MUSIC TO-DAY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20272, 25 June 1931, Page 12

MUSIC TO-DAY.

SCORNFUL ATTITUDE OP YOUTH. HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. GREAT PIANIST'S OPINIONS. So warm are his memories of a concert in tho Theatre Royal, when an audience was fired by his playing from passive silence into a great demonstration, that for ten long years Mischa Levitski has eagerly awaited his return to Christchurch. Perhaps it was that thought which sustained him on his 20 hours' tossing voyage from Wellington. Certainly when he arrived in Christchurch last evening he was well and happy, philosophically cons.dering the voyage as one of the trials of the life he had chosen, willing and pleased to talk upon the modern aspects of his well-beloved art. These ten years have made little change in his appearance; or is it that the same bright, mercurial temperament conceals the change? A finely-shaped head, keen, alert ayes, nervously supple hands—these are the first impressions. As he speaks he plays idly with a poker or fingers the edge of his coat; his speech, in good English, moves rapidly, traversing many subjects; he abounds with an eager, restless energy. "Whenever I have wished "to come, it has always been tho same In the concert season I must always play in England, Europe, or America. When I have done, I must go to my place in New Jersey to rest. It is stupid not to rest sometimes, and if I oome to Australia and New Zealand I have no rest. Even now, when I have coine, the strain of travelling and playing—three concerts a woefe —has been very great,' and I have been forced shorten my tour so that I may have a month's freedom. There is littjle use living if one cannot enjoy life." His Early Studies. Though he was born in Russia, Mr Levitzki has lived in America since his seventh year. It was there that he studied, under Frank Damrosch and Sig.nmund Stojowski, although his first concerts wero given in Berlin (a twopianoforte recital under his master, Dohnanyi), Vienna, and Budapest. •London did not hear him until 1928, when "lie created a profound impression with his playing of the Schumann Concerto with Sir Thomas Beecham. Since that time lie has been occupied continuously with transcontinental tours of America and Europe and visits to the Orient and Australia. His reputation has steadily increased until to-day he is placed among the first flight of pianists of the world. Mr Levitzki knows the world, but he knows particularly the United States of America. Ho speaks of it: "For tho past season I toured only in America, playiug in 45 cities. My own experience and what I have Been during that season have done much to help mc regain my confidence in the future. Paderewslci has just ended the greatest tour in tho history of music in America. He played in 75 concerts; his share of the*receipts-—his share, I say—was about £IOO,OOO. My own tour again .was a splendid one—and all this in a year of unparalleled depression. A Grave Decline. "Did I say 'regain confidence'? Yes, I have been in some danger of losing my confidence. In the first place, I would say definitely that the appreciation of beautiful music, far from increasing, is declining. Secondly, and I | look upon this as tho more serious sign,l find fower young people among my, audiences than evet before in my Career. Although an artist may seem to be preoccupied, ho knows his audience before he has been on the stage five minutes —their mood, their likes and dislikes, even their faces. I look for tho young people, and they are not there. And sometimes I wonder what will happen when all these older people die. Who will fill theif places?" Mr Levitzki regrets bitterly the preoccupation of youth with sport and jazz, its wilful resistance to everv cultural influence, its impoverished ideals. "Of course I can hardly presume to apeak of New Zealand and Australia; but America I know, for I have lived there all my life. Tho young people there think it smart to be tough. Sport and jazz are the chief trouble—those and drink, for yon must know that since Prohibition was introduced no young man is a man who does not carry his flask. I like all these things: lam not speaking prudishly. But I deplore that they should be worshipped even above I tho greatest idealism, and that young men and women should have an attitude of wilful resistance—often a sneering, scornful attitude —towards music I and all the arts. They have beon taught to have no repressions, to speak out ! their minds without respect for anybody or anything. They have forgotten ideals; they havo forgotten the spiritual influence of music." Hopes for the Future. Prom his observations of the world, i he would say that this attitude of j'outh was almost general. True, as it was

that the lovers of groat music had been always in a minority (a minority statistically estimated at less than one per cent.), yet he was constantly disturbed to see so many old faces at his eoncerts, and so few new. "For the future? It is difficult to say. One of my greatest hopes is in the project of musical educatiop by radio which has been started by Walter Damrosch, a fino musician and the former conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra. Damrosch's talka on music, and his performances with an orchestra of 80 players, are broadcast every week among 5,000,000 children in the States. Tho hour or so that they have with him is taken as part of their schooling, Provided this education is made enjoyable and palatable to tho children, I have great hopes for the plan." While insisting that ho keeps an open mind on modern music, Mr Levitzki fears that "we have hot had a great composer this last 40 years. , l.'ven such composers as have arisen have given little attention to the piano, but, in the main, have concentrated on technical developments of th© orchestra. "I play 'at' a great many modern works," ho says, "but those I play in my programmes are only those I have learned to love." The Classical Masters. His sympathies, to be sure, tend to tho classical masters, men of great stature and deep inspiration. "In the realm of all music, I would place first Dach, then Beethoven. But when wo come to the piano alone, Chopin is tho great geni'us. He composed for tho pin no alono, and ho found as no other has done, its spirit and resources. Bach and Beethoven composed magnificent pinno music, it is true, but their greatest work was in another field. When I play Chopin, I feol that he has won the utmost the piano car. give, every shade, every depth of tone, colour, and emotion. "No, I would not say that much classical music remains untouched. Of course some pieces are played more often than others —some, indeed, too often—but, in general, if a piece_ is not played at all by the concert artist, then there's a good reason for it." • Balancing the Programme. Mr Levitzki gives much time and care to programme-making. Many people, ho de-Inres, do not appreciate the artist's difficulty. On the one hand ho must play what the professional musicians and the critics like: on the' other, he must play what the public likes. In either case, if he favours the one class, the other is offended. The difficulty is to keep the balance so that both are pleased and satisfied. Experience has convinced him that were ho to consider only the professional musician and the critic, then there would soon be no tours and no Mischa Levitzki. While on tour he practises about every second day, when possible on Ihe concert grand and in the theatre where ho is to play. Works which he contemplates adding to his repertoire aro first studied in the score and thoroughly thought out, often while he rests in bod after a concert. After his concerts ift Christchurch and Dunedin, which are controlled bv Mr E. -T. Gravestoek, Mr Levitzki will leave New Zealand directly on his return to New Jersey.