks; and this thumping cantabile— now loud, now soft—now hurrying on, now holding back—(the old French grimace of expression, exploded here long since)—is what the public at present applaud in Madame Pleyel. They hear that she can rattle, and give. her credit for expression. So much for the popular judgment on the idol of the day. But in the run which occurs in the march and in the last move- ment Madame Pleyel was eminently effective; finger-work being there be the ascendant. The orchestra was well kept under by Costa, so that every- thing on this occasion was heard. Sivori won golden opinions in Mendelssohn's new Violin Concerto; as did the composer. The work consists of an allegro in E minor, a slow move- ment in C, and a rondo in E major. A solid and beautiful style pervades the work—the first movement especially; and the instrumentation is full of interesting features. Fine arpeggios, cantabile passages, and the beautiful tones of the fourth string forming the bass to combinations of the wind illy struments, by turns attracted attention as features of novelty in this compo- sition; in which Mendelssohn well upholds his character as a conscientious and admirable musician. One or two trips in intonation excepted, the per- formance was perfect; characterized by the most delightful gusto and ani- mation of style. Pischek's singing of the songs of Spohr exhibits those compositions to the greatest advantage; and he excels as well in the quiet as in the animated ones. Miss Birch's imperfect intonation and deficient musical susceptibility render us indifferent to her as a singer: we fear that these defects are hardly to be remedied by experience. The season has closed with an improved and more thoroughly subordi- nate condition of the orchestra; and this, with generally improved selec tions, is the extent of the benefit we have to acknowledge in Costa's ma- nagement.