The Queen’s-hall Symphony Concert of Saturday began with Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, and, for the rest was made up of works by Tchaikovsky, the fourth symphony being divided from Rome and Juliet by Mrs. Wood’s artistic singing of the »letter-song« from Eugen Onegin, in a different English version from that printed in the programme. The programme had more than one suprise in it, for not only was the vocal number substituted for a performance of »Ah! perfido,« by Mme. Mysz-Gmeinar, but the very first sentence of the analytical notes by Messrs. Percy Pitt and A. Kalisch began by referring to Don Juan as »the first, and by many considered the best – one might even say the only really valuable one – of Strauss’s symphonic poems.« Heartily as the clause between the dashes may be endorsed by discriminating musicians, they can hardly have expected the truth to be so bluntly stated in a Queen’s-hall programme, at all events for some years to come. Can it mean that the vogue of the composer’s later and more eccentric works is already passing away? The performance was very good, although not quite up to the usual level of excellence that Mr. Wood has generally secured. The brass is rapidly improving, but both here and elsewhere there were instances where it might have been a good deal more refined in quality. The programme was commendably short, and as neither the symphony nor the »fantasy-overture« belongs to the more hackneyed works of Tchaikovsky, it was not surprising that there was a large audience which remained till the end of the concert.

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